TS - Gallegos: Doing 'more with less'

Gallegos: Doing 'more with less'
Chris Durant The Times-Standard
01/18/2006 06:05:03 AM PST

EUREKA -- District Attorney Paul Gallegos recently lost his seventh attorney since taking office in January 2003, but he said it hasn't affected prosecutions.

"In fact, since I've been in office, Humboldt County has experienced the lowest rate of violent crime since 1990," Gallegos stated in an e-mail. "In addition, based on the information I have from the Department of Corrections, we also have had Humboldt County's highest level of prison commitments since I've been in office."

There are currently two open positions, which Gallegos anticipates filling "relatively soon."

Currently, seven deputy district attorneys have been with the office longer than three years: Andrew Isaac, Maggie Flemming, Max Cardoza, Stacey Eades, Wes Keat, Worth Dikeman and Zachary Bird.

Four deputy district attorneys have been in the office less than three years: Amanda Penny, Jeff Schwartz, Jose Mendes and Nicole Hanson, although Hanson is on two-month leave studying to become a solicitor in England.

Of the five deputies who have quit -- Rob Wade, Heather Gimle, Ed Borg, Tim Stoen and Shane Hauschild -- four took jobs as prosecutors in other counties and one went into private practice. Wade took a job in Napa County, and Borg and Hauschild now work in Lake County. In June of last year, Stoen accepted a position as the financial crime prosecutor in Mendocino County.

Another attorney, Allison Jackson, was fired from the office in June 2004. Gimle and Jackson now work for the Harland Law Firm. In May 2003, Gloria Albin Sheets was laid off from the office.

"We don't have a problem with attorneys wanting to stay," Gallegos wrote. "Most district attorney's offices, just like most large- and medium-sized law firms, experience and expect a certain amount of attrition."

Gallegos said the reasons for attorneys leaving include that they can make more money in private practice and as prosecutors elsewhere.

"Deputies that leave our office to practice as prosecutors elsewhere make more money and have significantly reduced caseloads," Gallegos wrote.

He did write that it's hard to attract younger attorneys to the area.

"A challenge we face with younger attorneys is that they are far from home and/or friends from college and/or law school and there are few of the attractions that a larger urban area provides," Gallegos said.