Free Lance: Why law?
Elaine Cass: I was raised to believe that education is
important, and a woman should always have an independent career.
Law offers a wide range of choices.
Free Lance: Why law?
Elaine Cass: I was raised to believe that education is important, and a woman should always have an independent career. Law offers a wide range of choices.
FL: Why not criminal law, district attorney work for instance?
EC: I never seriously thought of criminal law, neither defense nor prosecution. I think it’s a narrow field. Once you start criminal law, you’re in criminal law.
FL: What’s the most gratifying experience you’ve had as an attorney?
EC: I honestly can tell you I can identify one single event as being the most gratifying. I was glad to play a part in that horrendous dog abuse situation (involving Ken Hershey in 2001), that puppy mill. A lot of the credit for that goes to Julie Carreiro at the animal shelter. But I played my part.
It’s also been gratifying to work on the relocation ordinance, which places the burden on landlords to relocate tenants out of substandard housing. It was in direct response to a City Council concern about living conditions for low-income people in the city.
In fact, that ordinance and program has been copied by other cities in Northern California. We’ve received calls about it, how it’s been implemented.
FL: How about all the controversy in this town?
EC: I guess it all depends on what you mean by controversy. Relative to what’s happening in the world, we don’t have a lot of controversy.
There may be unnecessary backbiting, blaming and finger pointing in the community between public agencies, which is a disservice to the citizens, and which creates what people view as controversy.
But in a scheme of things, I’d say the issues in the City of Hollister are no more controversial than in any other city.
The economic downturn, the loss of jobs, is not unique to Hollister. It’s happening not only throughout the state obviously, but throughout the country.
There’s a lack of affordable housing. The city has an overburdened infrastructure. These are problems generated by growth.
FL: How hard is it getting so many officials to cooperate?
EC: If you were talking about officials in city government, it’s a process, and it takes time. We have staggered elections. There can be, and often is, new council members every two years. So that takes time for people to blend into the configuration.
They have to learn how to work as a team to develop an understanding of issues. There’s a process for addressing decision making that requires trust and respect. And I have to say, it’s a process.
Hopefully, we’ve moved beyond petty differences. And there has been increasingly good cooperation between the city and county, and the city and the San Benito County Water District. And hopefully, this will continue.
FL: What’s the most absurd thing you’ve seen as a lawyer?
EC: “Emanuel the Bear” at public input (of a Council meeting).
