Editorials

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.

Setting the record straight on Dikeman's "dirty dozen"

At his first press conference in January, which I attended, Worth Dikeman pledged he’d run a positive campaign. He then played a four-year-old phone message from Paul Gallegos to some unknown person. The KINS reporter asked, “Is your playing of this ‘secret’ tape the kick-off to your positive campaign?”

We all laughed, but clearly Dikeman was launching what political observers are calling one of the most negative and dishonest campaigns this county has seen.

Now, four months later, I must set the record straight on what I term “Dikeman’s Dirty Dozen,” the 12 worst misrepresentations by Mr. Dikeman’s campaign.

Wish me luck; it’s a long list.

1. Dikeman alleges an “unprecedented mass exodus” from the DA’s office. Wrong. Nearly twice as many left when Terry Farmer started his 20-year reign. Change is harder for some than others.
   
   
2. Dikeman claims, “Violent Crime is up.” Wrong again. According to the California Department of Justice, since Gallegos took office, Humboldt has experienced its lowest rate of violent crime in 15 years. A little bounce in 2004 made it the second lowest rate in 15 years - nearly half the state rate. We have safer streets. Live with it.
   
   
3. Dikeman complained, “Democrats can’t endorse one Democrat over another.” Well, it happens all the time - even in Humboldt County. Following precedent, the Humboldt County Democratic Central Committee endorsed Gallegos voting 20-1.
   
   
4. They claim, “Paul lost a Victim Witness grant.” In fact, that grant, intended for minority communities, went to Hoopa, establishing the first Native American Women’s Shelter in California. Hoopa is still in Humboldt County last time I checked. No loss of jobs, but an expansion of services.
   
   
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Electoral process gives the power to the people

You elected me to serve as your district attorney because you wanted a working DA who would bring new management and problem-solving skills to the DA’s Office and our justice system. I have done that.

The District Attorney’s Office is more responsive, accountable and effective today than it has ever been. Not only are our families safer today, but I am committed to further increasing public safety, public confidence in our system of government and justice throughout this county.I have done that by personally trying cases, and also by introducing modern technology, filing systems, record-keeping and retrieval systems, and by streamlining decision-making and accountability processes. As a result of these changes, and despite the loss of more than half a million dollars and of more than one out of every six people due to budget cuts, Humboldt County is experiencing its lowest rate of violent crime in more than 15 years.

Decline in CAST numbers unrelated to District Attorney

My name is Kay Rackauckas. For 12 years, I proudly served as a deputy district attorney in Orange County. For several of those years, I was a sexual assault/CAST prosecutor. I am also the mother of a 5-year-old son.

Over the Memorial Day weekend I was vacationing in Trinidad and became intrigued by the District Attorney’s race. I have never met either candidate. After hearing Mr. Dikeman’s allegations regarding District Attorney Paul Gallegos’ handling of the CAST unit’s performance, I did some research and felt compelled to write to your paper.

Mr. Dikemans’ allegations are baseless and without merit. They are obviously politically motivated and designed to mislead voters, who are unaware of how such units actually operate.Orange County was among the first counties in California to implement the CAST protocol. CAST is an acronym for Child Abuse Services Team. When a child claims to have been molested, he or she is not interviewed like an adult but is questioned by an expert. The child is placed in a room with the interviewer, while the police and deputy district attorney simply observe from behind one-way glass. Often the interview is taped so the child does not need to repeat the same subject matter to multiple questioners.

Why we're blessed to have Paul Gallegos

To me, it is incredible that anyone would want to remove District Attorney Paul Gallegos from office, except those who want a DA who answers to corporate interests or law enforcement, instead of the public at large.

I hope the community now appreciates what a rare treasure we are blessed with in Paul Gallegos ... who has an indisputable record of serving only one party, us the public, in a fair, objective and democratic way.I speak as a newcomer to Humboldt County, although one who has visited here regularly for the past 20 years, who started camping in the redwoods down the road a ways in 1967 and who yearned to live here someday. I was attracted by the beauty of the area and the small-town feeling.

Tired of political 'pie' throwing

We’ve all experienced political mud slinging, but locally we’ve now moved on to flying cow pies. Maybe it’s the ugly example Washington politics sets or maybe it’s the increasing power of corporate interests manipulating the political scene.

And then there is the media, often using their voices as a bully pulpit. In the past weeks I’ve seen a plethora of slanted, biased editorials and articles calculated to push the candidate that best suits their interests.

One thing that I’ve noticed is that the meadow muffin brigade, the slingers of cow pies, are invariably tied in to big money interests.

A Clear Difference in DA Candidate Visions

For his third election in a little more than four years, we endorse Paul Gallegos for DA.
The Times-Standard Body language says a lot. And judging by the unspoken part of Wednesday's televised debate between district attorney candidates Worth Dikeman and Paul Gallegos, it seemed apparent these men don't like each other very much.

Their spoken comments further separated them. Dikeman, a veteran Humboldt County prosecutor, frankly states that his boss has mismanaged the office in a variety of ways, to the detriment of local crime-fighting efforts.

My Word: We're on our way to justice for all

Four years ago we challenged ourselves to build a community that is courageous, compassionate and flexible enough to meet the demands of all of its people; to create an independent District Attorney's office that is more effective, responsive and accountable to the people of the Humboldt County and that focuses not on punishment -- but on community safety and crime prevention; and to bring meaning to the phrase “Justice for All.”

This has not been an easy challenge. On June 6, we are, once again, faced with the question of whether we have the courage and can sustain the commitment to uphold these ideas. Because change is coming to Humboldt County whether we want it or not. While we can affect the character of that change, we cannot affect its inevitability.

Gallegos poll accusations way off base

In a recent Times-Standard article by James Faulk (March 27), Jerry Partain (local conservative opinion maker) and Dave Parris (Worth Dikeman's campaign manager) both accused Paul Gallegos' campaign of conducting a negative telephone poll called a “push poll” that is used to sway public opinion. They also accused the Gallegos campaign of belittling Rob Arkley's name in the telephone poll and of being disingenuous because they hired an out-of-town firm to conduct the poll. Wrong on all counts! Let's get the facts straight.

1) James Faulk of the T-S first interviewed Alison Sterling Nichols (Paul Gallegos' campaign manager). He asked a lot of questions about the poll and got a lot of answers but there were no questions about whether the poll was a “push poll.”

Unbecoming Start for DA Candidate

Concerns about the effects of a potentially disruptive district attorney election were confirmed this week, when Deputy DA Worth Dikeman’s campaign took a puzzling turn.

Dikeman had called a press conference to draw attention to the county’s violent crime rate – which is looking comparatively good lately – but he took a questionable detour when he played a tape of an answering message left by his boss and election foe, District Attorney Paul Gallegos, more than three years ago.

This stunt accomplished little, as the tape is barely comprehensible over a steady stream of cell phone noise and its contents aren’t very damning when one considers the time it was recorded (shortly after Gallegos won a surprise victory over multiple-term DA Terry Farmer in the spring of 2002) and the tensions that had erupted during and after contentious election campaigns.