After the San Benito County Board of Supervisors requested
Friday that the Attorney General’s Office investigate how a
confidential report into District Attorney John Sarsfield’s office
was leaked to the public, lawyer Michael Pekin requested Tuesday
the board instead ask the state to investigate all the lawyers
involved in the ever-evolving controversy.
Hollister – After the San Benito County Board of Supervisors requested Friday that the Attorney General’s Office investigate how a confidential report into District Attorney John Sarsfield’s office was leaked to the public, lawyer Michael Pekin requested Tuesday the board instead ask the state to investigate all the lawyers involved in the ever-evolving controversy.
In a letter submitted to the board Tuesday, Michael Pekin called the board’s action in authorizing an internal investigation into how the confidential report became public “myopic” and pointless because the public had a right to know in the first place. Michael Pekin believes the board is trying to divert attention from the report, which was paid for using taxpayer dollars, and onto how it was released in order to protect Sarsfield.
He asked the board to request an investigation by outside agencies into himself, Sarsfield, County Counsel Karen Forcum and the county’s outside attorney in the Los Valientes lawsuit, Nancy Miller. Pekin believes board members were wrongly advised on how to handle legal issues involving the report by Forcum. He also believes that Miller, who represents both former Supervisor Richard Scagliotti and the county in the corruption lawsuit involving the anonymous group Los Valientes, has a conflict of interest by representing both parties and has led supervisors down the wrong legal path.
Although Michael Pekin and Miller aren’t directly involved with the investigative report, the lawyer believes the county is teeming with corruption, and the board’s attempt to focus on the whistle blower instead of the report’s contents is yet another example. Michael Pekin requested a judge give him a copy of the report last week so he could use it in his defense in a criminal Grand Jury investigation Sarsfield initiated into him several months ago. A judge denied his request.
“I’m placing my conduct on the line first,” Michael Pekin said in the letter. “You keep getting in deeper, things keep getting worse… I’m going to be on the door step of every public agency available saying, ‘Investigate me first, but investigate all of us from the get go.'”
Michael Pekin’s assistant, Amanda Hernandez, and his son, Patrick Pekin, spoke during the public comment period at Tuesday morning’s board meeting stating the legal system within San Benito County has failed, and that independent agencies need to investigate how it became this way.
“It appears the board investigated this only to appease and placate Sarsfield,” Hernandez said. “I believe the board should investigate all the attorneys. The four attorneys and their conduct is basically what has mired this county and cost it hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The confidential report obtained by the Free Lance last week and commissioned by the Board of Supervisors last year, concluded Sarsfield retaliated against four of his employees because he believed they were aligned with his predecessor’s administration, who Sarsfield believes to have been corrupt, according to the report.
Patrick Pekin told the board that by investigating how the information in the report was released isn’t the issue – it’s what is in the report that’s important.
“Only Sarsfield is being protected,” Patrick Pekin told board members. “That puts you in a bad light. That’s not what you were elected for and that’s not what you’re about.”
After the meeting, Chairman Reb Monaco said while he appreciated Pekin and his staff voicing their concerns, there won’t be much done on the board’s side of things.
“We gave him his platform,” Monaco said. “As far as the board taking any action, I don’t believe that’s going to happen. I appreciate the fact he came to the board and stated his concerns of the way we are operating.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
