Candidate for
District Attorney; County of El Dorado

People learn what they live. We also understand that the core personality of a person is formed by the time they are seven years old. In order to really impact future crime, we need to protect children from abuse when they are infants and protect families from domestic violence. We also need to protect our senion citizens from abuse and criminals that would prey on them.

The statistice for child abuse and domestic violence are very troubling. One in three girls and one in five boys in this county are victims of sexual abuse. One in five families are subjected to domestic violence, with eighty five percent of the victims being women. When you ask criminals and substance abusers why, the vast majority tell you they were either abused as kids or they saw their mom victimized by domestic violence. If we ever hope to actually lower the rate of crime and substance abuse, we need to intervene into the lives of abused children and families suffering from domestic violence.

No person should be afraid to show affection to a child or to discipline a child. I have five children and I understand how difficult it can be to raise them. However, no one should ever touch a child for any sexual reason and no one should ever discipline a child with violence, injury or the threat of violence or injury. When a child cries out for help, we need to help them. My administration will reach out to children who are victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, protect them and prosecute the offenders. I will look for any and all funds available to insure that children are protected and offenders are prosecuted.

El Dorado County has six beds for women with kids to escape domestic violence. Obviously, we need more safe places for battered women to go and be safe. My administration will look for and prosecute the offenders and make them fund more domestic violence shelters, as California law currently allows. The current prosecution of domestic batters is low and not enough funding for shelters is being collected. That must and will change in my administration.

The abuse of senior citizens is outrageous. Our parents can not protect themselves from strangers who would prey on them. Since they do not have another lifetime to replace their loses, we must educate them about the types of crimes they are vulnerable to and respond to seniors with compassion and understanding. Anyone who would prey on seniors will be vigerously prosecuted and restitution will be a necessary component to the prosecution. Abuse of seniors by friends or family members is an unspoken tragedy. We must educate both seniors and their caregivers about elder abuse and what can be done to prevent it. Anyone who physically, sexually or emotionally abuses a senior resident of this county will be prosecuted. My Administration will be sensitive to families caring for elders. However, our senior citizens need to feel and actually be safe.

Violent crime will not be tolerated. If you use a gun or deadly weapon to commit a crime, you will be removed from society. However, the three strikes law should not be used for nonviolent crimes.

Chemical dependency and substance abuse are difficult issues. My wife is a Physician and we both have actual experience treating chemical dependency. I have represented drug treatment facilities and I understand the realities and problems in dealing with these sick people. I also understand that the rate of dependency and abuse has remained constant for the past century, despite the billions we have spent on the "War on Drugs". We can not simply incarcerate our way out of this problem. Chemical dependency is a medical condition that leads to anti- social and criminal behavior. Treatment is the cornerstone to dealing with drug problem and law enforcement must work with the medical community to insure that people with substance abuse problems actually stop abusing drugs. The passage of Prop 36 in 2000 was the publics statement that they want treatment over jail to help deal with this problem. The biggest drug problem in this county is meth (crank) and we must use every effort to get the abuser into treatment and prosecute the manufacturer and dealer.

In 1996, the voters passed Prop 215, the medical marijuana law. This law was supposed to remove sick people, who have a physicians approval, from the war on drugs. Shamefully, this law has not been implemented. There are many excuses from many officials for why, but the purpose of the law has not been fulfilled. My wife is a cancer patient who uses medical cannabis and I will implement this law. If you have a Physicians approval, you will be able to sleep at night without fear of police invasion and I will prosecute anyone who takes medical cannabis from a patient. I will issue guidelines to direct law enforcement and put the issue before the Board of Supervisors to enact county ordinances.

I fully support Teen court and will consider community based mediation/arbitration of minor criminal charges that involve the victim being made whole by the criminal. This will reduce the backlog in the courts.