Where is Eric Dinowitz?

To the editor:

Three times last month, I have spoken with representatives of the office of Councilman Eric Dinowitz seeking a brief meeting with him. Although the staff accurately read back the reason I wanted to speak to our representative, neither he nor anyone else from his office has had the — Is it courtesy? Lack of instruction from the leadership? — to return my call, never mind meet with me.

The reason for my effort relates to the mayor’s nomination of Randy Mastro to fill the office of corporation counsel. Although I do not know Mr. Mastro, by all accounts he has had a distinguished career as an attorney in both public and private sectors. Apparently, Mr. Dinowitz’s party is reluctant to approve of this qualified nominee because they disapprove of some of the clients and institutions Mr. Mastro has represented in the past.

It was reported recently that Mr. Mastro withdrew his name from consideration, but the points I make remain relevant. That withdrawal is a loss to the city.

Doubtless, when Mr. Dinowitz attended the recent Democratic National Convention in Chicago, he heard the presentation of my former client, Korey Wise. I first met the then 30-year-old Wise in 2002. He had been in prison since the age of 16, wrongfully accused and convicted of a brutal assault and rape of a jogger in Central Park in 1989.

My work in obtaining the release of Mr. Wise, the reversal of his conviction, and the dismissal of all charges was relatively simple. In a highly principled pronouncement from then district attorney Robert M. Morgenthau — supported by a thorough investigation and 34-page memorandum by his senior assistant, Nancy E. Ryan — the repeated defects in both the police investigation and the district attorney’s earlier prosecution left no room to dispute the correctness of Mr. Morgenthau’s decision.

The real question those who opposed Mr. Mastro should ask themselves is what is their view of defense attorneys who represented the five teenagers in 1989 when there was considerable outrage over the many assaults in Central Park on the night of the crime for which they were charged, as well as considerable concern over the rising crime rate in many parts of the city? Surely, no one would dispute today these youngsters were entitled to counsel notwithstanding how they were viewed by the community at-large.

Of late, a number of highly qualified nominees to the federal judiciary have run into opposition from Senate Republicans because of the candidates’ prior representation of men and women with whom the Republicans disagreed. This justification should be as unacceptable in the city as it should be in Washington D.C.

In the early days of the republic, John Adams represented one of the British soldiers who killed colonists at the confrontation known as The Boston Massacre. Would Dinowitz, today, refuse to consider Adams’ qualifications for the important roles he would later assume because of that representation?

Eric A. Seiff