Orr,

Mahonee

at odds



By RUTH HEIDE

ALAMOSA — With Republican Larry Orr accusing his opponent of holding a plea bargain fire sale before abruptly leaving the district attorney’s office and Democrat David Mahonee attributing his abrupt departure to a hostile work environment, the home stretch of the DA’s race left some skin on the track during a candidate forum in Alamosa on Thursday night.

Orr is the current chief deputy district attorney and Mahonee is a former deputy district attorney in the 12th Judicial District Attorney’s office. Both are seeking the DA’s position being vacated by current DA Peter Comar who is term limited. Comar has supported Orr as his successor.

In response to an audience question regarding Comar’s publicized statements against Mahonee, Orr said Mahonee left the DA’s office without any notice at all a couple of days after the Primary Election. “He just left a note at noon ‘I resign effective immediately’.” Orr said that put a strain on the office. “I am basically doing two jobs since then and have had time for little else,” he said.

Orr also accused Mahonee of conducting a “fire sale” the night before his departure. He said Mahonee met with public defender staff the night before he left and made deals in about 18 cases. “There was basically a midnight fire sale on those cases.”

As far as the “fire sale,” Mahonee responded that he did make some deals before he left but they were plea agreements he would have made later on if he were still working for the DA’s office. He said he put the deals together to try to take some of the burden off the DA’s office over his leaving them shorthanded.

Mahonee said he left because it was miserable in the office because Comar was doing everything he could to promote Orr and would hardly give Mahonee the time of day. “I felt I was in an extreme hostile environment,” he said.

Mahonee also said Comar knew he was leaving in advance and had talked with people in the office about it for days. Mahonee said if Comar was so disappointed in him why would he have given him a $13,000 salary increase the previous November.

Orr addressed rumors that if he were elected he would either involve Comar in his administration or step down to let Comar become DA again. “That’s preposterous,” he said. Orr said it would be illegal for him to take office and then abdicate it to the former DA. “Mr. Comar will play no role in my administration,” he said.

Orr pointed to his own experience in the legal field as evidence of his qualifications to assume the DA’s office. “I am the only one running who has the experience and the knowledge to do the job,” he said. “I have been doing jury trials in state and federal courts for the last 34 years today and will continue to do so.” He said Mahonee’s trial experience was minimal. “You need somebody in the trenches to get the job done and not worry about what committees he’s sitting on. I am your person,” Orr said.

As Orr had taken his trial record to task, Mahonee said felony drug convictions in the DA’s office are currently so lax the word on the street is “if you want to commit a crime, now is the time to do it.”

Mahonee pointed to numerous problems he saw with the current operation of the DA’s office ranging from physical location and technology to lack of communication with law enforcement and lack of convictions for drug dealers.

As far as technology, Mahonee said the current state of the DA’s office “is almost a joke.” He said when he started he had to bring his own computer to work for three years because the computer in the office was too outdated. He said if he were elected he would work with District Judge O. John Kuenhold to update the technology in the office. He said the DA’s office should have an interactive and updated Web site.

Orr agreed that technology upgrades were a very serious need in the DA’s office. He said the DA’s budget was cut $100,000 for the next year, but even with the financial constraints in the office, “it is high time to get with the program. Our technology has been neglected. It’s been obsolete since I have been there. That is a high priority.”

Mahonee said he is looking into existing county space to save the $20,000 rent the DA’s office is currently paying for what he called a “dump.” He added another budget saving measure would be requiring the staff to make some contribution on their health care plans.

“I am not sure we are going to have the budgetary problems that everybody thinks we are going to have,” Mahonee said.

He said he already has four people looking into grants that could be acquired for the DA’s office to help ease the burden of less county funding. “There’s grant money out there. You just have to go out to find it.”

Orr said the national financial scene will affect everything including the DA’s budget. “I would like to know what effect that is going to have on us because I am convinced that’s going to have an effect on me, the DA’s office, county, state and everybody else. I think we need to operate as lean and mean as we can but I think with this current situation we are going to end up looking at doing things a whole different way.”

Regarding law enforcement relationships, Mahonee said he already has a working relationship with and the support of law enforcement. “I think it’s important that the DA’s office has a working relationship with law enforcement,” he said.

Orr agreed and said he would like to resume monthly meetings with law enforcement agencies as Comar had done in the past.

Other candidates attending the Thursday night candidate forum in Alamosa were Randy Jackson, Republican candidate for House District 62, and Alamosa County Commission Candidates George Wilkinson and Charles Griego. A subsequent story will address remarks made by Jackson, Wilkinson and Griego.