Gulluni speaks to WMA students about outreach

Date: 10/2/2014

WILBRAHAM – Anthony Gulluni, the winner of the Sept. 9 Democratic primary election for Hampden County district attorney (DA), spoke to the student body of Wilbraham & Monson Academy (WMA) on Sept. 25 as part of alumni guest speaking event.

“I graduated here in 1999 and this, indeed, is my first time back in this chapel since [then],” Gulluni said. “It smells the same, it looks the same, but there are a lot of younger faces from my perspective.”

Gulluni, 33, is running unopposed on the Nov. 4 state election ballot and will take office on Jan. 6, 2015 for a four-year term.

“The main criticism [of me during the primary] was, ‘Gee, that kid, he’s too young to run,’“ he said. “He’s too inexperienced. He’s can’t do it … But being among a lot of young vibrant people, I feel old again.”

Gulluni emphasized the importance of community outreach to students, stating that high school age youth will have the opportunity to serve on a potential Youth Advisory Board to the DA’s office composed of students throughout Hampden County.

“So, we’re being proactive and preventive in the work we’re doing through diversion and community outreach and not just reactively prosecuting,” he added. “And a lot of the struggles that inner cities like Holyoke and Springfield are facing are multifaceted.”

Gulluni said he plans to focus on crime prevention and solutions with a focus on long-term application for the 23 cities and towns in Hampden County.

“I was certainly a mediocre athlete and I was a mediocre student, so I don’t know if I thought about going to law school at that age,” he said.

During this formative years at WMA, Gulluni said he knew that he had strong reading and writing skills and in interest in criminal justice before entering college. His sister, who is 11 years older than him, was already involved in career in law and was an encouraging role model.

“It’s a grind,” he added. “In every success there’s an ingredient of hard work and this for me was all about hard work and passion and doing things the right way.”

Gulluni said one initiative that he will be focusing on as DA would be a separate drug court to focus on people dealing with addiction.

“So we’re addressing the root cause of the problem as opposed to the outgrowth, which is the criminal behavior,” he explained.

One idea in its infancy stage is a program to partnership with the trial court that would take limited criminal record offenders dealing with addictions and dispose of their cases without prosecution, Gulluni said.

“Very often the crime itself and the record that comes with it furthers the spiral,” he added. “Because you go and look for a job if there’s some effort at rehabilitation and you can’t find a job. It's a self-defeating thing.”

The potential program would be under the jurisdiction of the DA’s office and the probation department with criteria before records for offenders could be cleared, Gulluni explained.

Gulluni said there would be an evaluation of current staff in the DA’s office and changes in personnel is likely.

The DA’s office now has an ongoing program that talks to high school age youth about distracted driving, including texting and driving and driving under the influence.

There are hopes to use ongoing programs as a model to address issues such as drugs, violence, and gangs within inner cities, with an emphasis on educating youth, particularly in elementary and middle school, about the dangers these issues pose, he added.