From her campaign:
Correctional Officers AFSCME Local 168 Endorse Jackson for DA
District Attorney candidate Allison Jackson added another key group to her list of supporters.
The Humboldt County Correctional Peace Officers Association AFSCME Local 1684 voted recently to endorse Jackson in her bid to be the next Humboldt County District Attorney. HCCPOA President Terri Bittner said the organization’s approximately 90 members want a district attorney who is going to be tough on crime.
“Allison’s got integrity and she actually sentences people for the crimes they have committed,” Bittner said.
Bittner said the correctional officers currently see too many serious criminals who are plead down to lesser offences.
“We want our community back,” Bittner said. “We feel things are out of control.”
Jackson, a partner at the Eureka-based Harland Law Firm, received the endorsement of the Humboldt Deputy Sheriff’s Organization last month.
Jackson has worked since 2004 representing clients in civil litigation, land-use, employment, and other areas of law. Jackson has worked in the Humboldt, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara county district attorney offices.
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May 26, 2010 at 6:10 am
Voting for Jackson
I voted for Paul Gallegos twice, I like him he’s a nice guy……but he has bungled many violent felony cases and had to plea bargain down because of it, much to the detriment of the victims and their families.
I didn’t know much about Allison Jackson before now but I have seen her speak and have met her and spoken with her about these cases. I was very impressed with her, she’s very personable and cares deeply about her work and has the experience it takes.
I think she will “raise the bar” (pun intended) a few notches at the DA’s office and I am definitely going to be voting for Jackson this time for DA
May 26, 2010 at 6:44 am
Liz
Since when do DAs sentence people? Isn’t that up to the judge?
This makes her sound vindictive. She doesn’t have my vote.
May 26, 2010 at 8:06 am
Anonymous
anyone who has the guts to take on the police, sheriff, chp, the cops in general, and to say equal justice under the law, should remain in office. re-elect Paul Gallegos. it’s the right thing to do.
May 26, 2010 at 8:20 am
Anon
Like Pat Higgins, Paul Hagen is seen as unelectable. Hagen should drop out and throw his support behind Jackson and save our county/voters from another expensive runoff.
Jackson makes it’s clear that she is not for plea bargaining down violent felonies like Gallegos has been doing, this doesn’t make her vindictive………especially if youre the victim of the violent felony.
She also called Gallegos out on arming the rogue code enforcement troops ….said that would never happened on her watch.
Jackson has my vote.
May 26, 2010 at 8:46 am
capdiamont
When has Paul G taken on CHP?
May 26, 2010 at 9:30 am
Liz
Jackson should recall it was Gallegos who took the code enforcement cops’ guns away as soon as the abuses were revealed, and then kept them away until the supes finalized it.
Again, since when do DAs sentence people?
May 26, 2010 at 9:59 am
Anonymous
Not quite Liz. Gallegos did that after he was raked across the coals at a public meeting in Garberville and many months after the abuses were revealed. Compounding is the fact that he now claims to have been aware of the volatility of the situation and complained about it but did nothing.
May 26, 2010 at 2:54 pm
Anonymous
Yup, capdiamont is right for once in his life. When the CHP beat up those little girls from HSU for the crime of riding their bikes from Arcata to Eureka on 101 (and picked out the four youngest, prettiest women for violent attack from a big group of students in a curious display of misogyny), DA Paul Gallegos actually charged one of the women for injuring the cop because he broke a clavicle in the process of knocking her off her bicycle.
May 26, 2010 at 3:14 pm
longwind
Not quite, A. The Yee Haw raid had happened months earlier, along with a NCJ cover story on it, but Jill the Supervisor claimed she never noticed, and nothing happened. When the same code crew pulled similar antics down here, we had read about it already, kicked up a proper fuss, and Paul responded to the uproar as soon as it reached him.
He said he was ‘uncomfortable’ with the arrangement he inherited. My sense was there were already enough discomforts in his office, which he was not supposed to win, without him taking that bull by the horns as well. He acted as soon as he got a chance to, and his ultimate plan for taking responsibility for it was very statesmanlike–and too expensive to be seriously considered. Good work, Paul.
Allison hasn’t said anything substantive about what should have been done differently, and her suggestion that she would have ‘reformed’ the arrangement of her Humboldt mentor is, ahem, you know. . .
May 26, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Liz
Not quite, anonymous. I was at the Garberville meeting you refer to, on April 4, 2008, five weeks after the southern Humboldt raids happened. I was also one of the people who organized the April 8 meeting at the Supes that created the Task Force, and was a member of the Code Enforcement Task Force.
Sheriff Philp and Code Officer Jeff Conner certainly got “raked across the coals” on April 4, and Roger Rodoni and Paul Gallegos got more than an earful too. There was a lot of anger expressed at the raids, especially at the Sheriff and Mr. Conner. It wasn’t directed at solely at Gallegos, as you imply.
Gallegos stated frankly at that April 4 meeting that he didn’t like the situation as it existed–CEU officers were deputized under the DA but not supervised by his department– and that he had been aware of it for some time and had been discussing what to do about it.
Gallegos pulled the guns the following week, not months later.
Unlike Sheriff Philp, who never responded to requests to talk to the CETF during the months of hearings that followed, Gallegos and Mike Hislop both came to answer questions and talk about the code raids, supervision of inspectors, and to examine what should happen next.
As someone who witnessed part of the raids and then spent the next eight months working with CLMP and the County to investigate them, I feel that Gallegos responded honestly and appropriately to this community.
Jackson can try and rewrite history all she wants, but Mr. Gallegos took responsibility in the moment and followed up immediately.
He might have pushed harder to correct the supervision situation once he was aware of it, but he had to deal with a poorly structured interdepartmental system and it would not have been easy. Jackson saying she could have prevented the raids is only political posturing. Given the increasingly lax supervision of the CEU by the oversight committee in the years leading up to the raids, I doubt it.
You can view some history at http://civilliberties.org/2008.html and request a transcript of the April 4, 2008 meeting from CLMP. The CETF final report is on the Supervisor’s website.
And by the way, since when do attorneys in “civil litigation, land use and employment law” “actually sentence people”? Since when do DAs sentence people?
May 26, 2010 at 4:36 pm
the reasonable anonymous
I don’t recall Allison Jackson saying a damned thing about the code enforcement fiasco, until very, very recently. I strongly suspect that she would have sided 100% with the cops, had she been in office at that point.
I don’t think too many folks who were concerned about the armed code enforcement raids are going to be fooled into voting for Jackson, who is joined at the hip with the sheriffs, cops, jail guards, etc.
May 26, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Anonymous
You miss the point Liz. Gallegos claims that he was “concerned” about it when he first came into office. That’s 2003. Years before any of the incidents. Yee Haw happened and not a peep from him. He claims that he complained about it early on but still he signed off on guns for people over whom he had no control. It was months after Yee Haw and only after people yelled at him that he finally took a stand.
Here’s are a couple of posts from Eric’s thread on the April 4 meeting.
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=28762316&postID=568439595347528941&pli=1
gallegos repeatedly stated that the code cops carried guns under the auspices of his office, but that he had no authority to supervise or discipline them. many people pointed out the fallacy of being responsible for arming people he has no control over. gallegos responded that he has been “uncomfortable” with this arragement for “some time” (he’s been in office for 5 years now, and that arrangement has continued throughout). he says he has been “in discussions” with the county counsel about it “for some time” and that it is “taking longer than he would have liked.”
Gallegos had such a strong following here in SoHum, both for his election, and in the wake of the bogus recall. I can’t believe he’s abandoning his constituency to “hang out to dry” over this issue.
May 26, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Eric Kirk
Paul probably should have taken a stand on it earlier on, but nobody could have predicted the extremity of the abuses. I agree that it begs the question however, that if he was concerned about it early on why he didn’t take preemptive steps to remedy the situation.
On the other hand, Jackson’s criticism also sounds a little like Monday morning quarterbacking, unless she protested to Terry Farmer for his capitulation to the same policy when she worked under him.
And for that matter, the rest of us should have been vigilant about it when the unit was originally created. It’s not like it was created in secret.
May 26, 2010 at 6:07 pm
the reasonable anonymous
Well the Code Enforcement Unit wasn’t “created” in secret, but it certainly morphed into a monster in the shadows. I remember that at the CETF hearing it came out that the Unit was officially overseen by a committee that met in private, including several county staff people and (in theory, although it seems they rarely attended) a couple of county supervisors.
There were no minutes kept of these “oversight” meetings, and if I recall correctly, some of the little documentation having to do with the transformation of the Unit into it’s more recent aggressive militaristic approach was supposedly lost during flooding of the Court House basement.
Like a lot of goverment overreach, the Code Enforcement Unit started small, but soon oozed and morphed and expanded, and took on a life of it’s own, until finally its ugliness was revealed in the light of day.
May 26, 2010 at 10:21 pm
Bob
Jackson never objected to the code enforcement folks having those same guns under Farmers’ rule, for all of the years she was a DDA.
Jackson’s basic position (no, she won’t admit it publicly), is that if the cops arrested you, then you must be guilty.
She’s always been out to seek vengeance, not justice, and yes that does win her support from some, if not many, grieving victims families.
May 26, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Bob
Hagen should drop out of the race. He would of course endorse Jackson, just as he endorsed Dikeman, which begs the question, why are so many gullible “progressives” supporting him?
May 27, 2010 at 8:41 am
Eric Kirk
Bob – I don’t know who Hagen would support, if anyone. But progressives are supporting him because they like him and/or are disenchanted with Gallegos. Hagen’s a progressive leader and a good man. You should talk to him sometime.
May 27, 2010 at 12:04 pm
the reasonable anonymous
If Hagen endorses Jackson, I think he will have forfeited any claim to be a “progressive leader.”
May 27, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Eric Kirk
RA – there are progressives, some of them far to my left by any reasonable definition, who will not vote for Gallegos. A few of them are willing to vote for Jackson if Hagen doesn’t make the cut. The rest will probably sit out the November election, at least for that race.
But Hagen’s progressive credentials are not in question, certainly not on environmental issues.
May 27, 2010 at 1:19 pm
the reasonable anonymous
Like I said, Hagen’s “progressive credentials” will certainly be called into question if he throws his support to Allison Jackson. And his previous support of Worth Dikeman means that those credentials are already looking a bit tattered.
Now I’m sure he’s done fine work in prosecuting environmental crimes, but so did Joe Lieberman when he was Attorney General of CT. In fact Lieberman ran on his “progressive” record when he defeated Lowell Wieker, a moderate “renegade” Republican to win his Senate seat. That sure worked out well for progressives, didn’t it!?
Where Hagen’s been in the past is important, but where he is now and where he seems to be headed — the answers to those questions will determine his “progressive credentials” going forward.
If he ends up endorsing Jackson, clearly the most conservative of the three, I expect that a lot of Hagen’s “progressive” supporters will be scratching their heads and wondering if maybe he isn’t quite the “progressive leader” they thought he was.
May 27, 2010 at 1:33 pm
the reasonable anonymous
Sorry for the “extreme overuse” of “quotation marks” in my last “comment.”
Umm, I mean:
Sorry for the extreme overuse of quotation marks in my last comment!
May 27, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Michael
Whomever the cops (or the chamber of commerce) endorse should usually be voted against, it’s really just that simple.
May 27, 2010 at 2:11 pm
George Shieman
Re: Plea Bargains… and some of the comments..incl.the
comments from the DeputySheriff org.
{espec.see the last several paragraphs where a
Dist.Atty from another jurisdiction talks about the
evidence..and legally-mandated proofs.}
the fact is one of Mr.Gallegos’ opponents is flat wrong…
saying every case should be prosecuted to the full extent
of the law…
The Penal Code lists a short job description for local Dist.
Attys.. It simply says that the job of the DA is to do justice.
So you want a prosecutor mainly to see that justice is done.
Their sole charge is not to win those cases for the state.
{and certainly is not to always seek incarceration..or the
absolute longest sentence… and why isn’t anyone talking
about probation…etc.}
The first charge shouldn’t be to win every case.
It’s got to be to see that justice is done. They should be ethical.
And..in fact…almost all jurisdictions resolve most of their case-
loads..through negotiations..and plea bargains.. In fact in San
Francisco County…it is said that less than 100 cases go to trial
yearly… {probably 96+% are plea bargained…and the latest news
last week…was that four of the largest counties..incl. SF, are
losing almost 40% of cases that go to trial.
One thing Mr.Gallegos has stated… there are other reasons that
make it a good deal for the county…. Defendants give up their
right to appeal….and if they don’t complete the conditions agreed
to…the prosecutor can haul them back into court.
Personally…I have to truly say that it is my belief…listening to the
candidates…that only one is the best choice…for the all-important
reason penal code requirement: accomplishing “justice.”
That is Paul Gallegos.
below is a mix of comments nationwide..
that I believe better state the issue.
Plea bargains arise from the influence exerted by the evidence..
..and the expected punishment after trial.
Statistics vary across jurisdictions, but it would not be uncommon for half of all arrests
to result either in no charges or in charges that are later dismissed.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, don’t get a case until after the action has died down, Burke noted.
That gives them latitude to step back and consider the complex set of factors that govern whether
prosecution is just. They also have to look at whether they can prove a case beyond a reasonable
doubt at trial, a tougher standard than police’s probable cause.
One of the toughest parts of a prosecutor’s job, Segrest said, is having to tell a police officer who is
invested in a case that it won’t proceed.
“I’ve had to tell a lot of people I really like ‘no,’ ” he said. “. . . You don’t get any thanks, don’t get any
appreciation if you don’t win or you don’t prosecute. Then you’re the biggest idiot in the world.”
Segrest added, however, that he is willing to listen to officers who disagree with case decisions.
For years, he has encouraged those who have a beef to call him or the prosecutor who handled the case,
he said.
“Quite honestly, nobody takes me up on it,” Segrest said. “It’s easier to say it’s the old, lazy prosecutor
who won’t do his job.”
The officers who tend to get the most upset are the patrol officers, the chief said. Unlike detectives, they are
not usually privy to what happens with a case after the initial call. So where a detective might be aware of a
problem that necessitates a case being tossed, it comes as a surprise to the patrol officer.
“They’re just kind of more out of the loop,” Stroman said.
Local prosecutors either refused or dismissed 50.3 percent of felony charges during 2006-08. For misdemeanor
cases, there was a 39.7 dismissal/refusal rate, and for all cases combined, it was 43 percent. {this is similar
nationwide…and often, as you know, at the preliminary hearing..or in other pre-trial situations…it is
the court that dismisses cases for lack of sufficient evidence….or other legally madated reasons..george}
George Shieman gshieman@aol.com Eureka/San Francisco
May 27, 2010 at 2:22 pm
the reasonable anonymous
One thing that Jackson hasn’t explained is: If so many of Gallegos’ plea deals are “illegal,” as she so shrilly exclaims, why have they all been approved by the judges in all those cases?
Apparently she knows better than all those judges? Or maybe she’s just cynically using a false allegation of illegality to further her campaign? Naw, that couldn’t be it!
May 27, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Not A Native
Actually Eric, I’ve talked with Hagen in a context away from official or legal matters and found him to be rigid and intellectually weak. To me, he was more about parroting a standard line than actually thinking through the positions he promoted. Basically, I think he isn’t very smart and can’t develop a broad perspective, so he tells people what he thinks they want to hear. I don’t trust him.
May 27, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Eric Kirk
Wow NAN! Well, I’ve come away from my conversations with him with a very different view.
May 27, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Buzz
I guess that Not A Native has never spoken with Gallegos, because “he isn’t very smart and can’t develop a broad perspective” would describe him well. Hagen is indeed rigid, but at least he isn’t lazy and self-absorbed like Gallegos.
And i would fully expect that Jackson is correct about the plea bargains. Perhaps Eric could look it up for us.
May 27, 2010 at 4:44 pm
the reasonable anonymous
At least Hagen is not “polluting” his precious bodily fluids:
from this week’s North Coast Journal:
“Paul Hagen doesn’t drink coffee. Or alcohol, soda…not even tea. The body is mostly water, he reasons, so drinking anything else pollutes it.”
If that’s an example of his reasoning skills, then we have much to be concerned about if Hagen were to win.
Let’s see, so aside from water, the rest of the body is mostly animal tissue. Therefore eating anything but animal tissue is polluting it? Quick, tell the youngsters, don’t eat those peas…you’re polluting yourself!
May 27, 2010 at 4:49 pm
the reasonable anonymous
Any other “progressive leaders” who endorsed Dikeman? Are any of them endorsing Jackson?
If Hagen endorses Jackson, it seems to me that he’ll be revealing the main motivation behind his campaign: Attempted revenge for losing his job. Same as Jackson. They certainly have that much in common.
May 27, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Not A Native
Well Eric, thats my experience and I’m sticking to it.
Actually, I’m guessing Hagen will do well in the election, precisely because he tells people what they want to hear. I expect him to be in the runoff. I’ll not be surprised if Jackson is in the runoff too.
I find that most people here don’t want a fair and impartial DA. They want vengeance if they identify with the victim or leniency if they identify with the accused. Gallegos isn’t pandering to that, Hagen and Jackson are. So they’re winning the “popularity” contest.
May 27, 2010 at 6:11 pm
the reasonable anonymous
Despite the pandering, I expect Mr. Precious Bodily Fluids to place 3rd.
However, I think he’s reasonably well qualified to serve as the DA, and I think he’d do a lot less damage than Allison Jackson, so if by chance Hagen and Jackson are the ones who make it to the runoff, Hagen will get my vote.
Hopefully most Hagen supporters would react the same way to a Gallegos/Jackson runoff. For Hagen’s left-of-Gallegos supporters, actually voting for Jackson just to beat Gallegos would be a senseless act of political spite that would likely come back to haunt them is Jackson wins. Of course just sitting out the runoff would have a similar effect, though more indirect.
Of course Hagen could end up actually endorsing Jackson which would also be an act of senseless political spite — but if Hagen’s main reason for being in the race is to take revenge for his lost job, then he might well go that route. If so, it will be interesting to see if he can take more than a small sliver of his own left-of-Gallegos voters with him as he moves into the camp of the most far-right conservative in the race.
May 27, 2010 at 6:49 pm
Eric Kirk
So what if Gallegos comes in third and endorses Jackson against Hagen?
May 27, 2010 at 8:17 pm
the reasonable anonymous
I don’t think that Gallegos endorsing Jackson is even a remote possibility. Do you?
But, just for the sake of argument, if he did so, I think that would certainly call HIS “progressive credentials” into question.
But I would certainly vote for Hagen over Jackson, no matter who Gallegos endorsed. Why? Because I’m interested in getting the best DA for the county (given the choices) rather than satisfying some sort of personal vendetta related to Hagen’s lost job.
I suspect most Hagen supporters will end up coming to the same conclusion and voting for Gallegos if it comes down to Gallegos vs. Jackson. Sure, a few will stay home and sulk, but there are other important races on the ballot that day, so most will go to vote, and relatively few will just leave that race blank…just those few who foolishly believe that it will make no difference whether Jackson or Gallegos is the DA.
If Hagen comes in third in the first round, then I guess we’ll see which of these things — revenge or policy — Paul Hagen is more interested in. At this point I’m honestly not sure whether the urge for revenge will outweigh the obvious ideological contradiction of the most-left-wing candidate endorsing the most-right-wing one. But I think we’re about to find out.
May 27, 2010 at 8:28 pm
the reasonable anonymous
If Gallegos came in third, I think there may be a decent chance that he would endorse Hagen in order to help prevent Jackson from winning. But I think it’s just as likely that he would not endorse either. I think it’s highly unlikely he’d endorse Jackson.
If Hagen comes in third, I think it’s quite likely that he would not endorse either Gallegos or Jackson, though of course his previous support of Dikeman and his “revenge” angle means that it wouldn’t be all that surprising if he endorsed Jackson. It WOULD be pretty surprising if Hagen ended up endorsing Gallegos. If he did so, that would be the statesmanlike move, putting policy concerns ahead of his own resentments. Unfortunately, I have my doubts that he has that much integrity, or even self-awareness.
If Jackson comes in third (which I sincerely hope she will!) she might well endorse Hagen, given that she also seems to be motivated in large part by personal animus related to her lost job. On the other hand, his base of support and philosophy is so far to the left of hers that it would be just as odd an endorsement as Hagen endorsing her would be. Pretty likely that she wouldn’t support either of them. I think the probability of Jackson endorsing Gallegos is pretty close to zero.
May 27, 2010 at 8:31 pm
the reasonable anonymous
And as always, all political analysis offered by the reasonable anonymous (TM) is guaranteed to be worth every penny you paid for it!
May 27, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Buzz
Reasonable Anonymous make an unreasonable assertion: “If Hagen endorses Jackson — revenge for losing his job.”
More likely he sees her obvious superiority to Gallegos. I would be surprised if Jackson wouldn’t agree that Hagen is also better qualified than Gallegos.
May 28, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Anonymous
Which candidate actually does..and would do the job as
it is supposed to be done?
Here’s part of the basic job description given by
The American Bar Association in its Model Rules of Conduct
for a “Prosecutor.” “A prosecutor has the responsibility
of a minister of justice and not simply that of an advocate.
This responsibility carries with it the specific obligation to
see to it that the defendant is accorded procedural
justice and that guilt is decided upon sufficient evidence.”
I wrote earlier that the Calif.Penal Code simply specifies
that the job of a prosecutor is to do justice. There is only
one candidate who seems to understand that a good prosecutor
is not just a mad, rabid, angry dog.
I don’t believe in any way
that it is the job of a modern, decent prosecutor to simply seek
vengeance. And I don’t mean just the elected District Attorney.
After all…it’s the People v. defendant…not any victim..or the
victim’s family or friends.. We don’t just hang and lynch in this
country anymore…{hard for some people up there to believe…
including apparently at least one of the candidates}.
The other side of that…is that “no one should be above the law.”
That means politicians, police, and corporations. Considering the
statements of one opponent campaign…it is my true belief that if
that person were to be elected, there would be a significant number
of people that would be “untouchable” even if they committed a
crime.
Personally, having lived or spent lots of time in most areas of
Humboldt, Trinity &Mendocino, I would not like to see things go
backwards. Paul Gallegos is the only one who seems to be capable
of being a totally modern, articulate, tech-savvy Dist.Atty..who can
communicate with the people of the county…and not hide
behind the walls of the Courthouse bldg… which is what I seem
to see in so many other places.
Humboldt really does seem to be “Behind The Redwood Curtain”
often-times, and the only way that I can see to change that reality
or perception is to keep things moving forward…and cast a ballot
for Paul Gallegos.
George Shieman Eureka/SanFrancisco gshieman@aol.com
May 28, 2010 at 3:38 pm
George Shieman
Which candidate actually does..and would do the job as
it is supposed to be done?
Here’s part of the basic job description given by
The American Bar Association in its Model Rules of Conduct
for a “Prosecutor.” “A prosecutor has the responsibility
of a minister of justice and not simply that of an advocate.
This responsibility carries with it the specific obligation to
see to it that the defendant is accorded procedural
justice and that guilt is decided upon sufficient evidence.”
I wrote earlier that the Calif.Penal Code simply specifies
that the job of a prosecutor is to do justice. There is only
one candidate who seems to understand that a good prosecutor
is not just a mad, rabid, angry dog. I don’t believe in any way
that it is the job of a modern, decent prosecutor to simply seek
vengeance. And I don’t mean just the elected District Attorney.
After all…it’s the People v. defendant…not any victim..or the
victim’s family or friends.. We don’t just hang and lynch in this
country anymore…{hard for some people up there to believe…
including apparently at least one of the candidates}.
The other side of that…is that “no one should be above the law.”
That means politicians, police, and corporations. Considering the
statements of one opponent campaign…it is my true belief that if
that person were to be elected, there would be a significant number
of people that would be “untouchable” even if they committed a
crime.
Personally, having lived or spent lots of time in most areas of
Humboldt, Trinity &Mendocino, I would not like to see things go
backwards. Paul Gallegos is the only one who seems to be capable
of being a totally modern, articulate, tech-savvy Dist.Atty..who can
communicate with the people of the county…and not hide
behind the walls of the Courthouse bldg… which is what I seem
to see in so many other places.
Humboldt really does seem to be “Behind The Redwood Curtain”
often-times, and the only way that I can see to change that reality
or perception is to keep things moving forward…and cast a ballot
for Paul Gallegos.
George Shieman Eureka/SanFrancisco gshieman@aol.com
May 28, 2010 at 10:36 pm
capdiamont
2:54p “Yup, capdiamont is right for once in his life.” Umm I was asking a question, not a statement. Pretty pathetic statement by you.
May 29, 2010 at 7:07 am
Dave Kirby
For what its worth. An ex employee of the D.A.s office recently opined the following….”I had problems with Worth Dikemans positions on some issues but you always knew where he stood….with Jackson it was different. She would say one thing and do another.” I know this is hearsay but considering the recent dust up with Betty Chinn’s non endorsement it does cast some doubt as to Jackson’s honesty.
May 29, 2010 at 7:25 am
Anonymous
Yup, that’s right: After falsely claiming that Eureka homeless advocate and Minerva Award winner Betty Chinn had endorsed her campaign, DA candidate Allison Jackson then changed her tune and falsely claimed that Chinn had been harrassed into withdrawing her endorsement.
Classy.
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_15188468
May 29, 2010 at 7:27 am
the reasonable anonymous
Yup, that’s right: After falsely claiming that Eureka homeless advocate and Minerva Award winner Betty Chinn had endorsed her campaign, DA candidate Allison Jackson then changed her tune and falsely claimed that Chinn had been harrassed into withdrawing her endorsement.
Classy.
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_15188468
May 29, 2010 at 8:09 am
humboldturtle
I am a Paulgallegos turtle. You may have heard of my cuz, the Galapaulgos Tortoise.
Go Gallegos!
May 29, 2010 at 10:14 am
Ed Denson
There is an article in todays T-S regarding the enormous amounts of money that are going into the local races. I believe the 3 DA candidates have between them raised over $200,000. Considering that this is a race without any issues that have made news of any interest outside of political and legal circles, and that the neither the salary nor power of the DA is extraordinary, the amounts raised are disturbing. If you need even $50,000 to campaign for this office many people are realistically excluded from consideration. The same trend of high expense campaigns is visible in the other local races, the costs of which have been increasing each election year. I don’t know what can be done about it, but it means increasingly that the elections follow the cynical version of the golden rule: those that have the gold, rule. This is not a good thing for a democracy.
May 29, 2010 at 10:52 am
Eric Kirk
Ed – that all began with the recall. I think that opened Pandora’s Box.
RA – I’ve been hearing a number of disturbing sources this election season about names put on supporter lists which didn’t belong there, and people being pressured (harassed may be a strong word) into dropping endorsements, in several local races. I’m not going to repeat the specifics, because it’s all rumor that I don’t have the time to track down and verify or dispute. But local politics have taken some unfortunate turns. It’s one of the reasons so many people don’t vote. To tell you the truth, my own interest is diminished this season, and I’m a perennial geek about this stuff.
May 29, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Buzz
“There is only one candidate who seems to understand that a good prosecutor
is not just a mad, rabid, angry dog…”
There’s plenty of competition, but that is one of the dumbest comments I’ve read on the DA’s race.
May 29, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Mitch
Eric,
Offhand, I think the reason so many people don’t vote is that they are either intellectually lazy or just lazy. To say “my vote doesn’t matter,” and leave it at that, is a pretty much complete abdication of personal responsibility. To me, it’s a sign that a person thinks they are so important that just being one voter among many isn’t worth their effort.
To say “they’re all bad” is a refusal to acknowledge that part of being human is often needing to choosing the least bad choice.
To say “it only encourages them” is a fallacy. People want 50% plus one, they don’t care whether that’s from a 10% turnout or a 90% turnout.
I’ve always suspected that Republicans cheer every time a Republican or a Democrat gets caught being an ass, because low turnout ALWAYS favors the right wing.
May 29, 2010 at 8:01 pm
the reasonable anonymous
To say “my vote doesn’t matter,” and then not vote based on that reason, is a perfect example of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
May 29, 2010 at 11:16 pm
the reasonable anonymous
Here’s my take on the story about Allison Jackson falsely claiming Betty Chinn as a supporter, then falsely claiming Chinn was harrassed in to withdrawing her support.
(1) Allison Jackson’s campaign runs ads listing beloved local philanthropist and advocate for the homeless, Betty Chinn, as endorsing Jackson. Betty Chinn tells reporters she never endorsed Jackson. Okay, I suppose we can chalk that one up to miscommunication and sloppy campaign work. If it had ended right there I would have said, well, that was unfortunate, but no big deal. But then:
(2) Allison Jackson announces that though she “appreciates Chinn’s support,” that she’s removing Chinn’s name from the list of endorsements because Chinn had asked for it to be removed after being “harrassed” about the endorsement. At this point she was still trying to make it sound as if Chinn really supported Jackson, but just wanted her name removed from the list due to the “harrassment.” This was either (a) a cynical ploy to try to turn her own mistake into a political cudgel against her opponents, or else (b) a stupid mistake that could easily have been avoided had she had the common decency to talk to Ms. Chinn, rather than entertaining rumours and engaging in speculation. Then,
(3) Chinn responds to the “harrassment” story by telling reporters that not only was she NOT harassed by anyone, but that she NEVER endorsed Jackson in the first place. But Jackson wasn’t done trying to use Chinn for Jackson’s gain, so,
(4) Jackson claims that she feels terrible about the situation, saying “I simply cannot engage in a political scheme that puts someone in the spotlight that doesn’t want to be in it,” despite the fact that this is exactly what she did, not just once, but now several times (first with the false claim of an endorsement, then with the false claim of harassment). Surely Allison MUST be done with her manipulation and doubletalk at this point, right? Wrong, because next,
(5) Allison tries to have it both ways by saying “I thought that statement was crafted carefully enough that it would put this issue to bed,” adding that she even specifically asked Mintz not to run the story in an effort to protect Chinn’s privacy. So, first she claims that her false statement about alleged harrassment should have set the record straight. Of course it didn’t, it just spread even MORE false information. But then she also claims that she asked Mintz not to run the story, supposedly out of concern for Ms. Chinn’s privacy (Mintz says she never made any such request). So, according to Jackson, she “carefully crafted” her (wildly inaccurate) statement in such a way as to set the record straight, but then asked that it not appear in the paper. So then how was it going to set the record straight? Quite nonsensical.
So we have, at best, sloppy campaign work that resulted in a beloved local philanthropist and homeless advocate being falsely listed as endorsing Jackson, reckless indifference to the truth as demonstrated by Jackson’s failure to get the sroty right even the second time around, an attempt to smear the supporters of her rivals’ campaigns with a false accusation that they were harrassing a Jackson supporter (who actually wasn’t a supporter), a condescending claim that she cares about the privacy of the person whose privacy she had repeatedly violated and was continuing to violate as she spun her harrassment fable, and then a claim (not backed up by the reporter) that she had asked the reporter not to run her fictional account of harrassment.
Out of all that, about the only thing Jackson said that I actually believe was accurate was when she called her harrassment claim “carefully crafted.”
Oh, yes, I think it was carefully crafted alright, though not in the way Jackson was implying. It seems to me that it was carefully crafted to make it seem like Ms. Chinn had endorsed Jackson, and was still a supporter, but just wanted her name off the public list due to harrassment, presumably from supporters of Hagen or Gallegos.
Of course when you’re working with three or four simultaneous lies, you have to craft your statements very carefully indeed, and even then you’re still likely to get caught — as Ms. Jackson is finding out, despite all her careful craftiness.
Meanwhile, Betty Chinn has more honesty, modesty and compassion in her little finger than Jackson has in her whole campaign.
I sure hope Jackson loses some votes as a result of this fiasco, she certainly deserves to.
May 30, 2010 at 7:52 am
Joel Mielke
I hope that Reasonable doesn’t mind if I skipped his long “take” and just read the attack on Allison Jackson at the end. I know that Reasonable is smarter than Fred (sorry, I know that’s not saying much), but this is the sort of idle speculation that I find so useless on blogs.
May 30, 2010 at 9:19 am
Bob
In response to Anonymous May 26, 8:06 a.m.
For those of you that think that Paul is the great torch carrier, the watchdog of other law enforcement you better wake up. Paul plans on having his own D.A. Police force that will be dispatched from the D.A.’S office with their M-16 rifles. Who will be watching this special police force ? Look back in history, you don’t have to look very far to see the abuse of so-called special police forces. If you think they will just be keeping an eye on the Police, I have a bridge I can sell you.
May 30, 2010 at 9:44 am
humboldturtle
Here’s what Hagen’s old boss said a while back:
David Eyster – Ukiah Hayward, CA Thursday Apr 29
It was a surprise to read that the Sierra Club, an organization that I respect, has endorsed Paul Hagen to be Humboldt County’s District Attorney. As a former prosecutor also currently seeking public office in Mendocino County, it is my belief that the elected DA of any county should be a lawyer who has demonstrated a special aptitude and fitness for prosecution work and can set forth on the campaign trail a track record of personal success in handling serious and complex criminal matters. Most elected DA’s have shown exceptional trial and management skills that promote public safety, job one of any DA. I don’t believe Mr. Hagen has these qualities or experience so any endorsement by any entity of Mr. Hagen comes, of course, as a surprise. I was the senior supervisor and lead criminal trial attorney for the Mendocino County DA’s Office when Mr. Hagen started as a prosecutor many years ago. As an aside, I was the prosecutor who personally prosecuted and convicted former Humboldt County District Attorney Bernie DePaoli of felony misconduct that ultimately landed him in prison. I consider myself a good judge of young legal talent and it was never a secret that I opposed Mr. Hagen’s hiring. While certainly engaging at times, I found Mr. Hagen to be one of those people who only talked a good game. I still chuckle when I recall how he became terribly angry that he was not invited to a criminal procedure training session that I routinely held for our summer law clerks, volunteer interns who had only completed their first year of law school. None of the office attorneys had ever attended – or even asked to attend — this law clerk-oriented training session. No self-respecting attorney who has passed the Bar exam and is working in a DA’s Office should require such a beginner’s course but, unfortunately, Mr. Hagen was the exception. So there is no confusion, I have not had any contact with Mr. Hagen since 1996 so, perhaps, he has improved his legal skill set in the intervening years. Maybe he has finally developed jury trial skills, or now has experience with developing and managing office budgets. Maybe he has served as the supervisor of a felony trial team, or personally handled notorious and violent cases like those we read about that give us chills. The District Attorney is a very important position in any county, especially these days when it comes to public safety and tight budgets. Before you cast your vote for the June 8th primary, I encourage all of my neighbors to the north to take a critical look at Mr. Hagen to make sure he still isn’t a one-trick environmental pony who has no real experience with the important business of public safety.
May 30, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Eric Kirk
Humboldturtle – As I said before, I think that post says more about Eyster than Hagen. It’s very petty, and having read it as posted on the Times Standard website, it would take some convincing to get me to vote for him in Mendocino where he’s running. Basically, what he offers as evidence of Hagen’s lack of qualifications is that he wanted to take Eyster’s course. Assuming there’s anything to the story, I’m not clear as to why Eyster refused him. The post exudes with pettiness.
May 31, 2010 at 6:33 am
humboldturtle
Petty? It struck me as more of a Large.
May 31, 2010 at 6:53 am
Anonymous
Eyster is an unprofessional shyster. I wonder what his colleagues say about him (in private of course, because they would not talk shit about a colleague publicly).
May 31, 2010 at 7:56 am
humboldturtle
Eric, what about Hagens’ statement in the NCJ that he got fired by the DA because of HCDCC? That’s bizarre. Is this some creative new paradigm proffered by Hagen, a new sort of reverse kip on the truth he feels will magically help his chances? I mean, HUH?
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