Paul Gallegos has been pampering Stoen

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Paul Gallegos has been pampering Stoen
5/29/2005

Dear Editor,

Paul Gallegos admits the hard-working prosecutors in the D.A.’s Office handle some 550 cases a year. How many cases has Tim Stoen had to juggle in the two-and-a-half years he has been Paul’s second-in-command, right-hand-man? A dozen? More? Less?

Of the two cases Stoen is working on – the Debi August case just had three of its four counts thrown out and the PL case has been called nothing more than “smoke and mirrors” by the judge.

For all his much-vaunted prowess, Stoen appears to be terrified of trying the two-year-old PL lawsuit, first asking to hand the case over to a Bay area firm, then bringing in pro-bono recall shill Steve Schectman to assist him – if and when he finally gets it to trial.

And while Stoen calls his remaining count against Debi August a 95 percent win, when it finally went to court, Stoen said he needed help, and asked court permission to let him use his PL attack dog as co-council.

Now, as Gallegos hands Stoen’s Assistant D.A. position over to Wes Keat, Stoen, Gallegos and Keat all tell us that Keat has been performing Stoen’s administrative duties all along – in addition to doing his own job.

It appears that when Gallegos talks about getting the office “tuned and buffed” – about “working harder,” and about ‘getting the job done,” that means asking everyone else to work harder while he pampers Tim Stoen.

It was Gallegos’ bad judgment that brought Stoen here in the first place, and it is his disastrous mismanagement that allows the former cult adviser to continue to draw one of the highest salaries in the county for doing virtually nothing.

It is Gallegos’ politically motivated agenda that diverts time, energy and resources into the pursuit of two politically motivated cases, while the important – and very real – duties of running his office fall by the wayside.

In the case of both Gallegos and Stoen – it’s not what you pay a man, but what he costs you that counts.

Rose Welsh
McKinleyville