Fresh chance to balance scales of justice

Contra Costa County is looking for a top prosecutor. In the next two months, the Board of Supervisors will decide who will replace Mark Peterson, the last district attorney, who resigned in disgrace after pleading no contest to one count of perjury for making false statements on state campaign disclosure forms.

The job application deadline to replace him is July 21.

The board has promised to give the public a say — after it selects finalists. Supervisors plan a candidates’ forum on Aug. 15 and candidate interviews at a public meeting on Sept. 12.

But that’s not enough for a coalition of community organizations that is demanding to be informed and involved in the selection process every step of the way. The coalition includes the Central Labor Council of Contra Costa County, the ACLU of Northern California and the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County.

The coalition sees Peterson’s resignation as an opportunity to reverse what it believes is the unfair treatment of black people by the county’s criminal justice system.

“From the top to the bottom, at every level, there are racial discrepancies, racial inequities,” said Margaret Hanlon-Gradie, executive director of the Central Labor Council of Contra Costa County. “From who gets ar-

rested to who gets charged and how they get charged to the sentencing recommendations.”

According to a 2015 report by the Contra Costa County Administrator’s Office, in 2013 blacks made up 10 percent of the population in the county. Yet, blacks accounted for 26 percent of all criminal cases. What’s more, blacks accounted for 30 percent of parolees.

As a comparison, Latinos, who made up 25 percent of the population, accounted for 22 percent of criminal cases, and whites were 46 percent of the county population, but were involved in only 41 percent of the criminal cases.

The racial inequities existed before Peterson, who was first elected in 2010 and then re-elected unopposed four years later. But he certainly didn’t do anything to change them.

County supervisors would be wise to make sure that addressing the disparities is a priority for the next person sitting in the district attorney’s office.

The new district attorney will complete Peterson’s term, which runs through January 2019. And whoever gets appointed will be the incumbent — if they choose to run — in the next election.

Two people — Paul Graves, a Contra Costa County deputy district attorney, and Patrick Vanier, a prosecutor in the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office — have publicly announced their candidacies. A third, Bill Green of the Contra Costa County Bar Association, told me he was applying for the job.

There’s also talk that Dan O’Malley, who was defeated by Peterson in the bitter 2010 election that led to a house cleaning in the district attorney’s office after Peterson’s win, will run. He didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The county supervisors have discretion to make an appointment without public input. But they owe it to the public to be as transparent as possible.

Because this is the board that was silent as the public cries for Peterson’s ouster grew louder after he admitted to siphoning money from his campaign for personal use.

Peterson’s six-year tenure ended when the state attorney general’s office charged him with 13 felonies connected to his admittedly using his campaign fund like an ATM machine.

“They really had an opportunity to show some leadership before the AG came down with his 13 felony counts,” said Maria Alegria, chair of the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County, and a coalition member. “I think this is a moment for them to take leadership.”