Prosecutors’ Vote Brings Mixed Results for Garcetti

Los Angeles County prosecutors expressed a lack of confidence in Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, but nonetheless suggested in votes counted Tuesday that they want him back as their boss.

In unprecedented balloting sparked by anger among county prosecutors over a host of salary-related issues, the Assn. of Deputy District Attorneys voted disapproval of Garcetti, 307 to 234.

However, when matched in a straw poll against his five challengers in the March 26 primary, Garcetti won a plurality of 232 votes out of about 585 cast. Runner-up was John F. Lynch, head of the office’s Norwalk branch, with 186.

“The troops wanted to send a message about being unhappy about not receiving a pay increase,” Garcetti said Tuesday night.

Because of the county budget squeeze, county prosecutors have seen no pay raises for several years. And office ire over pay issues grew fierce after Garcetti awarded a total of $43,000 in bonuses to the three lead attorneys in the O.J. Simpson case.

Garcetti said there have been no raises because his office “is not treated with much respect” by the county Board of Supervisors. “We’re not getting the help that we need. But [deputies] are saying, ‘We want Gil to continue to be the guy who leads us.’ ”

The “plebiscite,” as it was termed by organizers, was conducted countywide among the 1,025 lawyers and paralegals who staff the nation’s largest local prosecution agency.

Ballots were cast over the last month, then counted Tuesday night in a Criminal Courts Building conference room. Results were supplied to The Times by sources.

Herb Lapin, president of the non-union association, declined to release results but said earlier that about 400 ballots were not returned and that the vote was far from scientific--at one branch office, ballots had arrived only Tuesday.

The two-part poll asked first if deputies “approve of the way Gil Garcetti is performing his job.” That produced the 307-234 vote, with 45 ballots indicating “no opinion.”

Deputies were then asked in the straw poll to vote for Garcetti or one of his challengers.

“I think the more important number is that 60% of people have no confidence in [Garcetti] as D.A.,” runner-up Lynch said. “Most people view me as the alternative.”

Among the other candidates who will appear on the March 26 ballot, Deputy Dist. Atty. Sterling “Ernie” Norris drew 70 votes in the straw poll. Another county prosecutor, Malcolm Jordan, got 26, while lawyer and law professor Harold Greenberg got six. There were no votes for Encino attorney Steve Zand. Other votes were split among “none of the above” and write-in candidates.

Despite Garcetti’s win in the straw poll, the association will not endorse the incumbent. “The plebiscite results will speak for themselves,” Lapin said before the ballots were counted.