STATEN ISLAND — Candidates vying to become the next Staten Island District Attorney faced off in their first debate, attacking each other on experience, engagement in civic life and voting with Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Republican Joan Illuzzi and Democrat Michael McMahon debated each other at the College of Staten Island on Tuesday night and traded barbs on several issues, including what the role of the District Attorney should be.
Illuzzi repeatedly pointed out McMahon's lack of experience as a prosecutor which would make it hard for him to lead the office.
"The gap of his knowledge about what it means to be a prosecutor would be staggering," Illuzzi, who worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan for 27 years, said during the debate.
"Can you imagine having a dentist run the cardiology department of a major hospital?"
McMahon responded, saying that he thought the role of the DA's office was not to try cases in court, but to help the lawyers in the office get the resources needed to try cases and get convictions.
“I’m not applying to be the dentist or cardiologist of the hospital, I’m applying to run the hospital,” McMahon said.
For his part, McMahon — who previously served on the City Council and as a Congressman for Staten Island — slammed Illuzzi several times for not being civically engaged in the borough and for not voting in five of the last six elections.
Iluzzi responded that she was too busy working long nights at the Manhattan District Attorney's office to vote.
Aside from his lack of prosecutorial experience, Illuzzi also attacked McMahon for voting to cut the District Attorney's office funding after 9/11, which McMahon said he did to help the city recover from the attacks.
Illuzzi also took several jabs at Mayor Bill de Blasio during the debate, pointing out that gun violence and the drug problem on Staten Island have been on the rise since he took office.
"Our beautiful borough is in crisis," she said in her opening remarks.
She also slammed her opponent for having a similar voting record to de Blasio in the City Council.
McMahon pointed out he has the backing of the major law enforcement unions and that Staten Island has had an opioid drug addiction problem a lot longer than de Blasio has been in office.
"We have on Staten Island the worst drug crisis in the country," he said.
"Every five days a young person dies from an overdose and it’s been going on for more than two years, it's been going on for 10 years."
On the drug problem, McMahon said that if he took office he would tackle the problem "head on" and work to create more treatment options in the borough.
Illuzzi agreed they needed more and said she would work to fight the problem at the source of where the drugs are made and distributed, comparing it to how firework sales are prosecuted.
Aside from battling illegal drug use, McMahon said he would work to increase the funding of the Staten Island DA's office and create better communication between it and the general public.
Illuzzi said she would also work to set up a hotline to help elderly Staten Islanders who get targeted by scams.
While both candidates argued over the role of the DA's office and several other issues, they did agree on several issues including that the minutes of the Eric Garner grand jury should have remained sealed and that cameras in the arraignment interview booths at the new Staten Island Courthouse should be removed.
The election to replace Dan Donovan — who left his post as Staten Island's DA to become a Congressman — will be on Nov. 3.
The two faced off in the Conservative primary last month, where write-in candidate Illuzzi beat McMahon.
