Bragg’s ‘Paramount’ Denial

New Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has hired a crisis-management team to put out the fires of widespread outrage over his let-’em-loose approach to law enforcement. Can he really think the problem is that New Yorkers just don’t understand his order against prosecuting serious crimes as serious crimes?

In fact, they know it guarantees more serious crime. That’s why, just two weeks into his tenure, an online petition is calling for his removal while even Republicans only thinking about running for governor are promising to do just that.

Bragg is consulting ace Democratic PR specialist Risa Heller as well as his old boss, former Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara. Pray they’re telling him he can’t spin away his open refusal to do his job.

Yet he’s so far in denial: At Sunday’s service at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, he complained of the “frustrating” suggestion that “I don’t know public safety,” recalling: “Before I turned 21, I had a semi-automatic weapon pointed at my head, I had a knife to my throat, a homicide victim at my doorstep, and was shot at. I know public safety. I want to be clear and unequivocal that public safety is paramount.”

It’s not “paramount” when you’ve ordered your prosecutors to stop seeking prison sentences for nearly all crimes, and to charge many felonies as mere misdemeanors. You’re giving criminals the green light.

Hence the exodus of top-notch talent from the Manhattan DA’s Office, with at least nine prosecutors resigning since Jan. 1, including the esteemed Joan Illuzzi-Orbon.

Bragg can call in all the fixers he wants, but even Scandal’s Olivia Pope couldn’t save him, not unless he gets serious about the ever-increasing crime plaguing the city.

Saying you care about crime won’t help when you refuse to fight it.