One attack piece, targeted for voters in Davis, attacked Judge Maguire on a number of issues such as the deal to commute the sentence of the son of former Speaker Fabian Nunez, despite the fact that Dan Maguire was already a judge in Yolo County by the time that occurred.
Now the race for the judgeship, which generally eschews such personal attacks as unbefitting of the judiciary, has taken a turn into the kind of nasty and divisive politics that typically befalls other political races.
“Unfortunately, my opponent Clint Parish has resorted to the worst sort of gutter politics,” Judge Dan Maguire told the Vanguard. “His mailer is recklessly false, and includes charges made up out of whole cloth.”
“It’s deplorable when any candidate resorts to such tactics, and unthinkable to imagine that a person comfortable spewing such lies could be a judge,” Judge Maguire added.
Late on Monday, Yolo County Presiding Judge David Rosenberg added his voice to those concerned about the turn that the race has taken.
The Vanguard has now learned that Sheriff Ed Prieto has pulled his endorsement of Clinton Parish. Sheriff Prieto confirmed this to the Vanguard.
A new piece emerged later on Monday, clearly targeting partisan Republicans. The piece was entitled, “Keeping Yolo County Safe,” and referred to Clinton Parish, a Deputy DA, as a “Law and Order Republican for Judge.”
Some would argue that that is the job for police and sheriffs, and perhaps the District Attorney. But that is not the role of a judge who has to be neutral and ensure that all parties have their rights protected and that the law is followed.
“Frankly, I’m saddened to see a hit piece like this in a non-partisan judicial race,” Judge Rosenberg told the Vanguard. “The mailer by Mr. Parish is full of falsehoods and distortions. It doesn’t deal with any issue of relevance to the judicial race.”
He said, “It’s just phlegm aimed at a decent, hard-working and honorable man – Judge Dan Maguire. This is disturbing conduct by someone who wants to be a Judge.”
However, the Clinton Parish campaign stands by their attacks.
Kirby Wells, who told the Vanguard he is the communications person and authorized to speak on behalf of the campaign, said on Monday, “I think that is why Judges have such a traditionally safe position. Although it is an elected position, it is played as if it is bad manners for someone to actually compete.”
He disputed characterizations of Clinton Parish as being too partial.
“I would say there have been actions by members of the Bench that have been much more partial, but I would not consider that a factor to disqualify their judgment in the Courtroom,” he said. “I believe that in the end, the system works best when there is a hard fought campaign and these issues get vetted by both sides.”
He added, “Certainly, we are seeing a level of activity from both sides that Yolo County has not seen in a long time – but that is probably pretty healthy.”
The second piece attacks Judge Maguire for his lack of experience in “felony criminal law,” as being part of former Governor’s Legal Team, who “received his political appointment to the bench in the last days of Arnold’s term.”
Finally, they once again argued that he was part of the governor’s legal advisors that “made the decision to commute the sentence of Esteban Nunez,” who is the son of Fabian Nunez convicted for the killing of a San Diego student.
Judge Maguire responded, “I had absolutely no involvement in the decision to commute part of the sentence imposed on Esteban Nunez. I learned of it in the newspaper.”
Judge Maguire told the Vanguard that, in fact, he was already appointed to the bench at the time of the commutation of Esteban Nunez’s sentence.
“I was appointed through the same merit-based peer review as every other appointed judges. I had no knowledge or involvement in the Esteban Nunez case,” he said.
The original hit-piece charges, “Dan Maguire was quoted defending the Protocol Foundation — used to hide $1.7 million in Arnold’s travel expenses.”
In a statement to the Vanguard, Judge Maguire said, “The Protocol Foundation was a 501c3 created to help to relieve the taxpayers of paying for things like trade missions, dinners for visiting diplomats, etc.”
“I had no role in creating it or disbursing its funds — it was an independent body with own its board,” he said. “One of my jobs as lawyer for the Governor was to help respond to Public Records Act requests, which is why I was quoted in articles sometimes.”
“I never took such trips,” Judge Maguire added.
“The Governor always followed the law and disclosed when the Protocol Foundation paid for his business travel or business travel for members of his office,” the judge said. “No FPPC charges or lawsuits of any kind were ever filed against the Governor concerning any issue relating to the Protocol Foundation.”
In a more bizarre charge, the mailer purports, “Dan Maguire was involved in a sordid case of corporate fraud that involved payment of bribes in Russia”
He speculates, “He may be referring to this case, which involves the firm I worked for in Denver from 1993 – 1997.” Information on this can be found here.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Let’s hope voters are smart enough to not vote for Parish for judge. We don’t need this type of person on the bench. Judge Rosenberg said it best, “This is disturbing conduct by someone who wants to be a judge.”
sounds like it’s just business as usual at the DA’s office. I dont know why people are so shocked by this when this is how they roll every day, in every case. They make horrible and wrongful accusations about people.
While judges are elected in California there has been a long tradition of judges retiring before their terms end allowing the Governor to appoint replacements. Elections for judges then become referendums on performance. If anyone has a reason why they have been treated unfairly by Judge Dan Maguire, if any attorney has reason to argue that Dan Maguire is unfit to serve, shown malice, bias or prejudice they should speak up. Otherwise there is no reason to vote out Judge Dan Maguire.
Maguire went to Stanford and Harvard Law, clerked for a court of appeals judge, worked in private practice and served a Governor. Pretty good resume if you ask me. And Parish?
UPDATE: Ed Prieto has now pulled his endorsement
It’s hard to fathom Parish’s political strategy with the mailers. The largest block of votes in Yolo County is Davis and Davis votes progessive. Losing.
What, did people think that Clinton Parish had somehow become smart, ethical, and honorable just because he decided to run for judge? This is exactly the type of behavior that he’s exhibited during his tenure as one of the DA’s cronies. At least Ed Prieto seems to have come to recognize who this guy really is.
Oh, and by the way, his name is CLINTON. He started calling himself “clint” just before this election to make himself sound more cool. It’s not working.
An act of desperation. The mailing doesn’t change my vote. Dan Maguire seems to me to be more capable of maintaining a semblance of neutrality than Clint Parish.
Ryan – it’s CLINTON parish.
But “Clint” sounds so much more cool.
[quote]An act of desperation. [/quote]
That’s how I read it…
Elaine,
I’m not sure I agree that it’s an act of desperation. What we have is clinton parish giving the people a brief look into what type of person he really is. It’s not hard at all to see him sending out this type of mailer even if he had overwhelming support. For him, it’s not just about getting what he wants, it’s about using any means necessary to destroy his opponent’s reputation, whether or not those means are ethical or honorable. We should thank clinton parish for sending it out.
[quote]I’m not sure I agree that it’s an act of desperation. What we have is clinton parish giving the people a brief look into what type of person he really is. It’s not hard at all to see him sending out this type of mailer even if he had overwhelming support. For him, it’s not just about getting what he wants, it’s about using any means necessary to destroy his opponent’s reputation, whether or not those means are ethical or honorable. We should thank clinton parish for sending it out.[/quote]
Ouch.
Clinton may advertise being a member of Rotary, but the mailer sure fails the 4-way test….
LOL, this is a direct PLAY out of the play book of DA Jeff Reisig. NO Dep DA is allowed to run for Judge unless Reisig gives to OK. Reisig would require leave of absence or claim a conflict if he did not support Parish.
As a matter of fact, according to insiders in the DA’s Office, Reisig encouraged and pushed Parish to run against this Judge since the Judge ruled against Reisig in a recent case. Check cases on appeal filed by Yolo and Jeff Reisig for details.
I remember when Parish had a cross with Christ hanging on his wall in his office and when Reisig took over he make Parish take it down claiming it was offensive to some. Parish and Reisig have a love hate relationship.
Wow, Ed pulled his support? Interesting, normally Ed won’t tie his shoe without checking with DA Reisig? Would like to have heard that conversation.
I had decided since I found out Parish was running to vote for Maguire. Endorsements by Reisig and Prieto showed me I made the right choice.
Can anyone explain why Prieto claims to be a Democrat?
It’s always seemed odd for Prieto to show up at Democrat functions.
Maybe Roger Rabbit has an idea on this?
[i]this is a direct PLAY out of the play book of DA Jeff Reisig. NO Dep DA is allowed to run for Judge unless Reisig gives to OK. Reisig would require leave of absence or claim a conflict if he did not support Parish.[/i]
You have no idea just how true this is, RR. This is not a campaign to get clinton parish elected to the bench, this is a campaign to send a message. The message is that the DA calls the shots in this county, not the judges. This is about power, ego, and arrogance: Reisig’s, not parish’s.
This is not to say that we should feel sorry for clinton parish for being a compete dupe. He has a reputation within the local legal community as being is one of the most untrustworthy and unethical individuals to practice law in the area (which might be the main reason why he would never consider submitting his name to the state JNE commission and subject himself to peer review, risking a rating of “unqualified”). And while clinton parish may not be all that smart, he does possess a level of arrogance that almost matches his boss’. It will be interesting to see how fast Reisig dumps him after he loses.
Corruption is alive within the judicial and legal system. Judges are required to uphold the law, not to make law and certainly not to bend the law. The District Attorney’s Office is also responsible with upholding the law.
Judges are to adhere to the California Code of Judicial Ethics, not ignore it. (http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/ca_code_judicial_ethics.pdf).
A judge that thinks he is above the law is guilty of misconduct and does several of the following: engaged in conduct of bias and partiality; assumes an adversarial role; illegally and inappropriately questions a sexual assault victim; involved in ex parte communications; commits an abuse of sanctions and threaten with talk of a reckoning; accepts improper campaign donations; fails to ensure the rights of a victim.
If a DA (not Parish) sacrifices the law so he can protect his “father-son” relationship with a judge and cover up an illegal act, he is guilty of fraud and corruption.