Columbia County District Attorney race

To the editor:

Gene Keeler is running for Columbia County District Attorney. He is better known as Eugene Keeler who ran for Columbia County District Attorney as a Republican, Conservative and now as a Democrat. Yet, he is best known as the DA who botched, booted and fumbled the local “trial of the century” Wyley Gates quadruple murder trial. One can “indict a ham sandwich,” however to convict Mr. Gates when there was a truck load of evidence (4 dead family members, burglary, a stolen weapon, a written plan for killing four family members, and an admission of guilt) becomes an altogether different matter. Was it ineptitude? Incompetence? Neglect? Perhaps it was a combination of all three. But everyone can agree that justice was not served in this horrific case.

A few years later when the OJ trial captivated America, the local joke was, “There are two places one could get away with murder — Orange County, California and Columbia County, New York.”

What has Eugene Keeler been doing since the trial? Practicing law? Not in the past 10 years. Would you feel confident for Mr. Keeler to represent you in a court of law? That is just what he is asking the voters to do now. He wants the residents of Columbia County to elect him as District Attorney. Sorry, Mr. Keeler is too wyley for me.

If this new shot at the DA’s office doesn’t work out perhaps you might submit an application with the DA’s office in Manhattan. I have heard that they recently arrested a person and charged him with 4 counts of murder. Big case, Mass Murder, Sensational! Go ahead, you have the marketable credentials.

As for this election, sorry. Even in this munificent day of “woke,” some of us never went to sleep.

Mark Clarke

Ghent