Abuse of Power

One of the problems that authoritarian personalities have, I think, is the inability to recognize both the limits of their own authority and the limits beyond which others will not tolerate their abuse of power.

Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury has now run up against the latter. In spite of the fact that, as one deputy district attorney recently remarked, “We need our jobs. Some of us have 15 years invested,” along with the fact that Mr. Bradbury’s reputation for “getting even” is well-known among those who work for him, some of his most senior deputies have had the courage to say “no” to one of his edicts. Correctly so.

Some short time ago, Mr. Bradbury’s authority was “crossed” by one of the most experienced and professional judges on the Ventura County Superior Court. The result of that failure to do exactly as Mr. Bradbury desired was a written memo distributed to all attorneys in the district attorney’s office ordering them to disqualify that judge in all criminal cases. A number of the most experienced trial deputies in the office have refused to follow that order. More unusual is that in at least one instance, a senior attorney in the district attorney’s office has also broken the “code of silence” which has permeated the internal politics of the office since Mike Bradbury became district attorney. Mr. (Peter) Kossoris is to be commended, as are those other deputies who have commented on the issue without being named, since they knew well that Mr. Bradbury will make serious efforts to find out who they are.

WILLIAM C. MAXWELL

Ventura