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Ethics, Experience and Electing a D.A. |
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Summer break is over, the gloves are on, and the race resumes.
By Ron Donoho
(page 1 of 4)
San Diego District Attorney Paul Pfingst stands by his 91 percent conviction rate—highest in the state. The challenger, Judge Bonnie Dumanis, will try to convince us Pfingst’s ethical lapses date back to his celebrated conviction of killer Highway Patrolman Craig Peyer.Casey Gwinn says if 70 percent of his staff didn’t trust him, he’d resign his post as San Diego city attorney. In a recent solicitation letter for San Diego district attorney candidate Judge Bonnie Dumanis, Gwinn writes: “There has never been a greater need for new leadership in the District Attorney’s Office. ... There have been too many ethical lapses, too many broken promises, too many failures of integrity and leadership. ... Mr. [Paul] Pfingst should not be running for a third term with an office dripping with scandals of his own making.”
Tough words, indeed, from the city’s top lawyer. It should be noted Gwinn lost to Pfingst in the primary of 1994’s D.A. race. And it’s inaccurate to say 70 percent of District Attorney Pfingst’s staff voted him untrustworthy. San Diego County’s top prosecutorial administrator oversees 1,000 employees who have never been collectively polled on the topic of ethics and trust. But 300 deputy D.A.s have, and 68 percent of those casting ballots issued a stinging vote of no confidence in their boss.
That dissatisfaction is born of a labor dispute, claims Pfingst. No, say many deputies, it’s disgust with an unethical and vindictive boss. Numbers of his legal corps seem content to spend days alternately fueling their contempt for Pfingst and spewing it forth to anyone who’ll listen—especially reporters.
On November 5, county voters will be asked to choose between Pfingst, who won the primary with 41 percent of the vote, and Dumanis, the runner-up with 23 percent. The other two primary candidates, deputy D.A. Mark Pettine and lawyer Michael Aguirre, have endorsed Dumanis.
Without doubt, the D.A.’s race will be our election-day main event. Prepare for heavyweight political fisticuffs equal to a pairing of Mike Tyson and George Foreman.
In this corner... the Foremanistic challenger—jovial and popular, but armed with a questionable arsenal of weapons.
And in this corner... the Tysonesque incumbent—a world-class competitor with deft skills, yet projecting an uneven, demonized persona.
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