Candidate for
District Attorney; County of Butte

I am a fourth generation Butte County resident. I graduated from Oroville High School in 1966 and went on to the University of California at Berkeley. I came home during the summers to work in the cannery. After graduating, I worked briefly as a teacher in Oroville and then as a reporter for the Oroville Mercury-Register, assigned to the court beat. I then went to the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. I was sworn in as an attorney in 1977, the year I graduated. I worked in the Sacramento District Attorney's Office until I was able to return to Butte County when a position opened in the District Attorney's Office here. I worked my way up the ranks from deputy to chief deputy. In 1987, I was appointed District Attorney and have been elected and re-elected five times. I have a love and respect for my community, as well as a history of working to protect and serve all Butte County citizens, regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, social or economic status. Our mission statement, "To do justice, as no one is above the law, nor beneath its protection," has been the rock upon which my years as a prosecutor have been based; they are the words upon which my philosophy and the office policy are based. As a trial attorney, I have conducted hundreds of court and jury trials from simple assault to death penalty murder. I have successfully prosecuted PG&E and Union Pacific for endangering our environment. I have dedicated my career and the resources of my office to make sure that justice is done, no matter whom the offender or victim may be. Everyone deserves to be protected from the criminal element just as every one deserves to have their constitutional rights protected.