TS - DA candidate: 'An erosion of trust'

DA candidate: 'An erosion of trust'
By James Faulk, The Times-Standard
Tuesday, July 05, 2005

EUREKA -- As a second lieutenant in the 101st Airborne Division, Worth Dikeman took over the platoon that had just been decimated in Vietnam's battle for Hamburger Hill.

"The battalion commander was ultimately awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, which is the second highest award the Army can bestow on a soldier," Dikeman said. "Yet when he flew his helicopter over our positions, people who'd been on that hill sometimes aimed their rifles at him. He was not a terribly popular person."

This was just one story Dikeman told over an hour interview in Ramone's Coffee Shop recently, but there's some in Humboldt County now who would say parallels could be drawn between that embattled unit and the current District Attorney's Office.

Over the past three years, the casualty rate has been high -- several experienced deputy district attorneys have left the office -- and the leader's popularity is a matter of intense debate.

Dikeman wants his job.

"There has been an erosion of trust in that particular position," Dikeman said. "I think that I can restore that trust. I have invested 20 years of my life and my professional career in that office and I'm proud of it. I want it to do better and I think it can do better under me."

That military experience would serve him well as district attorney, he said.

"It's a very difficult thing to ask people to expose themselves to great danger, and yet you do that every day in the combat zone," he said. "You have to get along, you have to understand, and you have to work together. I think that experience gives me a real leg up, quite frankly, because I know what it's like to lead, how difficult it is, and I've been a leader all my life."

Leadership is the issue, Dikeman said.

The District Attorney's Office has been virtually rudderless since Paul Gallegos took office, Dikeman said. He believes he can provide that much-needed direction.

"I think that the Grand Jury Report identifies a lot of areas where leadership is deficient and -- as I said when I announced -- there is nothing wrong with the District Attorney's Office that can't be cured by a change at the top," he said.

Such a change will take some political momentum, Dikeman believes. Gallegos' political strength was recently evidenced by his ability to overcome the recall that threatened to topple him early in his tenure. He raised a lot of money and fought off a well-funded opposition.

Dikeman said that by declaring early, he'll be able to get out and meet and greet people enough to overcome whatever monetary advantage Gallegos gains.

"Paul demonstrated during this last election that he's very capable of raising enormous sums of money," Dikeman said. "I don't think I'm going to be able to do anywhere near that. And the only way that I'm going to be able to unseat him is to get out, meet people, let them know me and let them know where I stand so they can compare me to Paul and others who may enter the race."

By declaring so early, Dikeman runs the risk of dividing the DA's Office. But he vows to do what he can to keep politics out of his work.

"I'm trying very hard to not get anyone in the District Attorney's Office involved in this," he said. "I don't want our office divided -- I don't want to see people put under pressure. I would like them to stay neutral. I campaign out of the office. In the office, when Paul tells me what to do I do it, because he's the district attorney."

Dikeman started with Humboldt County in 1985 when the office here was looking for an experienced attorney to try a capital case. He began under Terry Farmer, who Gallegos defeated, and said he was enough of a loyalist to never challenge him for the job.

In the recall, Dikeman said he didn't run against Gallegos. He ran as an option if the recall were successful, and because he thought candidate Steve Schectman was not qualified for the job.

Now, however, Gallegos is the direct opponent, and Dikeman isn't shy about pointing out his boss' perceived errors. All of the missteps can't be attributed to lack of funds, he said.

"It's been leaner economic times and people have had to tighten their belts somewhat, but budget cuts don't necessarily lead to the deterioration of the relationship the chief law enforcement officer in the community has with other law enforcement agencies," he said.

A subsequent story will focus on District Attorney Paul Gallegos, who hasn't formally announced his candidacy but is expected to run.