VALATIE — The Columbia County Democratic Committee has chosen a former county assistant district attorney to run against current D.A. Paul Czajka.
Democratic Committee members nominated Ken Golden, 65, of Kinderhook, to run for District Attorney at a meeting held in Ghent Thursday night.
Golden received a majority of Committee votes over fellow candidate Gene Keeler, a former district attorney who ran against Czajka, in 2011.
Keeler has previously said he will run as an independent candidate if he did not get the Democratic nomination.
A 19-year Columbia County resident, Golden currently practices law out of his Valatie home. He served as an assistant district attorney under former Columbia County District Attorney Beth Cozzolino from 1997 to 2003.
“I’ve been in public service for a number of years, and I wanted to become more actively involved in my community,” Golden said Friday.
“I have experience in criminal law as an assistant district attorney in Columbia County for six years, and I wanted to run for my first publicly elected office,” Golden said.
Golden said he hoped to improve outreach from the D.A.’s office to the community and more cooperation between the D.A.’s office and local law enforcement agencies and the courts. He cited several legal areas he would like to address if elected.
“We certainly need to address juvenile crime, which is probably going to change in the very near future because of actions by the governor and the legislature, and I’d like to address domestic violence, drug use and ethics reform,” Golden said.
Golden received his B.A. from Union College, his law degree from Albany Law School and holds a M.A. in Political Science from the College of St. Rose. He has spent the past two years doing mostly private pro bono work for a Veteran’s Administration program with the American Bar Association.
“The program assists veterans with disability claims across the country in filling disability claims in an effort to try to speed up the process,” Golden said.
County Democrats have called on Czajka to step aside after an appellate court ruled Feb. 19 that Czajka served altered court documents to Kinderhook Village Judge David Dellehunt without a judge’s permission while serving documents to Dellehunt in the capacity of Kinderhook town judge in 2012.
Dellehunt is the municipal judge for both the village and town of Kinderhook. The cost incurred by the village were serious enough to be sent back to the state Supreme Court for further deliberation, according to New York 3rd Appellate Division District Judge Elizabeth A. Gary’s decision.
Golden said the lawsuit was at least partly a factor in his decision to run for district attorney.
“I would like to see the district attorney spend time on prosecuting cases and not necessarily suing our local justices. The justices are there to serve the people of the community, an I can’t see any benefit to having the chief prosecutor suing a judge”
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