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Lies and Facts About the Gallegos Recall
Please consider this information in making your decision about Measure F, the recall of Humboldt County District Attorney, Paul Gallegos. Scroll to the end to see what you can do to help!
Lie: ”Gallegos has lost the confidence of the public in the office of the DA”
Fact: The ‘loss of confidence’ has been manufactured by the recall campaign.
The recall talk began immediately after newly-elected DA, Paul Gallegos, filed a business fraud lawsuit against the Pacific Lumber Company. He had been in office less than 2 months, hardly enough time to establish a record of his performance, much less have it evaluated. Recall proponents have spent the past year second-guessing every decision he has made, hampering his ability to do the job he was elected to do. They are now choosing to distort a few of the nearly 7500 cases his office has prosecuted
Lie: “Gallegos is soft on crime.”
Fact: Since Gallegos took office, felony filings have gone up nearly 15%, the office has been modernized, and Gallegos himself has won convictions in 5 out of 5 cases he has personally handled; All of this while working under substantial budget cuts.
In 1986, when Terry Farmer was up for his first re-election bid, he was accused of being soft on crime, using excessive plea bargaining, botching important cases, and of re-filing felonies as misdemeanors. He went on to effectively lead his office for 20 years.
Lie: “If the police are all against the DA, then he must be pretty bad.”
Fact: In spite of the endorsements of their organizations, many police officers do not support the recall. The DA’s office must sometimes police the police, and therefore maintain its independence from law enforcement.
In Terry Farmer’s 1986 re-election bid, the Sheriffs Officers, Eureka Police, Fortuna Police, and HSU Police officers’ associations were all opposed to him, and endorsed his opponent. In the 2002 race between Farmer and Gallegos, the officers’ associations chose not to endorse Farmer, even after 20 years in office.
Lie: ”Gallegos has horribly mishandled cases”
Fact: His record is as good, or better, than his predecessors’
In the cases which Gallegos has been publicly criticized for, he achieved stronger convictions than either of his opponents did in very similar cases:
·In the drive-by shooting, the defendants received the maximum sentence of 7 years for a crime in which no one was injured.
· Under Terry Farmer, Worth Dikeman obtained a sentence of only 3 years for a similar shooting in Redway, which narrowly missed children in a day care.
· Gloria Albin-Sheets obtained a sentence of only 4 years for a vehicular manslaughter case, in which the victim was killed.
Lie: “That child molester should have been put away for 100 years.”
Fact: Certain features of the Martinez-Hernandez case made it risky to take to trial for multiple counts.
The family in this case are illegal aliens and a flight concern. Without witnesses, there would be no case. Language difficulties, and emotional tolerance of the child for repeated appearances in court also had to be considered. The willingness of the defendant to accept the charge of a single, continuous act, rather than multiple individual acts produced the most certain conviction.
Deputy District Attorney Wes Keat, a former police officer, who filed the case, has said there is much disinformation being spread about this case, and that public perceptions will be very hard to clear up.
In other molestation and child abuse cases, Gallegos has obtained the maximum possible sentences, including 168 years for a molester, and 10 years for a man who shook his baby.
Lie: “Gallegos lets tree-sitters go with a $10 fine.”
Fact: Under Gallegos, tree-sitters have been fined as much as $500, and received sentences of up to 40 days in jail, up to 2 years’ probation, and up to 100 hours of community service.
Each case has special features and charges which determine applicable punishments. Recall proponents have chosen only to point to one case where a tree-sitter was fined $10. It must be noted that Julia Butterfly trespassed for 2 years during Terry Farmer’s tenure, and was never prosecuted.
Lie: “Gallegos’ marijuana guidelines are too lenient.”
Fact: Gallegos’ medical marijuana guidelines were and are consistent with Federal, State, and neighboring local ordinances.
When Gallegos took office, there were no State guidelines, so he established an interim policy similar to those in Sonoma and Del Norte Counties, creating consistency for both patients and law enforcement.
In January, the State Legislature enacted SB 420 which, for the first time, established State guidelines for medical marijuana. Gallegos immediately adopted these new State guidelines, leaving authority in the hands of the County Board of Supervisors.
Lie: “Gallegos didn’t even charge a man who was illegally growing marijuana in a school zone.”
Fact: The person involved was growing and using medical marijuana legally, so there was no crime to charge him with. This marijuana bust had also been turned down for prosecution by Terry Farmer in 2003, for the same reason.
Lie: “Gallegos associates with criminals like Chompers Cook, who is a felon with a rap sheet 7 pages long ”
Fact: Pacific Lumber Company, has a rap sheet that would impress Al Capone.
PL has racked up more than 600 violations of the Forest Practice Rules, 220 Water Quality violations, and has been convicted of fraud in the past. In court, PL claimed that their lying is “protected free speech,” and that it is the responsibility of regulatory agencies and the public to correct them.
PL paid out millions of dollars in damages for the landslide the buried Stafford, and the death of forest activist David Chain.
Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky both served time in prison due in part to their roles in the MAXXAM takeover of PL.
The Committee to Recall Paul Gallegos (now “Safety Yes! Recall Gallegos”), is the subject of multiple Fair Political Practices Commission investigations, for possible violations of signature gathering rules, and for campaign disclosure rules.
Safety Yes, Worth Dikeman, and Gloria Albin-Sheets have all used information from confidential documents stolen from the DA’s office, and Safety Yes is known to have received and distributed the stolen documents.
By comparison, “Chompers” Cook, who appeared in one anti-recall commercial, is behind on child support, has bounced 2 checks, and paid fines for a small number of logging violations
Lie: “Gallegos is in the pocket of radical environmentalists, who handed him the PL lawsuit.”
Fact: Providing law-enforcement with information and evidence relevant to a crime is the responsibility of all good citizens.
In response to Gallegos' campaign promise of "equal justice for all", and his institution of a white-collar crime division, Humboldt Watershed Council submitted information which led to the lawsuit. This took place less than 2 months after he took office, but because of the serious nature of the fraud and the imminent closure of statutes of limitations, the case had to be filed immediately.
Lie: “The recall has nothing to do with PL.”
Fact: The recall would not exist if not for the PL lawsuit, PL’s signature drive, and PL’s money.
Talk of a recall started when Gallegos had been in office less than 2 months, and within a week of filing charges against PL. When the recall signature drive was faltering, PL paid more than $40,000 to buy 5,000 signatures at $8 apiece. Without that money, there would probably be no recall. Since October 1st, PL has put nearly $230,000 into the recall so far, and is expected to reach as high as $500,000.
The recall was a response to the DA’s lawsuit against PL, pure and simple, and all of the recall’s main proponents have admitted this:
· Rick Brazeau, in commenting about Steven Schectman’s insistence that he would continue the PL lawsuit, asked why he would want to “carry on the traditions that got (Gallegos) recalled in the first place?” (Times-Standard, December 13, 2003)
· The Committee to Recall Paul Gallegos, in a press release titled “Reasons for the Recall”, lists “In March, he accused a major business of a $400,000,000 fraud and filed a civil case.”
· Robert Manne, Pacific Lumber CEO, referring to the DA’s fraud lawsuit against PL: “…are we to sit back and allow that to happen?” (letter to PL employees, October 24, 2003)
· Rob Flanigan, the recall’s campaign manager, has been known to operate directly out of PL’s offices in Scotia.
Lie: "The PL lawsuit is baseless.”
Fact: The Director of the California Department of Forestry filed a declaration in court supporting the central charges of the lawsuit against Pacific Lumber.
Richard Wilson, head of the lead permitting agency at the time of the alleged fraud, stated that his agency’s approval of PL’s current rate of harvest would have been withheld, if it had come to his attention that the information submitted by PL was false.
Vote NO on Measure F, Tuesday, March 2nd
Pass along this information
This election will be extremely close
Call your friends and remind them to vote
Call the Friends of Paul Gallegos 444-6220 and volunteer to help Get Out The Vote on Monday and Tuesday
Fact: The ‘loss of confidence’ has been manufactured by the recall campaign.
The recall talk began immediately after newly-elected DA, Paul Gallegos, filed a business fraud lawsuit against the Pacific Lumber Company. He had been in office less than 2 months, hardly enough time to establish a record of his performance, much less have it evaluated. Recall proponents have spent the past year second-guessing every decision he has made, hampering his ability to do the job he was elected to do. They are now choosing to distort a few of the nearly 7500 cases his office has prosecuted
Lie: “Gallegos is soft on crime.”
Fact: Since Gallegos took office, felony filings have gone up nearly 15%, the office has been modernized, and Gallegos himself has won convictions in 5 out of 5 cases he has personally handled; All of this while working under substantial budget cuts.
In 1986, when Terry Farmer was up for his first re-election bid, he was accused of being soft on crime, using excessive plea bargaining, botching important cases, and of re-filing felonies as misdemeanors. He went on to effectively lead his office for 20 years.
Lie: “If the police are all against the DA, then he must be pretty bad.”
Fact: In spite of the endorsements of their organizations, many police officers do not support the recall. The DA’s office must sometimes police the police, and therefore maintain its independence from law enforcement.
In Terry Farmer’s 1986 re-election bid, the Sheriffs Officers, Eureka Police, Fortuna Police, and HSU Police officers’ associations were all opposed to him, and endorsed his opponent. In the 2002 race between Farmer and Gallegos, the officers’ associations chose not to endorse Farmer, even after 20 years in office.
Lie: ”Gallegos has horribly mishandled cases”
Fact: His record is as good, or better, than his predecessors’
In the cases which Gallegos has been publicly criticized for, he achieved stronger convictions than either of his opponents did in very similar cases:
·In the drive-by shooting, the defendants received the maximum sentence of 7 years for a crime in which no one was injured.
· Under Terry Farmer, Worth Dikeman obtained a sentence of only 3 years for a similar shooting in Redway, which narrowly missed children in a day care.
· Gloria Albin-Sheets obtained a sentence of only 4 years for a vehicular manslaughter case, in which the victim was killed.
Lie: “That child molester should have been put away for 100 years.”
Fact: Certain features of the Martinez-Hernandez case made it risky to take to trial for multiple counts.
The family in this case are illegal aliens and a flight concern. Without witnesses, there would be no case. Language difficulties, and emotional tolerance of the child for repeated appearances in court also had to be considered. The willingness of the defendant to accept the charge of a single, continuous act, rather than multiple individual acts produced the most certain conviction.
Deputy District Attorney Wes Keat, a former police officer, who filed the case, has said there is much disinformation being spread about this case, and that public perceptions will be very hard to clear up.
In other molestation and child abuse cases, Gallegos has obtained the maximum possible sentences, including 168 years for a molester, and 10 years for a man who shook his baby.
Lie: “Gallegos lets tree-sitters go with a $10 fine.”
Fact: Under Gallegos, tree-sitters have been fined as much as $500, and received sentences of up to 40 days in jail, up to 2 years’ probation, and up to 100 hours of community service.
Each case has special features and charges which determine applicable punishments. Recall proponents have chosen only to point to one case where a tree-sitter was fined $10. It must be noted that Julia Butterfly trespassed for 2 years during Terry Farmer’s tenure, and was never prosecuted.
Lie: “Gallegos’ marijuana guidelines are too lenient.”
Fact: Gallegos’ medical marijuana guidelines were and are consistent with Federal, State, and neighboring local ordinances.
When Gallegos took office, there were no State guidelines, so he established an interim policy similar to those in Sonoma and Del Norte Counties, creating consistency for both patients and law enforcement.
In January, the State Legislature enacted SB 420 which, for the first time, established State guidelines for medical marijuana. Gallegos immediately adopted these new State guidelines, leaving authority in the hands of the County Board of Supervisors.
Lie: “Gallegos didn’t even charge a man who was illegally growing marijuana in a school zone.”
Fact: The person involved was growing and using medical marijuana legally, so there was no crime to charge him with. This marijuana bust had also been turned down for prosecution by Terry Farmer in 2003, for the same reason.
Lie: “Gallegos associates with criminals like Chompers Cook, who is a felon with a rap sheet 7 pages long ”
Fact: Pacific Lumber Company, has a rap sheet that would impress Al Capone.
PL has racked up more than 600 violations of the Forest Practice Rules, 220 Water Quality violations, and has been convicted of fraud in the past. In court, PL claimed that their lying is “protected free speech,” and that it is the responsibility of regulatory agencies and the public to correct them.
PL paid out millions of dollars in damages for the landslide the buried Stafford, and the death of forest activist David Chain.
Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky both served time in prison due in part to their roles in the MAXXAM takeover of PL.
The Committee to Recall Paul Gallegos (now “Safety Yes! Recall Gallegos”), is the subject of multiple Fair Political Practices Commission investigations, for possible violations of signature gathering rules, and for campaign disclosure rules.
Safety Yes, Worth Dikeman, and Gloria Albin-Sheets have all used information from confidential documents stolen from the DA’s office, and Safety Yes is known to have received and distributed the stolen documents.
By comparison, “Chompers” Cook, who appeared in one anti-recall commercial, is behind on child support, has bounced 2 checks, and paid fines for a small number of logging violations
Lie: “Gallegos is in the pocket of radical environmentalists, who handed him the PL lawsuit.”
Fact: Providing law-enforcement with information and evidence relevant to a crime is the responsibility of all good citizens.
In response to Gallegos' campaign promise of "equal justice for all", and his institution of a white-collar crime division, Humboldt Watershed Council submitted information which led to the lawsuit. This took place less than 2 months after he took office, but because of the serious nature of the fraud and the imminent closure of statutes of limitations, the case had to be filed immediately.
Lie: “The recall has nothing to do with PL.”
Fact: The recall would not exist if not for the PL lawsuit, PL’s signature drive, and PL’s money.
Talk of a recall started when Gallegos had been in office less than 2 months, and within a week of filing charges against PL. When the recall signature drive was faltering, PL paid more than $40,000 to buy 5,000 signatures at $8 apiece. Without that money, there would probably be no recall. Since October 1st, PL has put nearly $230,000 into the recall so far, and is expected to reach as high as $500,000.
The recall was a response to the DA’s lawsuit against PL, pure and simple, and all of the recall’s main proponents have admitted this:
· Rick Brazeau, in commenting about Steven Schectman’s insistence that he would continue the PL lawsuit, asked why he would want to “carry on the traditions that got (Gallegos) recalled in the first place?” (Times-Standard, December 13, 2003)
· The Committee to Recall Paul Gallegos, in a press release titled “Reasons for the Recall”, lists “In March, he accused a major business of a $400,000,000 fraud and filed a civil case.”
· Robert Manne, Pacific Lumber CEO, referring to the DA’s fraud lawsuit against PL: “…are we to sit back and allow that to happen?” (letter to PL employees, October 24, 2003)
· Rob Flanigan, the recall’s campaign manager, has been known to operate directly out of PL’s offices in Scotia.
Lie: "The PL lawsuit is baseless.”
Fact: The Director of the California Department of Forestry filed a declaration in court supporting the central charges of the lawsuit against Pacific Lumber.
Richard Wilson, head of the lead permitting agency at the time of the alleged fraud, stated that his agency’s approval of PL’s current rate of harvest would have been withheld, if it had come to his attention that the information submitted by PL was false.
Vote NO on Measure F, Tuesday, March 2nd
Pass along this information
This election will be extremely close
Call your friends and remind them to vote
Call the Friends of Paul Gallegos 444-6220 and volunteer to help Get Out The Vote on Monday and Tuesday
For more information:
http://www.votegallegos.org
Add Your Comments
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Please consider this information in making your decision about Measure F, the recall of Humboldt County District Attorney, Paul Gallegos. Scroll to the end to see what you can do to help!
Lie: ”Gallegos has lost the confidence of the public in the office of the DA”
Fact: The ‘loss of confidence’ has been manufactured by the recall campaign.
The recall talk began immediately after newly-elected DA, Paul Gallegos, filed a business fraud lawsuit against the Pacific Lumber Company. He had been in office less than 2 months, hardly enough time to establish a record of his performance, much less have it evaluated. Recall proponents have spent the past year second-guessing every decision he has made, hampering his ability to do the job he was elected to do. They are now choosing to distort a few of the nearly 7500 cases his office has prosecuted
REAL TRUTH: 17,000 people signed a petition because they realised that he had a hidden adgenda when he took office. He admits that the pot guidlines were developed prior to taking office , but insists that the PL lawsuit was not. Even though he hired Tim Stoen within days and Stoen loves going after loggers.
Lie: “Gallegos is soft on crime.”
Fact: Since Gallegos took office, felony filings have gone up nearly 15%, the office has been modernized, and Gallegos himself has won convictions in 5 out of 5 cases he has personally handled; All of this while working under substantial budget cuts.
REAL TRUTH: He blew it within the first three months. When he was attacked for being soft, he struck back. How many appeals will go to trial because people will say that they were used to prove that he was being soft on crime." Sorry dude, I'd cut you a break but I'm kind of under the microscope right now. Got to go, surfs up"
In 1986, when Terry Farmer was up for his first re-election bid, he was accused of being soft on crime, using excessive plea bargaining, botching important cases, and of re-filing felonies as misdemeanors. He went on to effectively lead his office for 20 years.
Lie: “If the police are all against the DA, then he must be pretty bad.”
Fact: In spite of the endorsements of their organizations, many police officers do not support the recall. The DA’s office must sometimes police the police, and therefore maintain its independence from law enforcement.
In Terry Farmer’s 1986 re-election bid, the Sheriffs Officers, Eureka Police, Fortuna Police, and HSU Police officers’ associations were all opposed to him, and endorsed his opponent. In the 2002 race between Farmer and Gallegos, the officers’ associations chose not to endorse Farmer, even after 20 years in office.
REAL TRUTH: Acually most law enforcement officers are not happy with him.
Lie: ”Gallegos has horribly mishandled cases”
Fact: His record is as good, or better, than his predecessors’
In the cases which Gallegos has been publicly criticized for, he achieved stronger convictions than either of his opponents did in very similar cases:
·In the drive-by shooting, the defendants received the maximum sentence of 7 years for a crime in which no one was injured.
· Under Terry Farmer, Worth Dikeman obtained a sentence of only 3 years for a similar shooting in Redway, which narrowly missed children in a day care.
· Gloria Albin-Sheets obtained a sentence of only 4 years for a vehicular manslaughter case, in which the victim was killed.
REAL TRUTH: Lets not use one sentence to compare single cases that are far more complicated than what can be expressed here. You have to look at patterns.
Lie: “That child molester should have been put away for 100 years.”
Fact: Certain features of the Martinez-Hernandez case made it risky to take to trial for multiple counts.
The family in this case are illegal aliens and a flight concern. Without witnesses, there would be no case. Language difficulties, and emotional tolerance of the child for repeated appearances in court also had to be considered. The willingness of the defendant to accept the charge of a single, continuous act, rather than multiple individual acts produced the most certain conviction.
Deputy District Attorney Wes Keat, a former police officer, who filed the case, has said there is much disinformation being spread about this case, and that public perceptions will be very hard to clear up.
REAL TRUTH: It is becoming public knowledge that a decision was made PRIOR to all the reports being completed. The charges that were settled for were preliminary charges, as has been reported in various places.
In other molestation and child abuse cases, Gallegos has obtained the maximum possible sentences, including 168 years for a molester, and 10 years for a man who shook his baby.
Lie: “Gallegos lets tree-sitters go with a $10 fine.”
Fact: Under Gallegos, tree-sitters have been fined as much as $500, and received sentences of up to 40 days in jail, up to 2 years’ probation, and up to 100 hours of community service.
Each case has special features and charges which determine applicable punishments. Recall proponents have chosen only to point to one case where a tree-sitter was fined $10. It must be noted that Julia Butterfly trespassed for 2 years during Terry Farmer’s tenure, and was never prosecuted.
REAL TRUTH: Mrs Wagner has not served her 40 day sentence yet. She is tring to plea down the charge as we speak. Paul will do it, and she will serve a fraction of the time. But it will have looked as if he had been tough.
And by the way, Julia Hill was never charged, it never went to the D.A. But nice try.
Lie: “Gallegos’ marijuana guidelines are too lenient.”
Fact: Gallegos’ medical marijuana guidelines were and are consistent with Federal, State, and neighboring local ordinances.
When Gallegos took office, there were no State guidelines, so he established an interim policy similar to those in Sonoma and Del Norte Counties, creating consistency for both patients and law enforcement.
In January, the State Legislature enacted SB 420 which, for the first time, established State guidelines for medical marijuana. Gallegos immediately adopted these new State guidelines, leaving authority in the hands of the County Board of Supervisors.
It seems to me that there has been more deaths related to growing this year than ever before. People come from out of the area because the pickings are so easy. I mean who needs 3 pounds of pot? Thats 9,000 dollars worth.
Lie: “Gallegos didn’t even charge a man who was illegally growing marijuana in a school zone.”
Fact: The person involved was growing and using medical marijuana legally, so there was no crime to charge him with. This marijuana bust had also been turned down for prosecution by Terry Farmer in 2003, for the same reason.
Lie: “Gallegos associates with criminals like Chompers Cook, who is a felon with a rap sheet 7 pages long ”
Fact: Pacific Lumber Company, has a rap sheet that would impress Al Capone.
PL has racked up more than 600 violations of the Forest Practice Rules, 220 Water Quality violations, and has been convicted of fraud in the past. In court, PL claimed that their lying is “protected free speech,” and that it is the responsibility of regulatory agencies and the public to correct them.
PL paid out millions of dollars in damages for the landslide the buried Stafford, and the death of forest activist David Chain.
Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky both served time in prison due in part to their roles in the MAXXAM takeover of PL.
The Committee to Recall Paul Gallegos (now “Safety Yes! Recall Gallegos”), is the subject of multiple Fair Political Practices Commission investigations, for possible violations of signature gathering rules, and for campaign disclosure rules.
Safety Yes, Worth Dikeman, and Gloria Albin-Sheets have all used information from confidential documents stolen from the DA’s office, and Safety Yes is known to have received and distributed the stolen documents.
By comparison, “Chompers” Cook, who appeared in one anti-recall commercial, is behind on child support, has bounced 2 checks, and paid fines for a small number of logging violations
REAL TRUTH: Good old "chompers" was a dead beat dad that had to get slapped upside the head by the law before he took responcibilty for his child. No one get busted for boucing two checks. Do we want to go into details? There was more ther. And a small operation like his had to pay fines for logging violations? I guess we should be glad he didn't own 260,000 acres. He would have more than PL. PL has had no citations levied aginst them for the last several years. And that is while under the most intense watch by the various agencies, not just CDF.
Lie: “Gallegos is in the pocket of radical environmentalists, who handed him the PL lawsuit.”
Fact: Providing law-enforcement with information and evidence relevant to a crime is the responsibility of all good citizens.
(Heil Paul)
In response to Gallegos' campaign promise of "equal justice for all", and his institution of a white-collar crime division, Humboldt Watershed Council submitted information which led to the lawsuit. This took place less than 2 months after he took office, but because of the serious nature of the fraud and the imminent closure of statutes of limitations, the case had to be filed immediately.
REAL TRUTH: Ya, and Tim Stoen just happened to come on board (at 100,000 $ a year) just in time. Of course he had to finish sueing the other loggers in Mendicino before he would come up as part of the deal.
Lie: “The recall has nothing to do with PL.”
Fact: The recall would not exist if not for the PL lawsuit, PL’s signature drive, and PL’s money.
Talk of a recall started when Gallegos had been in office less than 2 months, and within a week of filing charges against PL. When the recall signature drive was faltering, PL paid more than $40,000 to buy 5,000 signatures at $8 apiece. Without that money, there would probably be no recall. Since October 1st, PL has put nearly $230,000 into the recall so far, and is expected to reach as high as $500,000.
The recall was a response to the DA’s lawsuit against PL, pure and simple, and all of the recall’s main proponents have admitted this:
· Rick Brazeau, in commenting about Steven Schectman’s insistence that he would continue the PL lawsuit, asked why he would want to “carry on the traditions that got (Gallegos) recalled in the first place?” (Times-Standard, December 13, 2003)
· The Committee to Recall Paul Gallegos, in a press release titled “Reasons for the Recall”, lists “In March, he accused a major business of a $400,000,000 fraud and filed a civil case.”
· Robert Manne, Pacific Lumber CEO, referring to the DA’s fraud lawsuit against PL: “…are we to sit back and allow that to happen?” (letter to PL employees, October 24, 2003)
· Rob Flanigan, the recall’s campaign manager, has been known to operate directly out of PL’s offices in Scotia.
REAL TRUTH : Paul had a hidden adgenda prior to taking office. He had it out for PL ,and was going to make a lot of people growing pot rich.
Lie: "The PL lawsuit is baseless.”
Fact: The Director of the California Department of Forestry filed a declaration in court supporting the central charges of the lawsuit against Pacific Lumber.
Richard Wilson, head of the lead permitting agency at the time of the alleged fraud, stated that his agency’s approval of PL’s current rate of harvest would have been withheld, if it had come to his attention that the information submitted by PL was false.
REAL TRUTH: All he said was if he knew that the info was wrong, he would not of approved of it. He has not ever stated that the info was in fact wrong.
Vote NO on Measure F, Tuesday, March 2nd
Pass along this information
This election will be extremely close
REAL TRUTH: It will be close. Obviously a lot of people think Paul is the wrong guy for the job. A company of PL's size can pay for the recall, but it is the people who will decide. Last time I checked , PL only employed 800 people. It will take more people than that.
Lie: ”Gallegos has lost the confidence of the public in the office of the DA”
Fact: The ‘loss of confidence’ has been manufactured by the recall campaign.
The recall talk began immediately after newly-elected DA, Paul Gallegos, filed a business fraud lawsuit against the Pacific Lumber Company. He had been in office less than 2 months, hardly enough time to establish a record of his performance, much less have it evaluated. Recall proponents have spent the past year second-guessing every decision he has made, hampering his ability to do the job he was elected to do. They are now choosing to distort a few of the nearly 7500 cases his office has prosecuted
REAL TRUTH: 17,000 people signed a petition because they realised that he had a hidden adgenda when he took office. He admits that the pot guidlines were developed prior to taking office , but insists that the PL lawsuit was not. Even though he hired Tim Stoen within days and Stoen loves going after loggers.
Lie: “Gallegos is soft on crime.”
Fact: Since Gallegos took office, felony filings have gone up nearly 15%, the office has been modernized, and Gallegos himself has won convictions in 5 out of 5 cases he has personally handled; All of this while working under substantial budget cuts.
REAL TRUTH: He blew it within the first three months. When he was attacked for being soft, he struck back. How many appeals will go to trial because people will say that they were used to prove that he was being soft on crime." Sorry dude, I'd cut you a break but I'm kind of under the microscope right now. Got to go, surfs up"
In 1986, when Terry Farmer was up for his first re-election bid, he was accused of being soft on crime, using excessive plea bargaining, botching important cases, and of re-filing felonies as misdemeanors. He went on to effectively lead his office for 20 years.
Lie: “If the police are all against the DA, then he must be pretty bad.”
Fact: In spite of the endorsements of their organizations, many police officers do not support the recall. The DA’s office must sometimes police the police, and therefore maintain its independence from law enforcement.
In Terry Farmer’s 1986 re-election bid, the Sheriffs Officers, Eureka Police, Fortuna Police, and HSU Police officers’ associations were all opposed to him, and endorsed his opponent. In the 2002 race between Farmer and Gallegos, the officers’ associations chose not to endorse Farmer, even after 20 years in office.
REAL TRUTH: Acually most law enforcement officers are not happy with him.
Lie: ”Gallegos has horribly mishandled cases”
Fact: His record is as good, or better, than his predecessors’
In the cases which Gallegos has been publicly criticized for, he achieved stronger convictions than either of his opponents did in very similar cases:
·In the drive-by shooting, the defendants received the maximum sentence of 7 years for a crime in which no one was injured.
· Under Terry Farmer, Worth Dikeman obtained a sentence of only 3 years for a similar shooting in Redway, which narrowly missed children in a day care.
· Gloria Albin-Sheets obtained a sentence of only 4 years for a vehicular manslaughter case, in which the victim was killed.
REAL TRUTH: Lets not use one sentence to compare single cases that are far more complicated than what can be expressed here. You have to look at patterns.
Lie: “That child molester should have been put away for 100 years.”
Fact: Certain features of the Martinez-Hernandez case made it risky to take to trial for multiple counts.
The family in this case are illegal aliens and a flight concern. Without witnesses, there would be no case. Language difficulties, and emotional tolerance of the child for repeated appearances in court also had to be considered. The willingness of the defendant to accept the charge of a single, continuous act, rather than multiple individual acts produced the most certain conviction.
Deputy District Attorney Wes Keat, a former police officer, who filed the case, has said there is much disinformation being spread about this case, and that public perceptions will be very hard to clear up.
REAL TRUTH: It is becoming public knowledge that a decision was made PRIOR to all the reports being completed. The charges that were settled for were preliminary charges, as has been reported in various places.
In other molestation and child abuse cases, Gallegos has obtained the maximum possible sentences, including 168 years for a molester, and 10 years for a man who shook his baby.
Lie: “Gallegos lets tree-sitters go with a $10 fine.”
Fact: Under Gallegos, tree-sitters have been fined as much as $500, and received sentences of up to 40 days in jail, up to 2 years’ probation, and up to 100 hours of community service.
Each case has special features and charges which determine applicable punishments. Recall proponents have chosen only to point to one case where a tree-sitter was fined $10. It must be noted that Julia Butterfly trespassed for 2 years during Terry Farmer’s tenure, and was never prosecuted.
REAL TRUTH: Mrs Wagner has not served her 40 day sentence yet. She is tring to plea down the charge as we speak. Paul will do it, and she will serve a fraction of the time. But it will have looked as if he had been tough.
And by the way, Julia Hill was never charged, it never went to the D.A. But nice try.
Lie: “Gallegos’ marijuana guidelines are too lenient.”
Fact: Gallegos’ medical marijuana guidelines were and are consistent with Federal, State, and neighboring local ordinances.
When Gallegos took office, there were no State guidelines, so he established an interim policy similar to those in Sonoma and Del Norte Counties, creating consistency for both patients and law enforcement.
In January, the State Legislature enacted SB 420 which, for the first time, established State guidelines for medical marijuana. Gallegos immediately adopted these new State guidelines, leaving authority in the hands of the County Board of Supervisors.
It seems to me that there has been more deaths related to growing this year than ever before. People come from out of the area because the pickings are so easy. I mean who needs 3 pounds of pot? Thats 9,000 dollars worth.
Lie: “Gallegos didn’t even charge a man who was illegally growing marijuana in a school zone.”
Fact: The person involved was growing and using medical marijuana legally, so there was no crime to charge him with. This marijuana bust had also been turned down for prosecution by Terry Farmer in 2003, for the same reason.
Lie: “Gallegos associates with criminals like Chompers Cook, who is a felon with a rap sheet 7 pages long ”
Fact: Pacific Lumber Company, has a rap sheet that would impress Al Capone.
PL has racked up more than 600 violations of the Forest Practice Rules, 220 Water Quality violations, and has been convicted of fraud in the past. In court, PL claimed that their lying is “protected free speech,” and that it is the responsibility of regulatory agencies and the public to correct them.
PL paid out millions of dollars in damages for the landslide the buried Stafford, and the death of forest activist David Chain.
Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky both served time in prison due in part to their roles in the MAXXAM takeover of PL.
The Committee to Recall Paul Gallegos (now “Safety Yes! Recall Gallegos”), is the subject of multiple Fair Political Practices Commission investigations, for possible violations of signature gathering rules, and for campaign disclosure rules.
Safety Yes, Worth Dikeman, and Gloria Albin-Sheets have all used information from confidential documents stolen from the DA’s office, and Safety Yes is known to have received and distributed the stolen documents.
By comparison, “Chompers” Cook, who appeared in one anti-recall commercial, is behind on child support, has bounced 2 checks, and paid fines for a small number of logging violations
REAL TRUTH: Good old "chompers" was a dead beat dad that had to get slapped upside the head by the law before he took responcibilty for his child. No one get busted for boucing two checks. Do we want to go into details? There was more ther. And a small operation like his had to pay fines for logging violations? I guess we should be glad he didn't own 260,000 acres. He would have more than PL. PL has had no citations levied aginst them for the last several years. And that is while under the most intense watch by the various agencies, not just CDF.
Lie: “Gallegos is in the pocket of radical environmentalists, who handed him the PL lawsuit.”
Fact: Providing law-enforcement with information and evidence relevant to a crime is the responsibility of all good citizens.
(Heil Paul)
In response to Gallegos' campaign promise of "equal justice for all", and his institution of a white-collar crime division, Humboldt Watershed Council submitted information which led to the lawsuit. This took place less than 2 months after he took office, but because of the serious nature of the fraud and the imminent closure of statutes of limitations, the case had to be filed immediately.
REAL TRUTH: Ya, and Tim Stoen just happened to come on board (at 100,000 $ a year) just in time. Of course he had to finish sueing the other loggers in Mendicino before he would come up as part of the deal.
Lie: “The recall has nothing to do with PL.”
Fact: The recall would not exist if not for the PL lawsuit, PL’s signature drive, and PL’s money.
Talk of a recall started when Gallegos had been in office less than 2 months, and within a week of filing charges against PL. When the recall signature drive was faltering, PL paid more than $40,000 to buy 5,000 signatures at $8 apiece. Without that money, there would probably be no recall. Since October 1st, PL has put nearly $230,000 into the recall so far, and is expected to reach as high as $500,000.
The recall was a response to the DA’s lawsuit against PL, pure and simple, and all of the recall’s main proponents have admitted this:
· Rick Brazeau, in commenting about Steven Schectman’s insistence that he would continue the PL lawsuit, asked why he would want to “carry on the traditions that got (Gallegos) recalled in the first place?” (Times-Standard, December 13, 2003)
· The Committee to Recall Paul Gallegos, in a press release titled “Reasons for the Recall”, lists “In March, he accused a major business of a $400,000,000 fraud and filed a civil case.”
· Robert Manne, Pacific Lumber CEO, referring to the DA’s fraud lawsuit against PL: “…are we to sit back and allow that to happen?” (letter to PL employees, October 24, 2003)
· Rob Flanigan, the recall’s campaign manager, has been known to operate directly out of PL’s offices in Scotia.
REAL TRUTH : Paul had a hidden adgenda prior to taking office. He had it out for PL ,and was going to make a lot of people growing pot rich.
Lie: "The PL lawsuit is baseless.”
Fact: The Director of the California Department of Forestry filed a declaration in court supporting the central charges of the lawsuit against Pacific Lumber.
Richard Wilson, head of the lead permitting agency at the time of the alleged fraud, stated that his agency’s approval of PL’s current rate of harvest would have been withheld, if it had come to his attention that the information submitted by PL was false.
REAL TRUTH: All he said was if he knew that the info was wrong, he would not of approved of it. He has not ever stated that the info was in fact wrong.
Vote NO on Measure F, Tuesday, March 2nd
Pass along this information
This election will be extremely close
REAL TRUTH: It will be close. Obviously a lot of people think Paul is the wrong guy for the job. A company of PL's size can pay for the recall, but it is the people who will decide. Last time I checked , PL only employed 800 people. It will take more people than that.
Because he is a spamming bastard. I've asked TWICE to be taken off the phone and mailing list and am STILL GETTING PHONECALLS AND MAIL. Where do I sign up to have a class action lawsuit against Paul and Rich-Boy?
you read the times-standard article about the fire getting out of control just a few weeks ago. Ernie Rohl said it was a violation. give it a week or two and the paper work will be processed. Remember Ernie, big, he's the one who thanks to Ed Lewis threatening him up at Stafford, carries a gun on him when he goes on inspection of THP's.
Went to my polling place and people were waving Vote No Of The Recall signs around. Let's see if he jails them.
Measure F - Should Paul Gallegos be recalled from office of District Attorney?
NO 30716 61.21%
YES 19464 38.79%
Precincts Reporting 130/130 100%
Total Votes 50180
http://www.co.humboldt.ca.us/election/precinct2-1.htm
Well corporate money can't buy there way out of being prosecuted. Mr. Hurwitz and co. will be held accountable for fraud on the half billion dollar scam.
NO 30716 61.21%
YES 19464 38.79%
Precincts Reporting 130/130 100%
Total Votes 50180
http://www.co.humboldt.ca.us/election/precinct2-1.htm
Well corporate money can't buy there way out of being prosecuted. Mr. Hurwitz and co. will be held accountable for fraud on the half billion dollar scam.
For more information:
http://www.co.humboldt.ca.us/election/prec...
Ya, I'm sure the reason Ernie carries a gun is to shoot Ed Lewis.
It's not for $500,000,000 nor is it for the full price of $240,000,000
It's less then that. Too bad Gallegos isn't going to go after all the illegal voters his pal Rich brought into the area to vote.
It's less then that. Too bad Gallegos isn't going to go after all the illegal voters his pal Rich brought into the area to vote.
big,
ernie rohl is a cdf inspector. who's been doing his job for close to two decades i believe. ernie never carried his cdf issued gun on him during inspections until he ran into Ed Lewis. After an incident with Lewis up on Stafford prior to the slide, Ernie changed his policy of leaving his gun in the truck. Now he carries it with him when he does thp inspections because Ed Lewis threatened his life with violence and vulgarities. So, your dispute that PL and it's contractors are law abiding citizens is a bunch of garbage. PL and it's contractors ara bunch of thugs. And it's well documented in the thp files and lawsuit files.
ernie rohl is a cdf inspector. who's been doing his job for close to two decades i believe. ernie never carried his cdf issued gun on him during inspections until he ran into Ed Lewis. After an incident with Lewis up on Stafford prior to the slide, Ernie changed his policy of leaving his gun in the truck. Now he carries it with him when he does thp inspections because Ed Lewis threatened his life with violence and vulgarities. So, your dispute that PL and it's contractors are law abiding citizens is a bunch of garbage. PL and it's contractors ara bunch of thugs. And it's well documented in the thp files and lawsuit files.
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