Michael Bradbury

* Enough is enough!

Local newspapers have been inundated with a diatribe of ill-informed attacks on Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury. Among these have been efforts to portray him as the county’s judicial kingmaker, as well as holding drawn-out injudicious negotiations with a criminal defense attorney while a missing girl’s body lay in a remote culvert.

Let’s look at the facts.

In recent and past elections, dedicated public servants have presented themselves as candidates for judgeships. These are prosecutors who have served all of us well by working tirelessly to preserve our status as one of the safest communities in the entire country. In virtually every case, there have been opposing candidates also of significant legal stature. When the polls closed, the former prosecutors have usually been elected by substantial margins. Is it possible that Mr. Bradbury controls the majority of the electorate? Methinks not!

In other situations, where the governor appoints a well-qualified attorney to the bench, he is usually given qualified names by various segments of the legal community to consider. Thus, the appointment process does not operate in a vacuum nor does the governor get on the phone and conspire with the district attorney to stack the courts in favor of the prosecution.

Now, along comes the tragedy surrounding the slaying of a young girl. A criminal defense attorney--doing his job ethically and legally, though many of us may disagree with his judgment--approached the district attorney in an attempt to negotiate favorable treatment for a client. Many of the perpetual naysayers were quick to publicly imply that Mr. Bradbury delayed for days a decision on whether to handle the matter as a capital murder case with death penalty options. It was later acknowledged by the defense attorney that the negotiations actually took only 5 1/2 hours. It is also now clear that Mr. Bradbury held steadfast to his position that there would be no special treatment of any kind.

That is the Michael Bradbury I have come to know and admire both professionally and socially. This is a man who upholds the standards of the office to which he has been repeatedly elected for more than 20 years. He is a man who mentors young lawyers, guiding them in fatherly fashion to reach the pinnacle of their profession as a judge. This is a man who extolled those same virtues while serving as chairman of the local Scouting program for many years. This is the same Michael Bradbury who, along with his wife Heidi, has adopted two infant sons to raise as their own.

This is the same man who has never been anything but professional and unrelenting in his quest to defeat the dark side of our society. Let history and his legal colleagues pass judgment on Chuck Samonsky’s actions. For more than 20 years, history and the electorate of Ventura County have repeatedly passed judgment on Mr. Bradbury’s actions and the quality of members of his staff.

TOM PARKER

Westlake Village