Candidate Promises a ‘Choice’ for D.A.

Vowing to give Ventura County voters a choice for district attorney for the first time in more than two decades, prosecutor Ron Bamieh formally kicked off his campaign for the office Wednesday.

Bamieh is running against Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Greg Totten, the top aide to Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury, who last week announced plans to retire from the job after his sixth term ends in 2003.

Last week, Totten, 47, formally launched his campaign, announcing endorsements from Bradbury, most of the county’s leading politicians, Sheriff Bob Brooks, the county’s 10 mayors and all of its five police chiefs.

But although Totten has the endorsements, Bamieh, 35, the son of a wealthy San Mateo County investor and political fund-raiser, said he is planning an aggressive, well-financed campaign and has already been raising money around the state.

“This county is going to get a choice,” he said. “For the first time in 24 years, we’re actually going to elect a D.A.--not anoint one.”

As district attorney, Bamieh said, he would support pay raises for sheriff’s deputies and launch a community prosecutor program that would link deputy district attorneys with local neighborhoods.

Standing before a crowd of about 40 supporters as he opened his campaign headquarters in Ventura, Bamieh vowed to take his campaign directly to the voters and not rely on political endorsements to speak for him.

“I don’t stand here with politicians,” he said, “and I don’t have many of their endorsements. What I do have are the endorsements of people I’ve worked with day in and day out for eight years.”

Those joining Bamieh on Wednesday included half a dozen deputy district attorneys, four detectives who have worked cases with Bamieh and relatives of crime victims whose cases have been handled by Bamieh.

“We came to support him,” said Ventura Police Det. Pat Stevens, who has worked with Bamieh on two homicide cases. “He’s supported us a lot.”

Teresita Hacuman, mother of a murder victim, described Bamieh as a hard-working prosecutor committed to the people of Ventura County.

Hacuman met Bamieh four years ago after her 24-year-old son, Jose Basilan, was killed in an Oxnard gang shooting. Bamieh prosecuted the case successfully, securing the extradition of the gunman from the Philippines and later his conviction.

“I am no politician,” Hacuman said. “But for Ron Bamieh, I will do anything. He has proven himself to be a formidable opponent in the war against crime.”

Another relative of a crime victim, Shelly Holland, praised Bamieh for aggressively pursuing two skinheads accused of fatally stabbing and beating her 17-year-old daughter, Nichole Hendrix, three years ago.

“As one voice of Ventura County, there is no better man for the job than Ron Bamieh,” she said.

Former state Sen. Cathie Wright also showed up to pledge support. Wright criticized Bradbury’s well-chronicled no-plea-bargaining policy and the estimated $1 million spent investigating alleged drug sales by Hells Angels motorcycle gang members.

Wright said the county needs a district attorney with new ideas.

“And,” she said, “I’d like to see someone who is not hand-picked by Bradbury.”