Dear Editor:
Colleen Gleason, a close friend and colleague of mine has written a wonderful endorsement on Facebook. I met Colleen 15 years ago and am humbled by her words. Here are a few sentences from my colleague’s social media post that I would like to share with you:
“I’m so excited and proud that my friend and mentor has decided to run for DA of our County. Paul was my homicide supervisor and currently runs the Sexual Assault/Family Violence unit. I also worked closely with him while he was the President of our Association – not only was he amazing at negotiating on behalf of our DAs, but he was instrumental in putting on a successful fundraiser for our local Rape Crisis/Children’s Interview Center every year.
Paul is the type of leader who inspires others; there is always a line of people seeking his solid advice born of experience and common sense. He is the type of leader that people want to follow; when he is heading a unit, other people want to work there…He has handled the pressures of our job in the public eye with grace and eloquence. But, more importantly to me, he is the type of person you can watch handling the little, every-day moments with kindness and integrity… the moments when the cameras aren’t on, when no one seems to be paying attention – the way he treats his staff, victim’s families, opposing counsel, his subordinates – those are the moments when he has impressed me the most.”
Paul Graves
Martinez
It took Graves – and the Deputy DA’s Association – forever to publicly call for Peterson’s resignation, They waited until Peterson was on the ropes before they took a stand. The East Bay Times, the Public Defenders Office, and the Grand Jury all called for Peterson’s resignation before Graves and the DA’s Association did, Not exactly a profile in courage by Graves and his fellow DA’s..
Significantly Graves has been part of Peterson’s leadership team at the DA’s office. But now he is saying he was never really a fan of Peterson. It looks to me like Graves, warmed up to Peterson – after he won DA’s job and was suddenly was in a position to help him in his career – but quickly threw Peterson overboard when Peterson got into trouble. Clearly Graves is trying to have it both ways, he is saying “Yes, I was Mark Peterson right hand man but I never really liked him, I secretly held my nose the entire time I worked with him”
Laughably, Graves is trying to claim he’s not a politician, yet he clearly is an expert at talking out of both sides of his mouth. I mean just look at how he’s trying to finesse the fact that he was part of this disgraced ex DA’s leadership team!
Additionally, last week Graves announced he has raised 100,000 from Fat Cats for his planned campaign for the DA’s job, That also seems to contradict his claim he’s” not a politician”. He looks like a total politician to me. a rather snaky version of a politician. at that
I mean Graves takes this “wait and see” approach in the early days of the Peterson scandal, he waits until it’s certain Peterson is a goner, Graves then solemnly calls for Peterson’s resignation – while simultaneously announcing his candidacy for his former bosses job, a boss who put him in a leadership position at the DA’s office.. Prior to this announcement he lines up the Deputy DA’s endorsement, and he get’s the leadership of the Deputy DA’s to dramatically call for Peterson’s resignation – which came six months after other responsible parties had called for Peterson’s ouster. He does all this and then tries to claim he’s “not a politician”. Who is he trying to kid?
In fact, Graves is probably the most political of all the applicants, a very inept politician from what I can see. Laughably, to get the appointment he has to get three powerful politicians from the Board of Supervisors to appoint him. Yet he’s trying to claim that he’s somehow better than a politician, better than the people who will appoint him – a real boy scout -, not like the other applicants.
I’m guessing the five members of the Board of Supervisors probably aren’t to thrilled to learn Graves thinks he’s some how better than a politician., To get the job Graves has to convince thee tough, savvy politicians to appoint him, yet Graves is dissing politicians by his ridiculous claim that “I’m not one of them”. Going into this race Graves was probably the favorite, but I think he’s probably in last place now, given his ineptitude.. I’ll bet all of the Supervisors are holding their noses in regards to appointing Graves.
Wow, you’re really obsessed with spinning and spreading false information about Graves, commenting repeatedly on multiple websites under a bunch of different names. You are certainly free to support whatever candidate you choose, although you should know that it reflects pretty poorly on the candidates you support if your main tactic is manufacturing lies and misleading information.
You have repeatedly characterized Graves as Peterson’s right hand man, but you know that’s not true. Graves was not one of Peterson’s early appointees, he earned his supervisory roles by hard work, positive leadership, proven effective management, trial skill, tireless efforts on behalf of victims, and proactive collaboration with other community agencies. In fact, he was the one who cleaned up the Sexual Assault unit after Peterson had run it. Graves declared his candidacy before Peterson was forced to resign – that’s a very risky move to challenge your boss. In fact, if Peterson hadn’t resigned, that could easily have been career suicide. He decided to run after Peterson declared he was going to run again, regardless of illegal behavior and the indictment he was under – he took a stand against unethical leadership after being asked to run by the prosecutors in the office and many other community agencies.
The grand jury returned its verdict on May 11, Graves declared candidacy on May 17, and the Deputy DA’s association issued its vote of no confidence May 22, Peterson resigned June 14. It’s all covered extensively in local news so your efforts to mischaracterize the timeline as some nefarious conspiracy doesn’t hold up. He was not a member of the DA’s association at that time. You also twist the “I’m not a politician statement” – but he has repeatedly pledged that he does not intend to use this office as a stepping stone to another elected office. That’s not what the office needs at this time, so the community views that as a positive.
Graves is also not “working behind the scenes” to get the two judge candidates disqualified. As I’m sure you well know, this was actually a very relevant issue brought up in the original BOS meeting – there are very specific legal regulations around sitting judges being appointed to other offices or running for election. It’s all well documented in news coverage.
Finally, regarding fundraising – of course he’s raising money, you know that’s part of a campaign. Each candidate is required to publicly release their fundraising records at the end of the reporting term. Graves did raise over $100,000, which is yet another demonstration of his strong base of support here in the county. Not sure why you are characterizing the donors as “fat cats” and trying to spin that as a negative. He’s got endorsements and recommendations from community groups, advocacy organizations, co-workers, defense attorneys, victims, law enforcement, and many other concerned and involved individuals who know what this job entails and are confident that he’s the best suited to fill this very important role.
Again, support whatever candidate you want, but if all you have to support your case is a bunch of misinformation that you are deliberately spreading, then I’m afraid you don’t have much of a case. Let’s keep the campaign rhetoric on a higher level.