Deputy District Attorney James Hosking & Judge Lemkau, Bob Conaway & Frank Guzman were among the candidates at the forum in Big Bear on May 4, 2010. Also present were members of the family of the 9 month old child that was killed by the Garcia boy (who took his life shortly thereafter). Accusations were made, Judge Lemkau explained his position (and the presiding judge's finding), repeatedly said he was sorry for the family's loss and the statements made and showed emotion fielding some of the questions. Hosking, who works in an auto theft unit in the DA's office (no experience in family law) , focused repeatedly on part of the statements made from the bench by Lemkau, while a member of the family in the audience waived in the air a copy of the transcript of the hearing. At this forum Hosking did not state as he did some time ago, he would have delayed ruling on the competing ex parte applications until he could figure out which parent was telling the truth--and there was much, much more--Lemkau from the side looked a bit like an Elvis impersonator--Hosking (who I am told was recruited to run by Ramos) looked younger and shaved (head). Guzman and DDA Hosking spent a lot of time whispering to each other while the forum was going on which was distracting if not disrespectful. I sensed the pain and anger of the murdered child's family and hope this forum was part of the healing process for them. I truly wish I had a video of it all--not just for the Lemkau-Hosking duel and how they handled a wide variety of questions, but for the Guzman-Conaway-Ramos(in abstentia) questions and answers. Too bad. A good chance to clear the decks/answer charges was lost by Ramos-the-elusive (or the I-am-above-personal-appearances campaign style). I guess Ramos thinks the voters will be awed (blinded) by his professional mouthpiece (consultant Ellis King or is it King Ellis), consultant-generated slick hit-piece flyers, slate cards that project a false and misleading affiliation and big signs. If true, the voters in the County will have no one to blame but themselves. Guzman talked about running a business, said the DA's office was over budget but then said the DA's job was to "Prosecute, Prosecute, Prosecute"--what I would have liked to see were the words after prosecute "the cases that should be".
I did meet in the audience another one of the Sheriff candidates--likable guy (Schrader); Schrader is a man of faith and compassion and seemed well balanced; Averbeck, who I had met at a Barb Stanton meeting a week ago(or was it 2 weeks ago), was focused on getting a petition signed urging accountability on some issues relating to raises given to people without the qualifying coursework (I was not able to get into much more with him--he was working the crowd); Schrader had some ideas that seemed to make sense based on his service time. I have never had the chance to meet Hoops. All people vying for an office of trust and high responsibility--too bad there have not been multiple forums with all of them in attendance.
Ed Montgomery (running for judge) was present; Supervising Deputy District Attorney Vic Stull was not (again). Ed has judicial experience as a pro tem and has life experiences that the community I think would benefit from.
Since campaigns don't get out the incumbents, I am convinced we need a Human Relations Commission in this county--so people can ask questions, understand the process and roles of the different agency heads and voice their grievances. Most of the people in the audience enjoyed the forum as a way to better understand what a DA & judge do/can't do--that people interested in the process did not have a full understanding of the roles of certain elected officials, is troubling.
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