District Attorney John Sarsfield announced he will file suit
against the county today for the $350,000 budget augmentation
supervisors are scheduled to discuss next week.
Hollister – District Attorney John Sarsfield announced he will file suit against the county today for the $350,000 budget augmentation supervisors are scheduled to discuss next week.
Sarsfield also sent a letter to California Attorney General Bill Lockyer Thursday alleging that the board is withholding funds to his office to stymie his prosecution of the Los Valientes. In the letter, Sarsfield tells Lockyer that “certain members” of the board have been linked to the anonymous group. He also accuses one board member of being a member of the group. He said those ties “suggest local government corruption at the highest levels.”
Sarsfield’s lawsuit and letter is the latest volley in the heated battle between his office and the board. The letter to Lockyer comes two days after the board voted 4-1 to declare that it has “no confidence” in the district attorney’s ability to perform the duties of his elected office. The vote also authorized a subcommittee to travel to Sacramento by mid-April and formally ask Lockyer to investigate Sarsfield’s office. On Tuesday, the board agreed to pay $122,000 in outstanding bills from the district attorney’s office, but delayed a decision on Sarsfield request for $350,000. The decision thawed the funding freeze imposed on Sarsfield’s office earlier this month after the prosecutor overshot his services and supplies budget by $91,000. Sarsfield’s overdraft was the result of paying special deputy district attorney Nancy Battel more than $115,000 to prosecute three cases, including the Los Valientes case.
Sarsfield is suing the anonymous Los Valientes’ attorney Mike Pekin for allegedly violating the civil rights of eight government officials and local business owners through extortion and by filing false lawsuits.
Sarsfield compared the funding freeze and subsequent postponement of his budget request to former President Richard Nixon’s dismissal of special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the Watergate scandal. The board is trying to prevent further investigation into the Los Valientes, he said.
“What they’re doing here has striking similarities to Nixon’s Saturday night massacre,” he said. “They can’t tell me who to prosecute, especially when the case is leading right to their doorstep.”
Supervisor Pat Loe is hoping Sarsfield will delay the suit until the board has a chance to review his budget request next Tuesday.
“We should at least attempt to work this out before anything as drastic as a lawsuit needs to be filed,” she said. “I have to believe that the people of San Benito County want us to act like grown-ups and fix this problem locally.”
Sarsfield said that if the board paid the tab next week, he would drop the suit.
Supervisors had denied Sarsfield’s allegations of malfeasance for months and at least one has publicly asked that Sarsfield’s mental competency be evaluated.
Although several supervisors still hope the funding issues can be solved locally, others expect Sarsfield’s suit and letter will hasten their own efforts to get the Attorney General to investigate the prosecutor’s office.
While the board has not formally rejected Sarsfield’s request for an additional $350,000, it did postpone a decision on the matter until next Tuesday. Sarsfield said he needs the money prosecute 10 civil cases, pay outside attorneys, hire expert witnesses and keep the lights on in his office. Sarsfield’s request includes $100,000 to continue prosecution of the Los Valientes and their attorney. Sarsfield said the board is acting outside the law by refusing to grant the request and said the suit will force a judge to decide how the county should proceed.
“Mr. Sarsfield’s strategy is to make sure the Attorney General thinks this is just a political issue. He’s trying to the muddy the waters,” Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz said. “He’s doing everything he can to make sure the Attorney General doesn’t investigate his office.”
Sarsfield has said he suspects Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz, who he investigated for voter fraud before charging him with obstructing a police officer in 2004, is a member of the group and plans to depose him in the next few days. De La Cruz, who has since had the obstruction charge wiped from his record, has repeatedly denied being a Los Valiente and called Sarsfield’s letter a “diversionary tactic.”
Supervisor Don Marcus said Sarsfield is acting too hastily while waiting for the board to consider the funding request and the allegations of corruption are baseless.
“Everything is above board,” he said. “There is no conspiracy, I’m certainly not standing in the way of his right to prosecute.”
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
