Dan Donovan - Irish Warrior For Innocents And The Law

By Alicia Colon

I managed to grab a few minutes out of Staten Island district attorney Dan Donovan's busy schedule to chat with him about his Irish heritage.

In addition to running his finely tuned prosecution office, the tall, blue-eyed 53-year-old Irish American is running for New York State attorney general but gladly interrupted his schedule to talk about the Emerald Isle. It's no surprise that this descendant of Irish immigrants is a huge fan of Ireland and its people.

Mr. Donovan's grandfather, Dennis Donovan, hailed from Co. Cork. Soon after landing in New York, he met and eventually married Mamie Kiernan and together they raised 12 sons, including the D.A.'s father, Daniel Sr., and one daughter. The D.A.'s mother, Katherine, had been to Ireland several times but it was not until her 80th birthday that he paid his first visit. He was overwhelmed by what he experienced.

Mr. Donovan spoke enthusiastically: "Ireland is such a beautiful, beautiful country with the warmest, friendliest people I've ever met who love their country and their heritage. I cannot describe adequately how welcoming and hospitable they are to visitors."

He went on and on, relating tales that reflected why he felt so impressed by the heartfelt sincerity of the Irish natives and his enthusiasm was so infectious, I'm putting Ireland on my must-visit dream list. I asked him if the Irish liked Americans because a lot of Europeans apparently don't. He said, "They love everybody. They show no hesitancy in welcoming and embracing you."

I've known Mr. Donovan since he first ran for district attorney in Staten Island in 2003, and his win was against great odds because there hadn't been a Republican in that position in over 50 years. He was re-elected in 2007 with nearly 70% of the vote and the endorsement of the Republican, Conservative, and Independence parties. Prior to his administration, the borough had a very low conviction rate. By 2006, however, his office led the entire city with the highest conviction rate for felony indictments. That record continues today.

But attaining high conviction rates is only one of his achievements. Thanks to his administration, Staten Island now has a formal witness-protection program, a campaign promise fulfilled. In 1994, Valerie Vassell was brutally murdered in her Staten Island home by two men hired by Michael Burnett, whom Vassell was scheduled to testify against in a bank-fraud case. Burnett is currently serving a life sentence for that contract murder. It's hard to believe that even this witness's murder did not initiate a stronger protection policy in the previous D.A.'s office.

Mr. Donovan has been seeking felony classification for violation of orders of protection issued by the State Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the do-nothing New York State Assembly and Senate refuse to engage with this issue or put some teeth into orders of protection.

Mr. Donovan has proposed using global positioning system technology to put real protection behind the protection orders. He's also cracked down hard on drunk drivers. Much of what drives him is crime prevention and protection of the innocent, especially children.

Mr. Donovan has made it a point to protect all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, and has distributed Spanish language pamphlets promoting the state's safe haven law in the borough, which has a large and growing Hispanic population. Two of the seven abandoned babies that were found dead on Staten Island in 2004 were believed to be Hispanic. Those pamphlets offered information on where distraught pregnant women can safely place their newborns and has been very effective in preventing further newborn deaths.

When I first visited Mr. Donovan's office, I noticed a picture of Holly Ann Hughes on his desk. This is the missing 7-year-old that disappeared over 29 years ago. Her killer, Andre Rand, dubbed the Hannibal Lecter of Staten Island - who's already serving life for the abduction and murder of Jennifer Schweiger, 12, in July 1987 - describes himself as Ted Bundy with a preference for little girls.

In 2004, Rand was charged with the murder of Hughes and, thanks to the testimony of a courageous fellow inmate who testified that Rand admitted the killing and hinted where he'd buried her body, a jury convicted him of murder. This was most remarkable because the victim's body was never found and there was no physical evidence linking Rand with the child, further proof of the diligence and competence of the D.A.'s staff.

Back in 2006, a former Republican senator, Alfonse D'Amato, tried to persuade Mr. Donovan to run for attorney general. He was unsuccessful, but at the time I felt relieved because Albany was riddled with corruption on both sides of the aisle and I felt that Mr. Donovan was too good to be in that environment. But times have changed and there's a chance that voters will sweep the corruptocrats out of office and let the attorney general work for the people not just the special interests with money to burn.

Mr. Donovan is low-key without a huge ego and has a regular-guy, blue-collar background that resonates with the real New Yorkers statewide. He was born and raised in the working-class neighborhood of Tompkinsville, Staten Island, and attended Catholic school there. His father was a longshoreman and his mother worked in a factory. Young Dan studied criminal justice at St. John's University and worked his way through the Fordham University School of Law at night.

I apologize if this column sounds like I'm involved with his campaign. I'm not but I confess that I have a special regard for Mr. Donovan because of his efforts to enact stronger legislation on domestic violence that will protect victims of stalking and abuse from further harm.

My daughter-in-law was a victim of a deranged ex-boyfriend who violated orders of protection several times and still managed to avoid arrest even though he'd kidnapped her off the streets, assaulted her and sent her to the hospital with permanent injuries. Thanks to Mr. Donovan's administration, the felon was finally put away but I worry that the police still won't have the power to fully protect victims unless they have stronger laws to back them.

Mr. Donovan recently authored the Domestic Violence Law of 2010 that was introduced in the state legislature to protect victims of domestic violence. Hopefully as attorney general, he'd have more clout to see that the law is passed. As attorney general, he'd also have jurisdiction over cases of political corruption and maybe that would wake up these New York legislators.

The New York State attorney general with the longest tenure (1957-1978) was Louis Lefkowitz and I have a feeling that if Dan Donovan becomes the next attorney general, this record might be jeopardized by the Irish American in love with all things Irish.

Alicia Colon resides in New York City and can be reached at aliciav.colon@gmail.com and at www.aliciacolon.com