LAKEPORT — Attendees of Wednesday night”s candidate debate may have expected some mud to fly during the Sheriff/Coroner debate, but jaws dropped in the last five minutes of the District Attorney debate instead, when candidate Doug Rhoades leveled accusations against candidate Don Anderson regarding a teaching credential.
“I do not have to exaggerate my experience, ideas or credentials,” Rhoades said. “The state of California has no record of a teaching credential for Mr. Anderson.”
Rhoades went on to say that 20 years ago, Anderson was a good cop, but “we”re not hiring a cop.”
A woman in the audience yelled, “that”s rude.”
Anderson used his final five minutes to respond.
“We will leave from here and go to my office,” Anderson said. He said after he produced the credential, he wanted a public apology from Rhoades at the Thursday night debate.
In a Thursday debate at the Board of Supervisors chambers, Rhoades made an apology. It turns out Anderson indeed obtains a teaching credential.
The Wednesday debate, held at the Soper-Reese Community Theatre in Lakeport was sponsored by the Lake County Bar Association and moderated by attorney Judy Conard. Questions were edited by a pool of community attorneys. Mary Heare Amodio, president of the Lake County Bar, explained that each candidate would have five minutes to speak at the opening, three minutes to answer each question and five minutes at the closing of the debate.
Frank Rivero and Rod Mitchell, candidates for Lake County Sheriff/Coroner; as well as Don Anderson and Doug Rhoades, candidates for Lake County District Attorney; participated in the forum. Candidates for Sheriff/Coroner took the stage on time at 6:30 p.m.
Incumbent Mitchell won the coin toss and Rivero spoke first. “This is one of the most important elections Lake County will ever see,” Rivero said.
He highlighted ideas about restoring public trust and said that every contact with community members should be a positive one.
Mitchell talked about conducting thorough investigations and said he did not need to exaggerate his experience, a sentence later used by Rhoades, nearly verbatim.
The first question posed to Sheriff/Coroner candidates was: This election has shown that the citizens of Lake County care a great deal about law enforcement and the internal operations of the Sheriff”s Department. What plans do you have to address citizen”s concerns in these areas? Mitchell addressed the reserve program and explained what the obligations of correctional officers were. He said he plans to address citizen concerns via an audit program and accountability process. Rivero said citizens need access and accountability. He said he plans on implementing an office of citizen complaint and a citizen”s review board.
Candidates were then asked if the Sheriff has a role in supporting the economy of Lake County. Rivero said yes and that if the county enjoyed a good reputation, people would come and spend their money. Rivero described Lake County as a place ripe with crime and methamphetamine.
Mitchell responded by saying that false allegations of racism malign the entire county and that Rivero did so on national television. He said it undermines the county as a whole.
This segued into a question about Lake County”s reputation, if it”s negative and if it has harmed tourism.
Mitchell said when he took office, people used to say, “Come on vacation, leave on probation.” He said a lot of people have been sent to prison. He said he wanted to protect the people who live and vacation here and that law enforcement needs to be bolstered, not undermined.
Rivero said there are race problems in the Sheriff”s Department, which causes loss of residents and tourists.
The moderator asked what the top law enforcement priorities in Lake County are and why.
Rivero said to regain trust, protect elders and protect children. “This is not rocket science,” he said. “This is common sense.”
Mitchell said top priorities include combating methamphetamine, something the department is addressing with fervor. He also cited state budget cuts that force early inmate release as a subject that requires attention.
“It needs to be addressed. Not living in pie-in-the-sky fantasies, like Frank does,” Mitchell said.
The candidates were asked if there is a need to improve response times to citizen calls, especially in the more rural areas of the county.
Mitchell said response times may be reduced by staying mobile as much as possible with the implementation of computers in the cars. He also pointed out that Rivero said he would not return to the sheriff”s office if he is not elected. Mitchell said he would fill that deputy”s position again.
Rivero said sub-stations would help reduce response times, as well as an active reserve force.
The sixth question addressed the manufacture, sale and abuse of hard drugs, like methamphetamine and heroin, and the associated violence and property crimes. Rivero said he would work in concert with other agencies and re-establish a narcotics task force.
Mitchell responded by saying that Rivero made blatant distortions of the truth. He said there is, in place, a team that specializes in narcotic-related crime.
The moderator asked what type of training deputy sheriffs should receive to prepare them for responding to and investigating crimes against women, children or elders.
Mitchell said deputies should receive mandatory reporting training, work with other agencies, early intervention, work with Lake Family Resource Center, as is the current practice and work in partnership with everyone.
Rivero said advanced officer training. He said he did not receive CPR training while employed by the Lake County Sheriff”s Office. He said there”s a need to join hands with partners in the county.
The last question posed was, what can the Sheriff”s Department do to ensure that the orders of the court, such as restraining orders or criminal protective orders, are consistently enforced?
Rivero said it goes back to training and that many times officers don”t understand restraining orders. He said attorneys need to be on-hand to help them understand. He said they need to be humble and accept help.
Mitchell said competing court orders sometimes pose problems and an auditing system helps prevent system failures.
Rivero closed saying, “It”s been 16 long years since anybody in the county has had a choice … has anyone in this room asked themselves, why?” He said he, his family and his 7-year-old son were maligned. He said he”s not angry and anxiously indignant.
Mitchell closed by saying he loves the criminal justice system and Lake County. He said he feels a responsibility to investigate every case.
The District Attorney candidates were asked about diversion programs, the role in supporting the economy of Lake County, how to retain talent and attract new talent for the office, what experience they have working within a public funds budget or anything comparable, how to balance public safety issues with fiscal restraints, explanation the phrase “sentence bargaining” and their position on the use of sentence bargaining, and the impact it would have, what the role as the county”s chief law enforcement officer should be, how they anticipate interacting with local law enforcement, what criteria would they would use to determine which cases need to be prosecuted, how they would you determine which individuals are innocent and which are guilty, how to handle cases where the case is based solely on the victim”s word against the defendant, how many cases have they tried to a jury, how many criminal trials and what the current conviction rate at trial for the district attorney”s office is and finally, what they would do to improve the conviction rate.
Editor”s note: In the interest of space, a full-account of the District Attorney candidate debates will appear in Saturday”s Record-Bee.
