CRITICIZING THE DA

Local bloggers had the Talking Points early on - attack the messenger. Forget about Paul, say it is just the Eureka Reporter out to get Paul. It's just Arkley using his paper to get Paul. Yeah, that's it.

I wonder what they would say about the the OCWeekly's criticism of Orange County DA Tony Rackauckas, and his wife Kay Rackauckas.

The OCWeekly factually reported on The Orange County grand jury’s 100-page "Office of the District Attorney: An In-Depth Investigation" report that " accused DA Tony Rackauckas and Don Blankenship, the head of his criminal-investigation division, of cronyism, mismanagement and misuse of public resources." DA Puts ‘Pub’ Back in Public Funds!

Or this one: Missing Wives, Lousy Lies & Mob Ties Exhaustive grand-jury investigation confirms DA corruption noting that "On June 26, the Orange County grand jury rocked the local legal establishment when it declared that Rackauckas routinely abuses his awesome prosecutorial powers to protect friends and punish perceived enemies. According to the grand jury’s fact-filled, 100-page report, "Office of the District Attorney: An in-depth investigation," the DA is Nixonian in the darkest sense of the word: paranoid, petty, partisan, secretive, retaliatory and arrogant. And though this was a civil proceding, it’s easy to conclude that the jury’s findings demand a criminal investigation."..."

Or this "Rackauckas had no experience handling consumer-fraud prosecutions, but that didn’t stop him from rescuing Newport Beach billionaire George Argyros in his struggle with the DA’s prosecutors. Without explanation, Rackauckas met privately with Argyros’ attorneys and then overruled his staff’s position that his political benefactor had personally directed the massive fraud scheme against approximately 11,000 local Vietnamese and Latino apartment tenants. The shakedown allegedly netted Argyros more than $33 million during a three-year period. The grand jury ruled that the DA had "not paid proper attention to a possible appearance of impropriety" in the matter and should not have been privately negotiating with his powerful friend."

Or this: "Initially embarrassed by the report, Rackauckas’ arrogance and claims of invincibility seem to grow each passing day. In a June 27 memo to staff, the DA was upbeat, confident and "proud of this administration’s accomplishments."

Meanwhile, there are sure to be dedicated, law-abiding local prosecutors who are biting their tongues and have yet to come forward in public about Rackauckas’ abuse of authority. We know because the grand jury also issued an ominous warning: "Of great concern to the grand jury were those deputy district attorneys and even members of the [DA’s] management team that expressed fear of retaliation should the confidentiality of their testimony be violated."

Alarms should go off when good prosecutors fear their own boss."

Gee, it sounds so familiar.

"Alarms should go off when good prosecutors fear their own boss."

A mass exodus from that office similar to the one we have here.

Should the OCWeekly NOT have reported on any of this?

JUST CURIOUS.

Update: Related information:
[PDF] OC Grand Jury Report
OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
aware that his wife, Kay Rackauckas, a deputy district attorney, ... Kay Rackauckas in turn would discuss District Attorney Office matters with the senior ...
www.ocgrandjury.org/pdfs/dainvestigation.pdf