DA race Q&A

Worth Dikeman responds

Challenger; deputy district attorney

Q: What is the single most damaging law enforcement problem facing Humboldt County right now?

A: Methamphetamine

Q: What could be done to help insulate the District Attorney's Office from lapses in grant funding, considering the levels at which the department is currently grant dependent?

A: The DA should communicate fully with the board on the financial needs of the office. The DA should work closely with all other department heads with an eye towards partnering with them on common issues. However, grant funding is a necessary reality and to maximize the available funding, application deadlines should be closely monitored and applications carefully reviewed to ensure that they meet all required criteria. I will aggressively seek new sources of funding including seeking grants for financial elder abuse, as well as animal cruelty, which the incumbent has not thought to explore.

Q: Who is your favorite fictional law enforcement agent? Why?

A: Lt. Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police. Tony Hillerman's tenacious and creative lawman acts at once upon analysis and instinct. He has the ability to attend to details and see the big picture at the same time. Joe Leaphorn has that rare gift of listening not to what a man says in words but to what he says with his actions, through his expressions; what a man says by the way he leads his life.

A close second is Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch who lives, within his fictional boundaries, by this maxim: Everyone counts or no one counts.

Q: What is the skill most needed by a district attorney?

A: The ability to lead by example. The DA must personify the work ethic he demands in others. He cannot routinely cut out of work early on Fridays. He must be available to review search warrants. He must assist in crisis situations. He must be able and willing to do every job in the office. He must be prepared to try every case he charges.

Q: What would be your top three priorities?

A: Repairing the Child Abuse Services Team; seeking civil service status for the deputy district attorneys to protect them from retaliatory firings; and restoring public confidence in the District Attorney's Office.

Q: What could be done to improve the current relationship between the office and the area's various law enforcement agencies?

A: Elect a district attorney who will work with the various law enforcement agencies, the lone voice of the victims. It's never been about independence; of course the DA is independent. It's all about leadership. For nearly three decades peace officers have called me at all hours for guidance in particular situations. They don't want to make mistakes either.

Q: What do you think of California's three strikes law?

A: It has, for the most part, been effective in reducing crime in California, but it has been applied to produce harsh and unjust results.

Q: If you could reform it, would you? How and why?

A: Yes. I would use my office to persuade the Legislature to enact statewide standards to curb overzealousness and to achieve consistency among the various jurisdictions in California.

Q: How does illegal immigration impact crime in Humboldt County?

A: Illegal immigration sometimes contributes to the increased movement of hard drugs into Humboldt County.

Q: Given the public's concern over the recent shooting of Cheri Lyn Moore, would you support the formation of a police review board?

A: Not at this time, although in Cheri Lyn Moore's case the issues have become so politically galvanized that the case should have long ago been sent to the California Attorney General's Office to ensure neutrality and to regain the public's confidence in the legal system.

Paul Gallegos responds

Incumbent

Q: What is the single most damaging law enforcement problem facing Humboldt County right now?

A: Violent crime, of course, is our community's biggest public safety issue. During my first term as district attorney I made sure my office prioritized the prosecution of violent crimes, including sex crimes and crimes against children, over victimless crimes. Every unjustified violent act diminishes us as a community. Methamphetamine use also has profound social consequences. I will remain focused on public safety and the prosecution of violent crimes.

Q: What could be done to help insulate the District Attorney's Office from lapses in grant funding, considering the levels at which the department is currently grant dependent?

A: The only way to insulate our office from lapses in grant funds is to become less reliant on them and to have our office funded out of the county's General Fund. Grants are intended as start-up capital for a community to get a program off the ground. They are not intended to be entitlements. Our job, after obtaining grants, is to get the program running successfully and then get local funding through public support. The DA's office depends on grants for almost 60 percent of its budget. That imposes additional work on us, directing resources to keeping the grant funds rather than on serving our community. We must get greater funding support from the county. It is this community's investment in its own safety.

Q: Who is your favorite fictional law enforcement agent?

A: Clarice Starling (from “Silence of the Lambs”). Why? She's brilliant, she's complex, she's brave, she's strong and she's compassionate. Like my wife.

Q: What is the skill most needed by a district attorney?

A: The ability to communicate, and to articulate and motivate others toward the achievement of community goals instead of their own individual interests.

Q: What would be your top three priorities?

A: My top three priorities remain: increasing public safety while insisting that the limitations on governmental power imposed by the Constitution are honored; working with this community toward addressing the causes of crime so we can prevent it; and modernizing the office so it is more effective, responsive and accountable to the people of Humboldt County.

Q: What can be done to improve the current relationship between the office and the area's various law enforcement agencies?

A: My office has a solid working relationship with other law enforcement agencies. We simply could not function without it. Our recent increase in conviction rates and prison commitments for violent criminals is a testament to that relationship. I will always work to maintain and improve those relations. At the same time, I will do all that I can to maintain public confidence in the independence of the DA's office. This community, the courts, law enforcement agencies and everyone involved in the justice system deserve and are entitled to know that the district attorney is making decisions independently.

Q: What do you think of California's three strikes law? If you could reform it, would you? How and why?

A: The evidence shows that crime has gone down since three strikes laws were passed in California. With our freedoms comes responsibility. We must also clearly understand that our freedoms are tied to our laws. Therefore, if a citizen cannot act according to law, it is natural and appropriate for a community to deprive that citizen of some of the freedoms that are protected by the community. Having said that, I personally believe that absent some overriding concern, three strikes should only be applied if the current offense is a serious or violent felony. We initiated that policy when I took office and it has enabled us to fulfill our responsibility of taking offenders off the streets while not threatening the laws by applying them in a way that violates our concept of justice.

Q: How does illegal immigration impact crime in Humboldt County?

A: Illegal immigration impacts Humboldt County because the very act of being here illegally adds another illegal act to the many others that occur here. Some also engage in other criminal activity. If they do, we prosecute them just as we would anyone else who violates the law. However, we cannot demonize the honest, otherwise law-abiding people who come here illegally. They are human beings, entitled to human dignity, who come here to better their lives just as our forefathers did.

Q: Given the public's concern over the recent shooting of Cheri Lyn Moore, would you support the formation of a police review board?

A: That is an issue that is decided by the community -- not by the district attorney. Having said that, I have never opposed the formation of a police review board. I think it is premature to decide whether we need it based on Mrs. Moore's shooting. There has not been a determination that the shooting was unjustified. We must have the patience to get full information and then decide what may be an appropriate response. In the meantime, I encourage the public to educate themselves on the costs and the benefits of a police review board and see what other communities have done. If asked to participate in gathering such information for the community I would certainly do all that I can to provide that service.