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Dear Editor,
I never thought that I would write a letter to the editor. But, here it is. I have been following some of the local elections here in Pinal County and I couldn’t stand by idly as I watched one of the most important races, the county attorney race.
I’ve watched several of the debates between the incumbent, Jim Walsh, and the challenger, Lando Voyles, and one surprising point that I keep hearing is that the current county attorney has never prosecuted a case in his life. It seems that if we are going to hire an attorney maybe we should get one that knows what the inside of a courtroom looks like.
If the most important role of the county attorney is to prosecute criminals, we probably should hire one that has actual experience doing so.
In one of the online debates, Walsh rationalized not having experience prosecuting criminals as being ‘ok’ because his skill set is to manage a budget. Well, here’s my question, “If the most important job as the county attorney is to prosecute, how does being able to manage a budget help you prosecute?”
I am in finance and I know how to manage a budget but you sure as hell don’t want me in the courtroom prosecuting anyone or heading up a team of attorneys whose job it is to do so.
I have heard the challenger, Lando Voyles talk about his experience as a prosecutor for Maricopa County. I have also heard him say that 60 plus percent of the most violent felons are being released in Pinal County. I also see that the current Sherriff, Paul Babeu, is supporting Voyles.
Perhaps I am missing something, but how does the current county attorney expect to get the support of the community when he cannot even get the support from law enforcement who he is supposed to be working with?
If we want criminals off the street, we need to have confidence in our elected county attorney that he will do so. How can we have confidence in someone who does not even have one iota of experience in that arena?
It makes more sense to me to vote into office the person with the most experience for the job. In other words, if prosecution is the most important role of the county attorney, then let’s vote in a prosecutor and let that person (the elected county attorney) hire a budget manager, if necessary.
If the most important job as county attorney is to prosecute, then we need a prosecutor, like Voyles, as county attorney not a budget manager.
Sincerely,
/s/Dwight Fujimoto
Pinal County Resident
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