Comments on: Ex-CoCo sex crimes prosecutor Gressett sues

By: JohnW

JohnW — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:40:33 +0000

Re: #19

“As to Peterson being sued for reassigning lawyers in his office, on its face, you would think the elected DA should be able to do that.”

Ditto to that!

By: Bruce R. Peterson, Lafayette

Bruce R. Peterson, Lafayette — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 16:45:32 +0000

I really like truth seeker’s comments. It looks like he/she digs through campaign donation records and actually read & understood the entire 18 page complaint.
Way back in 1996, someone from the D.A.s office was planted in Lafayette’s public works department to entrap & terminate a whistle blower. I had a hard time convincing the editor of the C.C. Sun to investigate the story. She finally published the City Manager’s version of the story, months after he denied the truth. He escaped to Manteca.
In 2007, I put the story in an argument against a parcel tax. The city of Lafayette squandered $13,400 on a San Diego lawyer to have 65 words of truth removed from my argument. Everyone @ Lafayette City Hall denies responsibility for ordering the lawyer. There were only 3 suspects. One recently died. Her campaign contributors list, mirrored the former D.A. Yancy’s list.

By: Truth Seeker

Truth Seeker — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 03:09:45 +0000

@Rew,

You seem to have strong opinions with no facts to support them. Perhaps, you are bitter supporter from the losing side of the DA election.

The Deputy District Attorneys who voted in a Union system several years ago so they could get involved with electoral politics brought this pox upon themselves. Deputy DA’s should focus on their jobs and not their benefit package or the elected official. But, if you play with fire, don’t cry when you get burnt.

The most serious suit against the County is the one you claim is bogus. And, Mr. Peterson has nothing to do with that as it is all directed at the previous DA, Robert Kochly. If half the allegations in that complaint are proven, the county could be looking at a nine figure jury verdict. It will be the largest award, to date, in our county. And, Mr. Peterson will have had nothing to do with it.

Interestingly, the county did not pay a woman for Gressett’s conduct. The county claims to have paid the money because of Mr. Kochly’s handling of her complaint.

As to Peterson being sued for reassigning lawyers in his office, on its face, you would think the elected DA should be able to do that.

We will see what comes of the litigation various people bring. I don’t think the number of lawsuits surrounding a bitter takeover of the DA office from a group that controlled it for 50 years is indicative of the new DA’s job performance. Time will tell.

By: Elwood

Elwood — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 01:02:01 +0000

“His (Gressett’s) law suit is completely bogus”

After the county and others pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to Gressett, I think you’ll be whistling out of the other side of your mouth.

By: JohnW

JohnW — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 00:52:40 +0000

Re: #16

So, you’re suggesting that, had Mark Peterson lost to Dan O’Malley, one of those being sued, that the county would not now have these lawsuits on its hands? Somehow, I doubt that.

Who knows whether the staff reassignments or demotions were rewards to supporters or part of cleaning up the mess Peterson’s predecessor left behind? I’d like to think the latter, and I voted for Peterson. But we’ll see.

By: rew

rew — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 00:32:14 +0000

The number of law suits being filed agaisn’t the county because of actions taken by Mark Peterson or his subordinates continue to grow. Two former managers of the DA’s office – managers that were demoted when Peterson took office – have filed suit claiming Peterson has brought back a turn of the century spoils system, appointing managers who were political supporters of his while brooming those who were not. As newly elected DA Mark Peterson shoud have saw this coming, but he charged ahead and now you’ve got law suits by people who claim they were demoted for political reasons.
Previously conduct by Peterson’s right hand man – Hal Jewett has led to another law suit being filed agaisn’t the County. Apparently jewet punched out a former co-worker, and now the county is stuck paying bills on that law suit. And now we have Gresset, also a top backer of the Mark Peterson for DA’s campaign, filing suit agaisn’t the county. His law suit is completely bogus, but he’s charging ahead as well. The county has already had to pay $400,000 to another former employee because of Gressets conduct. I mean they had to pay that lady off, Gresset was her boss, he waved guns and ice picks at her – the incident took place durring the lunch hour.
Any time you have a lot of law suits flying in a city or a county that’s a sign of poor public management. You want to have responsibe people in public mangement jobs, people who know how to keep litigation to a minimum. Litigation is expensive – it’s a waste of tax dollars, litigation rewards lazy, do nothing lawyers, at the expensive of the hard working taxpayers.
Given all these law suits – all as a result of conduct by Mark Peterson, or his underlings, I see no way you can make a case Peterson is doing a good job, or that his election to the DA’s job is a breath of fresh air. Look at all the law suit flying, this is a sure sign of bad management. You also have to wonder about Peterson choice of friends, I mean Jewett is punching people out at the office, Gresset is waving guns and ice picks at co-workers, and we taxpayers are stuck with the legal bills for all this unprofessional conduct.
I hope two years from now when Peterson is up for re-elction a responsible candidate will step forward and take him on. We need to have good publivc managers in the DA’s office, responsible people, we don’t ahve that now.

By: Bruce R. Peterson Lafayette

Bruce R. Peterson Lafayette — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:43:11 +0000

@ #11 I have written more opposing arguments against local Parcel taxes than anyone anybody can name. They are published by The County Election’s Department & mailed to voters. The award winning C.C. Times writes headline stories that in all appearances, look like paid propaganda supporting these Parcel taxes. My arguments & existence are basically left out. Unless you count one sentence, near the end of the second page of the story. The sham (usually pro-tax) Lafayette Taxpayers Association is always mentioned.
The CC Times gets awards for their photos. They have a Mercury News photo website that is fabulous.
The way to make a small fortune, is to start with a large fortune & start a local newspaper. A recent example lives @ 338 Birchwood Drive in Moraga.

By: Claire Voyance

Claire Voyance — Thu, 31 May 2012 20:36:19 +0000

PLEASE answer the following questions:

[1] Did the sucker taxpayers already pay a huge amount of money to the alleged victim?

[2] Will the sucker taxpayers be forced to pay the astronomical amount of money that the alleged perpetrator will likely receive?

[3] Do all of the lawyers involved still have a license in good standing to practice law in California?

By: Elwood

Elwood — Thu, 31 May 2012 19:48:58 +0000

The ****ing Mr. Gressett’s associate allegedly got is nothing compared to the ****ing the county and other governmental agencies will soon be getting when Mr. Gressett wins his suits against them.

Kiss your tax dollars goodbye.

By: JohnW

JohnW — Thu, 31 May 2012 18:48:54 +0000

Re: #11

“We have been stuck with the obviously corrupt C.C. Times for decades.”

Well, I’ve heard of the “lame stream media” and “liberal bias” bogeymen. But this is the first time, I’ve heard a respected, award-winning newspaper referred to as “corrupt.” Care to defend that with any examples or facts? The corruption and incompetence is in local and state government, and the CC Times exposes it every week, thank goodness!

“Where is this elsewhere we can go for local news?” Nowhere. That’s the point. If you think you can do a better job, try starting your own newspaper.