Board of Supervisors Chairman Federal Glover with Interim D.A. Diana Becton following her oath of office ceremony on Sept. 18, 2017. Photo by David Fraser, Office of Supervisor Federal Glover
Today, Wednesday, December 6, 2017, District Attorney Diana Becton issued the following statement:
“It’s official: today, I filed my papers to run for District Attorney of Contra Costa County.
“I was selected as District Attorney by the Board of Supervisors to restore faith and trust in the District Attorney’s Office in the wake of scandal. I have rolled up my sleeves and I am hard at work. I am committing to restoring integrity to the office. I am confident that I will succeed. I am a collaborative leader who knows how to get things done.
“We cannot continue to look at the criminal justice system in a vacuum. We need a broad, universal approach to how we prevent crime, make our communities safe, and treat everyone fairly.
“As a longtime judge of the Superior Court in Contra Costa County, I am proud of my reputation for hard work, fairness, and integrity. I will bring these qualities to the campaign trail – and to the job.”
In September, Becton was appointed by the Board of Supervisors to fill the position made vacant by the resignation of Mark Peterson. She joins Contra Costa County Senior Assistant District Attorney Paul Graves and Santa Clara County Supervising Deputy District Attorney Patrick Vanier who announced their campaigns and entered the race prior to Peterson’s resignation. The Primary Election will be held June 4, 2018. If no candidate receives a majority of vote, the top two candidates will face off in the General Election in November.
Allen Payton contributed to this report.
In researching DA Dianna Becton’s back round I noticed she went to San Francisco State University and Golden Gate Law School. Those are not elite schools for rich kids, they are really the colleges folks go to when they come up the hard way. While you have some wealthy enclaves in Contra Costa, you still have got a lot of blue collar people that have to come up the hard way, in East County and West County and so forth. I myself went to Los Medanos and later SF State University, college was something I couldn’t really afford – I worked my way through, I just sort of willed myself to go.
In looking at Becton’s back round – the fact she went to the colleges working class kids go to, I sense there is an interesting story on Becton’s rise to the top, She has been a Superior Court Judge, also President of the National Judges Association, and now she is the District Attorney of Contra Costa County. Is Becton the first African American women ever to be a District Attorney of a County in California? I’m guessing she is. As a reader I would like to see the Contra Costa Herald maybe write a story on Becton’s growing up, what she went through to get where she is today.. I’m guessing a story like that would be of a lot interest to students going to LMC right now, or San Francisco State.
REW,
Thank you for reading the Herald. Perhaps we will do that once the campaign season gets under way.
In the meantime please see the previous article about Interim DA Becton which included much of her professional background not included in any other new report, here: http://contracostaherald.com/09241701cch/
Allen Payton, Publisher