Board of Supervisors to review applications on Tuesday, August 1, 2017
Twelve people have submitted applications to serve as the Interim District Attorney for Contra Costa County. The Board of Supervisors will begin the next phase of the process by reviewing candidate materials at the August 1, 2017, regular public Board meeting. The meeting starts at 9:00 a.m., and the agenda and supporting documents will be available online this Friday morning.
“We remain committed to an open and transparent process during the selection period of our next District Attorney,” said Supervisor Federal Glover, Chair of the Board of Supervisors. “It is unfortunate the County is faced with this situation, but it important that the public have ample opportunity to provide input as we make this very important decision.”
The June 14 resignation of Mark Peterson from the position of District Attorney created a vacancy that will extend until the current term of office expires on January 7, 2019. The next election for the District Attorney will take place in June of 2018, with a potential runoff election in November of 2018.
The twelve candidates are:
- Diana Becton – Judge, Contra Costa Superior Court
- David G. Brown – Retired Deputy District Attorney, Contra Costa County
- John Delgado – Assistant District Attorney, San Francisco County
- Danielle Douglas – Judge, Contra Costa Superior Court
- Paul J. Graves – Senior Deputy District Attorney, Contra Costa County
- William H. Green – Director, Criminal Conflict Program of the Contra Costa Bar Association, criminal defense attorney
- Thomas J. Kensok – Assistant District Attorney, Contra Costa County
- Richard A. Madsen, Jr. – Criminal defense attorney
- Michael Martin Menesini – Assistant District Attorney, San Francisco County, former Martinez Mayor and Councilman
- Brad J. Nix – Deputy District Attorney V, Stanislaus County, former Oakley Mayor and Councilman
- Michael James Roemer – Retired Deputy District Attorney, Alameda County
- Patrick Vanier – Deputy District Attorney, Santa Clara County
You can view the application materials from each candidate online. So far, only two of the applicants are announced candidates for the 2018 election, Paul J. Graves and Patrick Vanier.
During the August 1, 2017, Board of Supervisors meeting, the Board will determine which candidates will be selected to continue in the process. The County Administrator’s Office will be conducting background checks on those applicants. The finalists will be invited to participate in a public forum to be held on August 15 at 6:00 p.m. At the forum, a moderated discussion will take place, with questions solicited from the public in advance, as well as during the forum. If you would like to offer a question, you can submit it online via the recruitment section of the District Attorney’s website. On that site, you can also offer public comment to be submitted to the Board of Supervisors and entered into the public record. The forum will be open to the public, televised live and streamed live online. More details about the public forum will be available after the August 1st meeting.
Following the August 15th public forum, the Board of Supervisors will interview the final candidates at the September 12th public meeting; a decision could be made that day, or possibly at the following meeting on September 19, 2017.
I think a women should be appointed. Right now all county elected management positions, – the assessor, the sheriff ,the county clerk, and the tax collector are held by white males! On top of that a women has never held ANY of these positions, and that includes the DA job. Hey, it’s not 1950, we are in the era of diversity. We have two great women applicants for the DA job, Judge Becton and Judge Douglas. Either would be a super pick. Supervisors have an opportunity here to make history here, they should do it.