Brooklyn district attorney Charles Hynes officially kicked off his campaign for re-election on the Republican and Conservative lines at a rowdy announcement on the steps of Brooklyn’s Borough Hall.

As Mr. Hynes took to the podium, a handful of protesters started chanting “Hynes must go!” followed by hundred or more supporters chanting, at the top of their voices, “Let’s go Joe!” as the incumbent district attorney stood by.

“This is all about a free election and the free election process,” Mr. Hynes said, after the 4-minute standoff. “And I don’t mind dissenters, you can yell all you want. Just be decent enough to listen to what I have to say then you can say what you want to say.”

“We listened for 21 years,” Mark Appel, founder of Voice of Justice, yelled back. “You’re saying you’re opposed to the democratic process, I understand that from you,” Hynes replied.

Flanked by die-hard supporters, paid staffer and a Republican/Conservative representation which included state Republican chairman Ed Cox, state senator Marty Golden, and assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis, Mr. Hynes explained his decision to run despite losing the democratic primary, last month. “This is not about party politics, this is not about labels, this is about people, it’s about public safety, it’s about the ability to bring issues to the public and let them decide who should lead as their chief law enforcement officer for the next four years,” he said.

The decision to run again came, according to Mr. Hynes, once he realized only 18% of Democrats exorcized their right to vote. Thus, banking on the remaining 82% to grant him a second chance, in additional to the trust of Republican and Conservative voters.

Hynes didn’t shy away from reclaiming his negative shots from the Democratic primary, calling his opponent Ken Thompson “unqualified to run this office.”

Answering questions from the press,  Mr. Hynes defended his campaign aide, Taharka Robinson, who’s was described by the Thompson campaign as a prestige of Clarence Norman Jr., the same guy Mr. Hynes claims managed Mr. Thompson’s get-out-the-vote effort.

“There’s a profound difference between a dopey 17-year-old kid who commits a serious crime, goes to prison, comes out, rehabilitates himself, becomes an ordained minister, and someone who is one of the most powerful Democratic leaders in this state, who is a serial thief and extortionist. If Clarence Norman Jr. came out and said, ‘I want to run political campaigns,’ and Thompson had the guts to say, ‘Yeah, that’s my campaign manager,’ I wouldn’t have an issue.”

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)