Can DAs be 'good at P.R.' without selling out?

No.

Good afternoon, welcome to Chestack, where we draw conclusions about the progressive DA’s recall until we’re all dead.

One thing supporters of the embattled former public defender admit is that he was bad at public outreach. That he failed to communicate with concerned communities, that he relied on dry data instead of crafting a compelling narrative, that he sort of just eye-rolled at the smears against him, instead of taking them on aggressively, as if people are rational and not emotional about basic concerns like public safety and disorder.

I think that’s a valid critique. District Attorneys are elected officials—they need to be good at politics. That’s why D.A.’s in the highest violent crime areas spout tough-on-crime bromides. It’s an effective election strategy. Unfortunately for proponents of sane criminal justice policy, “Put criminals in jail” is just so, so much more intuitive that anti-carceral approaches.

It doesn’t matter what the numbers say. People respond to perceptions. And when the opposition isn’t below stooping to outright lies fueled by billionaire’s cash, well, what can you even do?

One option is what Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg did, which is to fold spectacularly in the fact of public criticism. Someone leaked Bragg’s Day One Memo, where he argued for more lenient prosecution of some nonviolent crimes, and instantly the New York Post et al. portrayed Bragg as Lenin. Nevermind that the memo was itself more P.R. than anything—all prosecutors downgrade crimes to get guilty pleas. It’s doubtful Bragg’s appointment would have drastically changed things beyond sending slightly fewer teenagers to Rikers.