Candidate for
District Attorney; Humboldt County

The District Attorney is the People's Attorney. His client is the People of the State of California. The job of the District Attorney is to first and foremost, promote the fair, impartial and expeditious pursuit of justice by striving to hold offenders accountable; reach appropriate dispositions for the offense and the offender; improve the efficiency and efficacy of the administration of justice; and improve services to victims and witnesses. Second, the District Attorney's job is to strive to ensure safer communities by working to reduce crime and the fear of crime. Third, the District Attorney's job is promote integrity in the prosecution profession and coordination in the criminal justice system by establishing and maintaining a culture in the District Attorney's office of competent and professional behavior; by managing and administrating the District Attorney's office efficiently and in a fiscally responsible manner; and by working with all parts of the community to promote responsible, lawful behavior in all people

The relationship between the DA and the police? The American Bar Association Models Rules of Professional Conduct for a prosecutor state that "a prosecutor has the responsibility of a minister of justice and not simply that of an advocate. This responsibility carries with it specific obligation to see that the defendant is accorded procedural justice and that guilt is decided upon sufficient evidence." The American Bar Association Standards for Criminal Justice state "the duty of a prosecutor is to seek justice, not merely to convict." As such, the ideal relationship between the District Attorney's Office and the Sheriff's Department is a relationship that maintains independence and the ultimate authority of seeing that justice is accomplished while working together toward the common goal of promoting public safety.

The District Attorney is a representative of the People of the State of California. The accused is necessarily one of the People that the District Represents. As such he must prosecute with earnestness and vigor while working to protect and promote the protections of the law for the all people and refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction.

Despite budget cuts on an almost annual basis throughout the seven years that I have served as your District Attorney we have both maintained and improved our services. We have created the Consumer and Environmental Offenses Unit, the Sex Offenses Unit, the Worker's Compensation Fraud Unit, the Bad Check Program and the Tribal Roundtable. We have modernized our office, expanded our outreach to our Native American and Spanish speaking communities. We have improved CAST and the delivery of services to crime victims. We have worked with communities and agencies to address environmental and other community issues. As a result of our hard work and commitment to public safety crime has gone down throughout Humboldt County, forfeitures from illegal drug activities have gone up and prison commitments have gone up. We will continue this work of maintaining and improving services to this community while working to make the Humboldt County District Attorney's Office the preeminent District Attorney's Office in Northcoast by providing leadership, training and services to public safety agencies throughout and outside of Humboldt County.