Local Elections : DISTRICT ATTORNEY : 2 Prosecutors Announce Endorsement of Enright

Two prosecutors who lost in the June primary in the district attorney’s race formally announced their support for Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. James G. Enright Tuesday against appointed incumbent Michael R. Capizzi.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Edgar A. Freeman and Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas Avdeef also used the news conference to lash out at Capizzi for using employees to walk precincts on weekends in his campaign.

Enright assailed Capizzi several weeks ago for using office help in his campaign. But Tuesday, he and the other two prosecutors said they were upset about a letter from Capizzi’s wife, Sandy. It was sent to those deputies who had indicated to the Capizzi campaign staff that they would walk precincts for him, but had failed to show up for the preceding kickoff breakfast.

“Sorry you were unable to attend our kickoff meeting . . . we will need lots of people to cover the county, and if you can persuade friends to walk they will be appreciated,” the letter stated in part.

“The main question is, are these really volunteers,” Enright said. “It hasn’t been done in the 30 years that I’ve been in the district attorney’s office. I think it borders on intimidation.”

Enright said he also believed that legally, it was a close question. However, Enright’s campaign staff had already received legal advice that Capizzi’s use of deputies did not violate any state election statutes.

Capizzi, who was appointed by the county supervisors in January when then-Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks became a judge, had refused to let deputies in the office participate in his June primary campaign. But Capizzi said he relented in the November election because so many deputies had wanted to help.

Tuesday, Capizzi called the Enright-Avdeef-Freeman news conference “sour grapes.”

It was “double-talk”, Capizzi said, because Enright is using Freeman in his campaign and he is technically Freeman’s boss. He added that he believes the three of them are still upset because he got 86% of the deputy support within the office when deputies were polled by their professional association for an endorsement for the June election.

“Before the June election, I thought I was up against Edgar Bergen and two Charlie McCarthys,” Capizzi said Tuesday. “I’m still waiting to see which of them is Edgar Bergen.”

But Freeman called Capizzi’s use of deputies questionable.

“This is of grave, grave professional concern of people involved and committed to the real job to man the public’s business,” Freeman said.

Freeman and Avdeef indicated on election night in June they would support Enright. Freeman has long been Enright’s best friend within the office and had run as an anti-Capizzi candidate only because it appeared then that Enright was not going to join the race. Capizzi had been Hicks’ chief assistant and had gained a foothold as the No. 2 prosecutor in the office ahead of Enright.

Avdeef, who was Capizzi’s strongest critic in the primary, said Tuesday he was giving Enright his formal endorsement because “we agree on what has to be done to make this community a safer place to reside.”

Capizzi was easily the front-runner in June, gathering more than 40,000 votes ahead of Enright, who ran second. But Capizzi fell far short of the 50% plus one vote he needed to prevent a runoff. He finished with 41%, but Enright, an eleventh-hour candidate, ran a surprisingly strong race, finishing at 29%. Avdeef and Freeman had about 29% between them.

Enright supporters believe that the Freeman and Avdeef votes were anti-Capizzi votes that can make the difference on the November ballot. The Capizzi camp, however, points out that Capizzi still easily outdistanced Enright and that it was logical that the other candidates would split up the vote.