Clark's inauguration hailed as historic

Lehman College’s Lovinger Theatre was overflowing on Saturday morning as residents and politicians from the city and state filed in for the inauguration of Darcel Clark as the new district attorney for Bronx County.

“It’s a great day for the Bronx,” U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer proclaimed. “[Ms. Clark] has broken another glass ceiling to be the first woman DA in Bronx County and the first African-American woman to be a DA in New York.”

“If the founding founders… were looking down on this auditorium, they’d smile. This is the democracy they wanted,” he added.

Good government groups and editorial boards criticized the fall nomination of Ms. Clark, a former appellate justice, after former DA Robert Johnson stepped down to pursue a judgeship on the state Supreme Court. Because Mr. Johnson ran unopposed in the primary race, it fell to the Bronx Democratic County Committee (BDCC) to select Mr. Johnson’s successor. The BDCC’s vote to nominate Ms. Clark drew outrage from voters who felt they had been excluded from the process. 

The Bronx GOP soon put up their own candidate, Robert Siano, to oppose Ms. Clark. After a whirlwind three-week campaign, Ms. Clark defeated Mr. Siano in a landslide victory in November.

“The people of the Bronx got it right,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at Lehman. “It’s another step forward, not just in New York City, not just in New York State, but in our nation’s evolution.”

Public Advocate Letitia James attended Howard University School of Law with Ms. Clark and described her as a woman who “lives and breathes justice.”

“Darcel Clark will bring creativity and innovation to the office,” the public advocate said. “She will correct any wrongs of the past by bringing justice to the innocent.”

Under Mr. Johnson, the Bronx DA’s office had the lowest conviction rate out of any borough in the city.

While honoring Ms. Clark, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito stressed the need to elect more women to office throughout the state.