Evaluating the D.A. recall

From the McKinleyville Press
Evaluating the D.A. recall
Activist, attorney, officials offer varying and surprising views
By Daniel Mintz
Press Staff Writer

"There will be political consequences - I know that."

Spoken by District Attorney Paul Gallegos just after he filed the fraud lawsuit that would jump-start a recall election, the quote could be generally applied to the whole of his first year in power.

Gallegos has commandeered the county's attention in a scant 14 months of helming the D.A.'s office and has been alternately described as a beacon of democracy and a misguided bumbler. Perhaps more than anything else in the county's recent history, Gallegos' emergence as D.A. and the drive to remove him has fired up political divisions that preceded him by many years.

The dynamics of bitterly combative elections aren't put in place in as short a time as Gallegos has been district attorney. Heavy campaigning now dominates public attention but there are important and talked-about aspects of the recall that aren't reflected in the steadily intensifying election gamesmanship.

And the recall's impacts may not be as obvious or as linear as the polarized campaigns make them seem.

The recall and environmental activism

The fraud lawsuit against Pacific Lumber Company (PL) is a looming presence, and though its focus has shifted from environmental damage to alleged financial gain, it has mobilized the county's environmental movement in support of Gallegos.

Having a PL nemesis as D.A. would have been an activist's fantasy not long ago, and Gallegos is drawing the impassioned support of many environmentalists - as he did in 2002, when he successfully ran for office against longtime former D.A. Terry Farmer.

But some have doubts. "The environmental community at large did not pick this fight," said veteran Earth First!er Darryl Cherney on the lawsuit and the ensuing power struggle. "There was nothing approaching consensus from any contingent of the environmental movement that this was a battle we wished to fight."

Cherney has watched the recall's procession of events with concern. A key organizer during the historic years that preceded the 1999 Headwaters Deal, Cherney believes that the movement's been drawn into a political brawl that threatens its progress regardless of outcome.

"The nanosecond this suit was announced, I knew the D.A. would face a recall and I think the D.A. knew it too," Cherney continued. "But what the D.A. didn't think through was the stress it would put on his supporters."

Resistance to the influence and logging practices of PL has been an effort - and for some, an obsession - that has been ongoing ever since the mid-1980s, when the Houston, Texas-based megacorporation Maxxam took the company over. But Cherney thinks the lawsuit and the recall mark a dangerous turn.

"Nobody can accuse me of being 'soft on Maxxam,' but in all the years I've taken them on and in all the incredibly adventurous battles we've waged against them, we took risks but we didn't gamble and I think that's the difference here - the risks we took were calculated and this gamble has not been calculated by the D.A."

Cherney wonders if Gallegos and Assistant D.A. Tim Stoen, who was hired by Gallegos and is the suit's lead prosecutor, have blown away an unusual opportunity for progressive gain.

"Neither he nor Stoen took into account that their supporters would have to mount months of stressful campaigning and raise tens of thousands of dollars to fight off Maxxam in what could be a losing battle," Cherney said.

Bad moves?

Cherney's educated guess is that the D.A. will indeed be recalled, and he said he "sees it all as being unnecessary." Gallegos made a drastic mistake almost as soon as he took office, Cherney continued.

He's been familiar with Stoen's work in Mendocino County since 1989, he said, adding that Gallegos' enlistment of Stoen as second in command began a series of blunders. Stoen's personally disastrous association with People's Temple demagogue Jim Jones is an obvious reason why hiring him was a bad move, Cherney continued, but there are other factors.

"It's not that Tim Stoen was fooled by Jim Jones - what disturbs me is that he hasn't seemed to have learned anything from his experience."

Cherney suggested that Stoen, who plunged into preparation of the lawsuit and focused on it almost exclusively during his first eight weeks on the job, again allowed himself to be duped.

"And if we lose the D.A.'s race, we will have experienced an environmental Jonestown here, in Humboldt County, led by Tim Stoen," Cherney said.

He was asked what will be lost if Gallegos is ousted. "Let me reverse that, because Gallegos has presented us with a lose/lose situation. Even if we win the recall, we will have still spent all of our environmental and political capital - and Gallegos will have to start campaigning for re-election in two years, and we will be fighting this battle all over again."

If the recall succeeds, Cherney added, "the loss is even deeper because we'll have been dragged into a battlefield for which we are unprepared, and potentially led to slaughter."

Cherney may not be be winning favor with his forthright commentary (he says his associates come down on him "like a ton of bricks" when he shares his thoughts) and he said his conclusions are painfully realized.

"But I think the liberal left environmental community of Humboldt County is in denial - we're blaming PL for this battle we're in, but a true warrior doesn't whine about the strength of his or her adversary, and we're getting a lot of that from Gallegos supporters."

The formation of the Alliance for Ethical Business (AEB, a non-profit group founded by Richard Salzman, Gallegos' campaign manager) was another error, Cherney continued.

The AEB sprang forth at the same time recall fervor appeared to, and its expressed purpose has been to support the lawsuit. Cherney attended an AEB benefit in Southern Humboldt and said that it misrepresented the group's intent - the event looked and sounded like one to support Paul Gallegos, he continued, and he isn't sure that people completely realized what they were aiding was a private organization.

A better move would have been to have formed a political campaign to encourage people not to sign recall petitions, said Cherney, who characterized the creation of the AEB as a "disastrous mistake in judgment."

The Gallegos campaign's incessant targeting of PL is another strategy that will backfire, Cherney believes. He thinks that the apparent victory of forcing the recall committee to mention PL in its ads due to the company's heavy funding will actually draw more votes for the recall.

Cherney questioned the value of highlighting PL funding instead of explaining why Gallegos has what it takes to be a good D.A. "For one thing, everybody knows PL has put money into this," he continued. "Two, nobody cares and three, all the people who do care have already made up their minds."

Gallegos had made some puzzling decisions, Cherney believes, and he cited the D.A.'s dramatic rollback of his medical marijuana limits as "a textbook case of political spinelessness" that has only served to disappoint an important element of his support base.

"The moral is that running somebody for office who has progressive politics is not enough," Cherney continued. He stressed that candidates have to be chosen carefully and be evaluated on a basis that includes consideration of administrative and leadership skills.

"I'll tell you this," he concluded. "It's so critical that we learn our lessons. People always say 'PL's a villain' and if we always blame Maxxam for every loss we suffer, we are never going to learn how to play this game better."
Takeover's lingering aftermath

As an attorney, Bill Bertain has been in the game for over 18 years. He launched legal actions to block Maxxam's takeover of PL and has helped gain settlements for residents of Stafford and other areas said to be impacted by PL's logging. And he portrays Maxxam as the recall's knob-twister.

Bertain views the recall as an extension of Maxxam's involvement in the county since the mid-'80s. "One can't understand what's going on now until one understands what happened then," he said. "What we have seen is an ongoing pattern of deceit."

The ultimate expression of that, in Bertain's view, is PL's heavy funding of the recall and the company's simultaneous assertion that the election is largely about safety issues. And to Bertain, the political actions of the company are directly linked to Maxxam CEO Charles Hurwitz.

"He is again attempting, with much more energy and viciousness, to influence many fine people into misplacing their loyalties," Bertain continued. "And he's using the recall as a means of doing it, through funding and by having his people direct it."

Bertain characterizes the Maxxam takeover as "an invasion of the county" that was achieved through fraud. It's a situation that's continuing and hitting a peak, Bertain added, with tragic effects.

"Hurwitz has distorted many aspects of life in Humboldt County - political, social and environmental - and it's a sad, sad story. He's caused a lot of dissension and divisiveness. And now that he has somebody going against him, he's playing off it again."

Asked if the recall also represents a cultural divide, Bertain said it may to some degree. "But then again, I'm Catholic, pro-life and a Republican - and my family has been here since 1882."

Bertain was born in the PL-owned lumber town of Scotia, and grew up there and in Rio Dell. His family operated the Bertain's Laundry and Dry Cleaning business in Scotia from 1920 to 1992 and "it breaks my heart to see what Hurwitz has done to the company."

The lawsuit and the recall can't be convincingly separated, Bertain continued. "The stakes must be pretty high for PL, considering the amount of money they've put in and that they're resorting to political tactics that have never been seen before in Humboldt County."

The recall has "saddened a number of people and confused a lot of people," said Bertain.

They may not understand the lawsuit's relevance, he continued, because PL has paid for an advertising blitz that may be succeeding in obscuring it. But he also believes that Gallegos is highly respected by many. "Some people who don't have the courage that Paul has might have shied away from such a battle because of the wealth of the defendant. But I admire him for taking up the challenge and I think a lot of other people do, too."

Is the election a "referendum on PL," as some have suggested? "I think PL pretty much made it that by funding the recall," Bertain responded.

And he looks at the recall as an important moment in county history.

"I think PL helped get the recall going and has obviously put money into it - and so brought it to this state of controversy and divisiveness. It's part of the ongoing saga brought to us by Hurwitz and I look at this in many ways as a defining issue for people here in Humboldt County."

The pro-recall campaign rhetoric is "playing off people's prejudices," Bertain continued, and pitting longtime residents against more recent ones, conservatives against hippies, and so forth. "Hurwitz is clever and he's hired clever people to take advantage of people's fears."

Cultural collisions

Elected officials have mostly avoided recall commentary, as the contest is too hotly waged to dive into. Second District Supervisor Roger Rodoni is running for re-election and when pressured to reveal his stance during debates, he's repeatedly said that he'll keep his views on the recall private.

Rodoni, however, does see more general aspects of the recall that are open to discussion.

He views the election as something more than a political pie fight between the timber industry and environmentalists. Rodoni described it as a "cultural clash" whose roots extend back to the late 1960s, when "societal and world views were changing, and there was exposure to a larger world by young people and a reluctance of the older generation to accept brand new philosophies and ideologies."

Rodoni first used the term "generation gap" but then conceded that there really is no accurate or pat label for the division the county's seeing. "What it gets down to is one side accusing the other of not thinking right - reason and logic take a back seat, and the truth loses."

Is the recall election a sign that the county is changing? "There are claims to that effect, but in my travels, I don't run into that much - I observe the opposite, that there is strong opposition to change."

Rodoni has been portrayed as the political linchpin of the southern region's old guard of ranchers, large and small timber operators and business interests. He does draw lots of support from those quarters, and reports that the recall's perceived impact goes beyond PL.

"By focusing on PL, what some of the opponents of the recall seem to miss is that there are other huge timber companies in the county who are watching this and are nervous," said Rodoni. "And they believe that they may be accused of something even if they're innocent. We've got that angle with the D.A. - in some people's minds, he's got a gunslinger attitude and it's not good for business."

Those considerations are relevant when considering that the county's traditional logging and agricultural economies are on the wane. And Rodoni thinks that accusing PL of "buying" signatures on recall petitions by funding the drive to collect them ignores the presence of genuine dissatisfaction with Gallegos.

Rodoni doubts that anti-PL recall rhetoric will affect the company's credibility. "People are, in a word, jaded," he continued. "People have had enough of it - right, wrong or indifferent, people are tired of it and this kind of stuff is just one of PL's business hazards."

Divisive times

Having been elected on a platform that heavily emphasized consensus-building, Fifth District Supervisor Jill Geist is witnessing the recall's frenzied political swordsmanship with disappointment.

She believes that the recall wouldn't be happening if not for PL's hefty funding, but she also thinks both sides have fueled the contest's antagonism. The formation of the AEB was a mistake, Geist said, because it opened the Gallegos campaign to criticism and further provoked PL.

She believes that Gallegos has tossed the concept of impartiality by railing against the company, and "I think some people see that as an abuse of power."

Geist also noted that Gallegos and Stoen have chosen to make the PL suit a public case, going as far as promoting it in meetings with chamber of commerce groups. "One wonders why they're not treating this like any other case," she said. "If they had stuck with an attitude that suggested 'the court will determine the outcome' and gone that track, I truly believe there would not have been a recall."

A concentration on PL and its role in the recall may be relevant, Geist added, but she also noted that aside from responses to "soft on crime" allegations, "there has been nothing new introduced as far as Paul's performance as D.A."

Nor does Geist think the lawsuit is the momentous lever for change that some seem to believe it to be. "I've heard people say that this case could change the way timber harvesting is done, and I disagree. The way to do that is by changing the Forest Practices Act and the way permitting and environmental reviews are done - and that's a fight that takes place in Sacramento."

Division is the recall's most easily observed effect, said Geist, and it isn't helping people understand what's going on. "We're not having two discussions that I think are important - one, what will it take to restore stability to the D.A.'s office; and two, that good government should be boring. If an official does the job well, there is minimal drama and what we're seeing now is lots of drama that's causing divisiveness in the community and we're seeing it come from both sides."

A dangerous year

Gallegos is now infamous for creating various and incessant stirs. His first year is a chronicle of headline-friendly controversies - and they began even before he took office. After the 2002 election win he told a reporter that he'd fire "14 or 15" attorneys if necessary, a comment that created panic in the D.A.'s office and established an immediate sense of mistrust.

Police groups have expressed dissatisfaction with him, and a schism developed between Gallegos and the Board of Supervisors after it rejected his proposal to contract a high-profile outside law firm to aid the PL lawsuit. Much of Gallegos' considerable community support viewed this as an example of established leadership retreating from its responsibilities.

Despite being heavily lobbied otherwise, Geist was one of four supervisors who voted against the contract proposal. She said the decision wasn't difficult to arrive at, as the proposal was in only in draft form. The lawsuit itself was only a sketch at that point - inflammatory references to gross environmental damage had to be removed and the suit was amended.

The original version of the suit alleged that PL's fraud allowed the company "to be able to cut down an estimated 100,000 trees on unstable slopes it could not have otherwise been allowed to do," thus facilitating extra profits. The logging in unstable areas has proceeded, the first version asserted, causing "major landslides and destruction to the streams, bridges, roads and homes of Humboldt County."

An amended suit was portrayed as an "expansion" of content, but it removed those shocking accusations and shifted the focus to whether environmental reviews were adequate. A press release from Gallegos had proclaimed that logging on unstable slopes was no longer an issue, though the alleged fraud is directed at a study assessing timber harvesting on unstable slopes.

But the lawsuit had already become a celebrated or reviled cause, and Geist is concerned that debating it - and having a slugfest with PL in a political arena - is exacting social damages. "I'm reluctant to weigh in with a public position (on the recall) because in this atmosphere, it doesn't contribute to anything - we have looming issues we need to be working on and we need cohesion," she said.

Financial resources are also important, Geist continued, and they're being fed into political furnaces. "A tremendous amount of money and energy has been given to the AEB and (Gallegos' campaign committee)," she said. "Tremendous amounts of financial capital have been poured in, perhaps $250,000 combined, and that's only what's being tracked - the AEB is not a political action committee, so we have no idea of the money it has raised. And I think a number of non-profits are seeing their grant money drying up and going away. I can't help but to think there could have been a more constructive use of money."

Government operations have also been impacted. "There's an overall feeling of great uncertainty and it feels like there's a siege mentality up on the fourth floor (of county headquarters, where the D.A.'s office is located)," said Geist. "The general public will probably never understand the tremendous amount of pressure Paul is under and it's not just him - it radiates through the entire department."

Political fallout

With the election a week away, people are considering post-recall scenarios with concern. Geist noted that the mechanics of many criminal cases have been thrust before the public for judgment, which is a bad precedent.

"Could you imagine being a defendant and wondering whether your case will be tried in public?" she asked. "You begin to wonder how politics might affect charging and sentencing, and that causes me to be very concerned."

Both Rodoni and Geist believe that Worth Dikeman's candidacy could have a pronounced effect on the election's outcome. Rodoni said that Dikeman has a campaign presence in his district that's twice that of his own and was asked if he thought Dikeman, a veteran prosecutor, has increased the recall's chances of success.

"Emphatically - yes," Rodoni responded.

Geist said Dikeman will appeal to people who are shell-shocked by political warfare. "For people who look at this as something other than a Pacific Lumber issue and have concerns about the office itself, (Dikeman) comes in with credibility and stability, and that will be appealing to people who are tired of the drama."

But Geist thinks the most significant changes after election day will be social, not political. "A lot of people will have been divided into camps, and will be physically and emotionally worn out - probably no one more so than Paul and his family."

There is also a category of people that hasn't been talked about much - those who aren't tuned in to the election's bombastic parrying and may not care much. "I am sometimes surprised to run into people who ask me what the recall's all about," Geist related. "There are some people who aren't even paying attention to this - and it's almost refreshing."