For Contra Costa D.A., resignation was inevitable
Mark Peterson had to go. He was Contra Costa County’s district attorney — until Wednesday. That’s the day the state attorney general’s office charged him with 13 felonies connected to his admitted use of his campaign fund as if it were a personal bank account.
You could see that Peterson didn’t want to give up his $250,000-ayear post. Sure, he had tainted the office, and trust in his decisionmaking had eroded. But he wanted to run for re-election.
Yet, 13 felonies lights one heckuva fire on the
behind.
So on Wednesday, Peterson cut a sweet plea deal with state prosecutors and resigned.
In exchange for his resignation and his nocontest plea to one count of perjury for making false statements on state campaign disclosure forms, state prosecutors dropped the other 12 charges.
Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Theresa Canepa found Peterson guilty of the single felony and ordered him to perform 250 hours of community service and serve three years of probation. Yup, that’s it. I’d like to meet the person who believes Peterson got the same treatment as the most vulnerable of Contra Costa County’s citizens, the people he swore to serve.
Peterson’s the guy who decided not to file charges against active police officers in the sex-exploitation scandal that rocked the Oakland police force and pelted officers across the Bay Area, including in Contra Costa County.
In 2014, Peterson refused to prosecute a Richmond police officer for the killing of Richard “Pedie” Perez III, who was intoxicated and unarmed when he was shot three times.
Peterson, who was first elected district attorney in 2010 and won re-election unopposed four years later, should have known siphoning campaign funds for personal use was against the law.
It was revealed in December that Peterson made approximately 600 expenditures from the political account for his personal use. An investigation by the state Fair Political Practices Commission found Peterson dipped into his campaign funds between 2011 and 2015.
He dined out, went to the movies and went on shopping sprees. He paid phone bills, booked hotel rooms and hit ATM machines. Peterson also transferred money from the political account to his personal bank account. After Peterson was notified that his political account would be audited by state tax investigators, he must have realized that his hand had been caught in the cookie jar and that there was no way to hide the melted chocolate on his fingers. Because he divulged his indiscretion to the Fair Political Practices Commission, repaid his campaign and paid a $45,000 fine.
Peterson was elected to uphold the law, but he abused his authority. And until last week, he ignored growing shouts for his resignation.
In May, a Contra Costa grand jury concluded that Peterson should be removed from office, alleging “willful misconduct” in his handling of campaign funds.
Back in January, I was in Martinez for a chilly, early morning protest that was ostensibly about Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston’s jail contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But the dozens of protestors also marched around the block to the district attorney’s office, shouting “Mark Peterson must go” and “D.A. resign now.” Peterson had to go. “It really was a good opportunity to point out, as we did that day, the criminal activity of the district attorney and how, as the community, we do not accept it,” said Ali Saidi of the Contra Costa County Public Defenders Association, one of the leaders of the late-January protest. “And we expect our elected officials, particularly our district attorney, to not be a crook.”