Direct examination, part II

To better understand the candidates in the district attorney race and their campaigns, the Sun contacted Senior Deputy District Attorney Joyce Dudley and Chief Trial Deputy Josh Lynn and asked them each to answer a handful of questions. Find the first set of questions and answers archived at santamariasun.com.

The first question-and-answer set appeared in last week’s story. We chose to run it again here because it relates to the following topic about where candidates would plan to make funding cuts.

Q: What will be your biggest priorities when handling the DA office’s budget?

Dudley: My biggest priority will always be public safety, now and in the future. I am uniquely positioned to deal with the budgetary issues facing not only the DA’s office, but public safety countywide. I have the endorsements of our sheriff, Bill Brown, and County Fire as well as numerous public safety organizations. They support me because they know I understand how important it is to make our budgetary process a collaborative effort. We cannot allow any one public safety organization to take precedence over any other, and together we must do everything possible to fight for public safety dollars. Together we can work to identify where there are overlaps in our public safety system in order to streamline costs and increase efficiency. We must also look at innovative ways to bring in other sources of funding. In the past, I was successful in bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the DA’s office through asset forfeiture that was directly linked to perpetrators of specific crimes. That is just one of the tools we have to garner additional funding. Our next district attorney cannot rely on a business as usual approach.  

Lynn: Violent crime, gangs, career criminals, and our youth will be our foremost priorities when I am district attorney. I will find efficiencies as well, using better technology and refusing to condone the endless continuances and delays in our cases that clog the courts and jails in this county. In order to improve society and to save tax dollars, we must insist our youth become a top priority. A youth who becomes truant often becomes a part of the juvenile, then adult systems, costing taxpayer dollars and our missing the moral imperative to raise productive, well-adjusted, and happy children.

Q: Funding cuts are inevitable for county government and services. Where do you plan to cut in your department, and how do you plan to address what could become a decrease in services?

Dudley: I will seek federal stimulus funding, as the Ventura’s DA’s office has already done. I will also work with local businesses and nonprofit organizations to apply for additional program-specific funds. I believe that there are many ways to reduce costs without sacrificing services. Past administrations have not brought departments together to discuss where there may be waste or duplications of efforts; I will work with other agencies to do so. The hard-working men and women in the DA’s office should play an integral role in finding cost-cutting measures. This will be one of my first initiatives as your next district attorney. That being said, there will undoubtedly be cuts, and I am prepared to deal with that reality in a way that will not jeopardize public safety.

Lynn: The district attorney has already faced massive cuts for three years. As a leader and administrator in the District Attorney’s Office, I have been very involved in structuring our budget to absorb those cuts without a reduction in public safety. I am confident that with proper leadership we will be restored to a level in which our dedicated team of deputies can achieve public safety and be proactive in reducing overall crime. I am very optimistic that further cuts will be avoided as we currently have many, many positions unfilled; in other words, we are already conducting business as though we have suffered further devastating cuts. I am proud of our team and its work ethic and ability to adjust and believe our funding sources will improve over the next two years.

Q: What qualities does a good district attorney possess? What qualities/
experiences most qualify you for this position?

Dudley: I believe being a good district attorney is more than just being a successful prosecutor. Our next DA should have an in-depth grasp of the challenges the residents of Santa Barbara County face in their daily lives and must be able to see things from every point of view. I have been a prosecutor for 20 years, and I have never lost a felony jury trial. I have prosecuted every type of crime, from gang-related cases to murder. There are now hundreds of individuals serving long to life sentences for crimes that I have prosecuted. However, my experience is not one-dimensional. Over the past 35 years, I have worked with numerous nonprofit organizations and received dozens of honors for my volunteer commitments. Just last year, I was named a community hero by Santa Barbara County Schools. From my experiences with a variety of nonprofit organizations, I have witnessed first hand the challenges of our residents, from children’s programs such as the Boys and Girls Club, to victim/survivor programs such as the Rape Crisis Center and Domestic Violence Solutions. I was a program director/administrator for 10 years prior to becoming an attorney. Before joining the DA’s office, I was the director of Head Start for Santa Barbara County, which included facilities throughout the county, including offices in Santa Maria, Guadalupe, Lompoc, and Solvang. I have a B.A. in psychology, two masters degrees in education, one with an emphasis in administration, and a Juris Doctorate. I have taught and lectured locally and statewide for the past 15 years. I believe that the breadth and depth of my experience make me uniquely qualified to serve as your next district attorney.

Lynn: Judgment and experience along with a selfless, non-political approach to independent law enforcement are the most important qualities. I am the only one in this election to have the support and endorsements of those that have been elected to lead and have managed the District Attorney’s Office for the last 28 years—all of them. I have that support because I have proven judgment, a flawless ethical record, have led the office in every capacity, and have structured and implemented our $17.4 million budget. I have a proven track record of getting results and using the independent judgment of this office to make decisions about crime and its effects on the county; and I have no political capital I must repay as a result of this election. I have prosecuted every kind of crime imaginable, including gangs, Jesse James Hollywood, and many, many others. I was the head of the Domestic Violence Unit and set policy there as well.

Q: In previous debates, both of you have mentioned reaching out to the community to improve public safety. Please elaborate on how you plan to do this.

Dudley: I have worked with many agencies over the last three decades, some of which are listed below. I will continue to work with these and add other organizations in a collaborative process in which public safety will remain paramount. Those agencies in which I have been most involved include Boys and Girls clubs, CALM, Rape Crisis, Girls Inc, UCSB, County Schools, City Schools, Alzheimer’s Association, Cottage Hospital Systems, Santa Barbara College of Law, SBCC, County and City Firefighters. I will also have frequent press releases and press conferences to keep the community aware of the concerns and work of their DA’s office. Additionally, I will create a user-friendly website that both provides information and gives the community an ability to effect change. Under my administration, the DA’s office will become a part of the community and not just stand in judgment of it. In order to stop crime, you must have a deep understanding of the communities you are seeking to protect. I have that understanding.

Lynn: Honesty, ethics, and access. I will reach out to community and faith-based groups, to schools and community leaders to improve public safety for all who live here. I am a firm believer in community involvement, the strength of collective ideas and ideals, and will foster relationships with others on our law enforcement team to do the same. I have devoted my career to this office and its focus on the community and intend to so for many more years while my own children grow up here as I did.

Q: How do you plan to improve transparency in your office without jeopardizing the privacy afforded individuals by the legal system?

Dudley: For some time now, the District Attorney’s Office has done a poor job of communicating with the public. One need not look further than our handling of the recent fires to see that we lost a lot of credibility with the public due to that lack of communication. This is a core issue of mine. I do not believe that there can be trust and respect for the office without a certain amount of transparency. What I will do as your next district attorney is assign staff to an Office of Public Information. Every law enforcement agency in the county has a public information officer and there is no reason why the DA’s office should not do the same. I will never allow our ability to effectively communicate with the public interfere with our responsibility to protect the rights of individuals, a defendant’s presumption of innocence, or affect the investigation or handling of a case.

Lynn: I will improve the way we communicate with the public by letting the public know about cases and where they are in the system. We will never allow privacy rights, the integrity of a case, or a pending investigation to be compromised by releasing information but will do a much better job of communicating on matters vital to the public. I will continue to establish and improve relationships with media, schools, and community leaders to foster this flow of information. I will not, however, seek the limelight for myself or my office. Law enforcement, public safety, and the ethical apprehension and prosecution of criminals will remain our chief focus as is our legal mandate.

Q: If elected, will Christie Stanley’s legacy as District Attorney affect your time in office? How so?

Dudley: Christie Stanley was an extraordinary prosecutor who applied her intelligence and passion to tirelessly advocate for crime victims. Soon after she became the district attorney, I asked her if we could form a new unit called the Vulnerable Victims Unit, a unit that would focus on crimes such as child maltreatment and abuse, sexual assault, elder abuse, and hate crimes. Christie embraced this idea, and I am proud to have been part of that unit since its inception. The Vulnerable Victims Unit still exists today, and it will continue to strengthen under my administration.

Lynn: Christie Stanley leaves a legacy of three decades of fearless dedication to this community, to the safety of families across this county, and to the District Attorney’s Office she so loved and led. I am proud to have worked with her and will continue to lead by example, put the public’s needs before my own, and fight crime with the same enthusiasm, judgment, and ethics. For most everyone in our office, Christie’s tragic and heroic battle with her health coupled with the dignity in which she fought for her life, and this office will serve as an example of leadership under extreme circumstances and loyalty to law enforcement’s public safety mission. This is a calling for me as a career prosecutor, and I think of Christie’s abilities and focus every day.

Contact News Editor Amy Asman at aasman@santamariasun.com.

This article appears in Jun 3-10, 2010.