Less than two days after the San Benito County Board of
Supervisors declared no confidence in District Attorney John
Sarsfield with 4-1 vote and called for an Attorney General
investigation into his office, Sarsfield stooped to more dirty pool
by sending his own letter to the AG’s office and telling reporter
Brett Rowland he’s filing suit against the county today.
And the band played on.
Less than two days after the San Benito County Board of Supervisors declared no confidence in District Attorney John Sarsfield with 4-1 vote and called for an Attorney General investigation into his office, Sarsfield stooped to more dirty pool by sending his own letter to the AG’s office and telling reporter Brett Rowland he’s filing suit against the county today.
And the band played on.
At what point does this juggernaut DA accept responsibility for his own actions and do what is best for the people of San Benito County instead of himself? The heart of Sarsfield’s suit deals with money, or more to the point, a lack thereof. As supervisors prepare for next week’s debate about giving the DA another $350,000 to chase Los Valientes among other things, Sarsfield announces he is filing suit today over the same matter.
Forget the fact the county is facing a $6.5 million deficit. Forget the fact supervisors cannot afford a $1 per hour raise for county homecare workers that only make about $9.50 an hour. Forget the fact that thousands upon thousands of dollars have already been wasted on Sarsfield’s follies.
Remember that all of Sarsfield’s efforts “to solve” the county’s problems make a strong case for the cure being worse than the disease.
He claims his office will prosecute 1,000 more cases this year – likely due to his no plea bargain policy. He argues that the county is stifling his prosecution of Los Valientes, but cannot provide the smoking gun of who is behind the anonymous group. He has subjected the county to a $500,000 lawsuit by hiring an unauthorized chump to do his bidding. And that’s just in very recent memory.
Yet in the end, Sarsfield never points the finger where it truly belongs – directly at his own chest. Now he tells the Free Lance he is suing the county for “de-funding” his office and writes a letter to the Attorney General stating its because supervisors are close to the LVers and one of them is an actual member. And he does all this before supervisors have even made a decision on the money he’s requesting.
The county’s answer to his request should be simple and non-political at this point: The county just doesn’t have the money because so much of it has been squandered already.
