ELECTIONS / JUDICIAL SEAT : Debate Avoids Confrontation by 2 Candidates

A much-anticipated meeting Wednesday night between the two candidates seeking Ventura County’s only contested judgeship produced tough talk on dealing with repeat criminals but little confrontation.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Colleen Toy White and defense lawyer James Matthew Farley touted their extensive, although varied, legal experiences and explained how their accomplishments would serve them well on the Superior Court bench.

The tone of the event was cordial, with neither candidate revealing any information on their judicial positions that they had not previously discussed.

Wednesday’s forum at the Oxnard Main Library, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Ventura County, evolved after campaign workers from both sides sought to organize a debate between White and Farley before Tuesday’s election.

League President Dorothy Engel said the candidates agreed beforehand that it would be better not to conduct a head-on debate in order to reduce any friction.

The questions came first from the League of Women Voters, then members of the audience of more than 100 people--mostly local lawyers and campaign supporters--were allowed to question the candidates through a moderator.

From the onset, Farley harped on the issue that he has touted throughout the campaign: experience.

A trial lawyer for 27 years, Farley pointed out that his opponent has been an administrator for most of her career in the district attorney’s office.

“I am not an office lawyer because my time has been spent in court,” he said.

White said the campaign has been grueling since Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew J. Hardy likened her to Mother Teresa after she announced her candidacy.

“I started off this race as Mother Teresa,” White said in her opening remarks. “I think I would be lucky if I finish as Leona Helmsley.”

White also said she has extensive supervisorial responsibilities as the second-in-command to Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury.

Noting that she was married with three children by age 21, White remarked that she is not a lawyer who grew up “with a silver spoon in my mouth.”

The comment seemed to ruffle Farley, who said he left his family in New York to come to California in search of an education and career. “I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, either,” he said.

At every opportunity, Farley criticized White’s relative lack of courtroom exposure. “It’s a trial court. It’s not a committee room,” he said at one point. “It’s not a place where you get off the bench and consult with people.”

On another occasion, Farley drew laughs when asked about describing himself in action.

“This is like writing your own epitaph,” he told the moderator. “ ‘How would you like to be described after death?’ I haven’t thought about it because I’m not ready to go.”

White didn’t allow her opponent to monopolize the quips, however. Asked whether she is comfortable working in solitude, White joked: “I hope that this is not solitary confinement.”

On a more serious note, each candidate said California needs some form of the three-strikes legislation that requires tough sentences for habitual criminal offenders.

White said that by demanding such a law, the public is sending a message to lawmakers that “the criminal justice system has failed.”

Farley said the present version of the three-strikes law--which does not distinguish between violent and nonviolent offenders on the third felony crime--is flawed.

The one area of disagreement for the defense attorney and the prosecutor was how to treat juvenile delinquents.

Farley said the county should be salvaging more of them.

“I can’t see the youth, even the gang youth, being totally unredeemable,” he said, adding, “We should have more than just lock-up for our children.”

But White said some juveniles are treated too lightly.

“I would support tougher penalties for juveniles, especially in serious situations such as drive-by shootings,” she said.