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This looks like the hottest race for next Tuesday's Election. It pits the rather controversial DA Jill Ravitch with Deputy District Attorney Victoria Shanahan.
The PD's article is here.
What do you think?
Should Jill be kicked out?
Is Victoria up to the job?
Does she have a conflict of interest because her husband is a sheriff's deputy?
I spoke with VS on Saturday at an appearance she made in Guerneville and found her to be intelligent with a good grasp on the issues. One thing we agreed on and that esp. won me over was the fact that if you're rich you don't go to jail no matter how much money you steal and if you're poor--you're screwed. I'm voting for her. Ravitch hasn't done right by Andy Lopez or the woman Efren Carrillo terrorized in her own home.
Lilith
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Posted in reply to the post by Barry:
I am also voting for Victoria Shanahan. Ravitch's failure to act in a timely way with respect to the killing of Andy Lopez reveals a serious defect. Shanahan also seems more supportive of medical marijuana. I was originally concerned by the conflict of interest issue, given that her husband is a deputy sheriff, but when I weigh the options, I am willing to give her the chance to do better than Ravitch has. So I am with Lilith on this vote.
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Posted in reply to the post by LRogers:
I have talked with Jill before and know her to be a strong, intelligent, knowledgeable and quick thinking individual, I think she is well suited and well qualified to continue in the capacity of DA. She, personally, has no apparent flaws other than she seems to have hired at least one sleazy male ADA who tells his witnesses what to say, to the point of being ludicrous, and cares nothing about their perjury as long as he can win a case, convicting innocent victims.
Ken Zamvil
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Posted in reply to the post by LRogers:
I know nothing of Ravitch's opponent Shanahan, but will probably vote for her (Shanahan)--i.e. against Ravitch--for one reason: My understanding is that Ravitch bent over backwards to try to send patricide Houston Herczog to prison instead of a psychiatric hospital where he belongs. When the first couple of consulting psychiatrists didn't give her the conclusions she wanted to hear, she found another one who would. When I get the impression that a DA is more interested in racking up convictions than in justice, they won't get my vote.
I will be posting this election's Progressive Sebastopol 2014 Voter Guide, probably tomorrow. I attended the Ravitch/Shanahan marijuana debate and spoke to both candidates. A group of us met and discussed and decided that Shanahan was the best woman for the job. Here's what we wrote for our voter guide:
District Attorney: Victoria Shanahan Grassroots “justice, not politics” campaign is appealing after long delay of Lopez investigation; says she will implement clearer guidance reducing low level marijuana prosecution. Ravitch praised for domestic violence work but gets failing grade for handling of Lopez case, pot prosecutions.
I, too, have met with Ravitch who I have no respect for at all. I am the mother of Houston Herczog, diagnosed as schizophrenic, who she was hell bent on sending to jail for life instead of a hospital where he belonged. I shudder to think of all the sick people she has sent to prison because they had no one to fight for them. I tried to set up a meeting with her and was refused twice because I wasn't "important" enough. I finally called and said, that when I told the PD that she would not meet with a grieving widow and mother, I didn't think the community would be very sympathetic to her. And gee, too bad, an election year was coming up and I would just write that off if I were her.
Got 2 calls the next day, asking for an appt, any time that was convenient for me. I hate this game playing. I met with her and she was ASTOUNDINGLY IGNORANT about mental illness. She knew nothing about schizophrenia or bipolar disease. She thought if you developed it, you had been mentally ill your whole life, had no idea it manifested in late adolescence. I showed her a photo of my son before his illness and she was shocked. She had never even met the boy she wanted to put away forever.! And she had never seen the jail! Isn't that part of the job, to educate yourself?. She claims she has no mental illness in anyone in her extended family. She must be the only one or in big time denial.
Then she had me arrested and 8 months later she laid on contempt of court charges that I found out definitely came from her. She is vindictive, ignorant and without compassion. The way she treated Andy Lopez's family is a sin. Even her own staff has urged the public to vote her out of office. You might think this is intelligent and well spoken behavior on her part but I can assure you that you are mistaken, Ken, Vote for Veronica.
Ravitch is crap on domestic violence too. I met enough women in jail whose abuser was taken off meds, screaming at their wives that they were going to kill them, and were set to be freed.
And I know of one ADA that was there long before Ravitch, a man of courage and integrity who has publicly said Ravitch is incompetent, unfair, and the worst DA he has ever worked with.Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by GRSC:
Shanahan.
Ravitch has done wrong not only by Andy Lopez and the womon Carrillo harassed but by both of the people Santa Rosa police sergeant Rich Celli has killed on duty. The family of the second victim had the resources to take the case all the way to the US Supreme Court, which found it a wrongful death. The fact that the police chief wouldn't fire him and Ravitch wouldn't prosecute him is what let Eric Gelhaus know he could get away with gunning down Andy. Please vote for Shanahan; I've spoken with her about a difficult situation and found her astute and willing to advise and her advice to be correct.
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Posted in reply to the post by Barry:
Kick Ravitch out. She doesn't believe mental illness exists, treated Andy Lopez's family despicably, destroyed my family. She has no integrity, no compassion and very little knowledge of what is going on in the community or in her own back yard. She's never seen the jail. Next she'll be defending the police for shooting babies if they wave their pacifiers.
Ravitch is so uninformed and unwilling to listen that I think I could do a better job as DA that she can. Unbelievable.
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Posted in reply to the post by LRogers: