NYC governor Eliot Spitzer responded Wednesday to some very heated language used by hip hop mogul Russell Simmons to describe his stance on the Rockefeller drug laws. Speaking out on NY1’s “Inside City Hall” Tuesday, Simmons said Spitzer is failing to live up to promises to reform the state’s strict drug laws.  

“I’m very disappointed in the governor. I should say that the hip hop is getting ready to get in his ass,” Russell Simmons said on Tuesday night’s “Inside City Hall.”

Simmons says Governor Eliot Spitzer as a candidate talked a good game about reforming the Rockefeller drug laws. But 14 months after inauguration, some feel cheated. “He promised all of us that he would do something about this prison reform issue,” said Simmons.

The fiery issue is a set of laws among the strictest in the nation, demanding sentences for the sale or possession of drugs. African Americans and Latinos are hit especially hard, making up 91 percent of those behind bars. The laws account for 21 percent of the prison population, costing a half billion dollars a year.

Running for office, Spitzer impressed advocates.

“As a candidate, Eliot Spitzer was enthusiastically in favor of reform of Rockefeller,” said Assemblyman Jeffion Aubry.

“I will continue to support efforts to reform these laws,” he said in a survey. It’s a position he reiterated Wednesday, but now with a caveat.

“We’re trying to come up with something that is reasoned that will maintain safety. People should not forget, we have seen a dramatic drop in crime over the years in New York State,” said Spitzer. “And that’s because – I can say this as a prosecutor – we prosecute crimes, we’re tough, we lock up those that are guilty. And so we have to be very measured and reasoned in what we do.”

A recent spike in the release of violent criminals has Spitzer on the defensive, although aides noted a majority of the parole board’s appointees are carryovers from the Pataki administration.

Spitzer did set up a commission that recommended in some cases alternatives to prison, but only with the agreement of the court, the defense and the prosecution.

Some feel no real reforms will happen until the State Senate is stripped of its Republican control – a margin now at just one seat.

“We’re really counting on 2009 when hopefully there will be the leadership in Albany across the board to push for major Rockefeller reform together, with a comprehensive reform of New York’s drug policies,” said Ethan Nadelmann of Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group against the nation’s war on drugs.

As for Simmons’ remarks, Spitzer still calls him a friend.

Source:
NY1