Community Leaders Ask Alameda County Supervisors for Open Process in Selecting Interim District Attorney

OAKLAND--The Alameda County Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty will ask the Board of Supervisors to implement a fair, open and transparent process for selecting an interim District Attorney at the Board's meeting on Tuesday, September 15. Following District Attorney Tom Orloff's surprise announcement last week that he would retire, the Board of Supervisors must select an interim District Attorney to serve the remainder of Orloff's term, through 2010. The Board has placed "consideration" of the appointment on the agenda but not made public what process, if any, will be used to select an interim.

"Our concern is with the process for filling a vacancy caused by an incumbent resigning a few months before an election," said Marion Taylor of the League of Women Voters in Oakland. "By appointing someone now, they create a different race for the office when it comes up for election," Taylor observed. The District Attorney election will be in June 2010.

"The interim District Attorney will have the authority to make key decisions, such as seeking the death penalty rather than permanent imprisonment, which costs the county millions of additional tax dollars," said Stefanie Faucher of Death Penalty Focus. "The Board needs to consider the serious consequences of this decision for the people of Alameda County."

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