Bamieh’s Ads Misleading, Totten Says

Turning up the heat in the Ventura County district attorney’s race, candidate Greg Totten accused his opponent Wednesday of misleading voters by exaggerating his trial experience in a barrage of radio and television ads.

It is an assertion Totten has made before.

This time, the 47-year-old second-in-command of the district attorney’s office did so at a noon news conference, flanked by 30 prosecutors whose association endorsed him earlier this week.

“I think it is necessary to get the true record to the voters,” Totten said. “The public needs to know.”

Totten and his supporters say Ron Bamieh, 36, who has spent nine years in the district attorney’s office, falsely contends in ads to be the county’s “most experienced prosecutor” and one who “has never lost a felony case.”

Bamieh defended his record Wednesday and suggested that Totten was getting desperate with only a month to go before the March 5 primary.

“Greg Totten’s press conference today is a good indication that his campaign is failing,” Bamieh said. “His charges are old, untrue and unfair. In this election, I am the most experienced prosecutor running, and no matter how many cronies he can get to stand next to him, it will not change that.”

The two prosecutors are locked in a bitter and high-priced campaign to replace retiring Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury, who will step down in January after six consecutive four-year terms.

So far, Bamieh has spent $490,000--most of it donated by his father--to sway county voters. In early November, he launched a $50,000 media blitz, buying radio spots and ads on five cable TV channels.

Totten and his supporters contend those ads give voters the wrong impression of Bamieh’s qualifications.

“The danger is people will believe him,” said Pete Kossoris, a semi-retired prosecutor.

Kossoris was one of three prosecutors who spoke during Wednesday’s news conference. All described Totten, who has spent nearly 20 years in the D.A.’s office, as a proven leader and their choice to run the office with a $40-million budget and 600 employees.

In his remarks, Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Frawley attacked Bamieh’s claims that he has never lost a felony case. In 1995, Bamieh prosecuted a man charged with false imprisonment. The jury deadlocked and the case was dismissed.

“That is not a win,” Totten said. “That is a loss.”

But Bamieh said the defendant was jailed on a probation violation by the judge after the case was dismissed. If the intent is to send the defendant to jail and he goes to jail, Bamieh said, “that’s a victory.”

Controversy over Bamieh’s trial record erupted in November when ads hit the airwaves contending that “in over 60 cases, he has never lost a felony trial.”

According to records provided to The Times by the district attorney’s office, Bamieh has prosecuted 20 felony trials--18 before a jury and two before a judge--that resulted in guilty verdicts.

But Bamieh contends that those statistics are incomplete and do not include at least 50 felony cases he took through preliminary hearings.

On Wednesday, he called his opponent’s accusation “pathetic” and an example of negative campaigning.

“It is sad that they are resorting to this,” he said.