County D.A. Race Attracts Opposites

When cowboy lawman Michael D. Bradbury decided to hang up his spurs as Ventura County district attorney, prosecutors assumed the office would pass to his second-in-command, Greg Totten.

But a brash trial lawyer, Ron Bamieh, upset those notions last year when he announced plans to run for Bradbury’s post--forcing the first contested election for district attorney since 1978.

Now, with nine days left in the campaign, the two candidates remain locked in the costliest and most divisive local race this election season.

It is a race between a seasoned administrator who has run the office in Bradbury’s absence and a dynamic prosecutor eager to bring change.

Totten, 47, wants to improve upon his boss’s tough-on-crime legacy by hiring more minorities, expanding training and seeking grants for new programs.

Bamieh, 36, wants to overhaul middle management, put prosecutors in the community and devote greater resources to trying misdemeanor crimes that affect the quality of life for county residents.

While the two candidates share similar views on most law-and-order issues--both loathe plea bargains and support the three-strikes law and the death penalty--they are polar opposites in terms of style, experience and personality.

Totten, who was raised on the edge of the California desert, joined the prosecutor’s office 20 years ago as a trial deputy and rose through the ranks to become chief assistant district attorney. He is soft-spoken, serious and uses words like “honor” and “integrity” in describing his view of an ideal district attorney.

Bamieh is loud, cocky and exudes charisma. The son of a deep-pocketed and politically well-connected San Mateo businessman, he joined the Ventura County district attorney’s office nine years ago and quickly climbed to the position of senior deputy district attorney, trying homicide and serious felony cases.

Since neither one is a household name, the two men have been campaigning almost daily since Jan. 1. They have participated in two dozen political forums and spent more than $1 million on signs, mailers, campaign strategists and radio and television ads.

The largest donations have come from Bamieh’s father, who has dumped $868,000 into his son’s campaign--$107,000 in the past week alone.

Bamieh says those resources have made it possible for him to challenge Totten, who is supported by the county’s law enforcement establishment. Totten contends his opponent is trying to buy the election.

As the clock ticks down, tensions are running high. But both men say it is because there is so much at stake.

To hear JoAnn Totten tell it, her son always wanted to be a lawyer. “From the time he was a boy,” she said in between answering phones at campaign headquarters.

It is here, in a cramped office across the street from the Ventura courthouse, that Totten has launched his bid for district attorney.

It’s a hive of activity with volunteers folding mailers and campaign strategists hustling to set up events. Huge precinct maps line the walls--a reminder of the ground Totten must cover before the March 5 primary.

But he has covered plenty of ground just to get this far.

The son of an aerospace engineer, he grew up in Riverside County, spent a short time in Hawaii and his last two years of high school in the Mojave Desert, where his father worked at the China Lake Naval Weapons Station.

After junior college, he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from San Francisco State University and a law degree from Pepperdine University.

In 1982, he joined the Ventura County district attorney’s office and spent the next decade handling everything from petty thefts to a death-penalty murder case.

In 1993, he moved to Sacramento to become the executive director of the California District Attorney’s Assn., drafting legislation and lobbying on behalf of 2,500 prosecutors statewide.

Chosen as No. 2 in Command in ’98

After three years in the state capital, Totten returned to the district attorney’s office, this time as the chief deputy in charge of the child support division. In 1998, Bradbury picked him to serve as his second-in-command.

Since then, Totten has overseen the day-to-day operations of a department with 600 employees and a $40-million budget. He has also chaired the committee that makes recommendations to Bradbury on when to seek the death penalty.

“He is an extraordinarily fine lawyer,” said Bradbury, who is retiring after six consecutive terms. “In almost 20 years, he has handled every kind of case imaginable. And his judgment is impeccable.”

Those credentials have helped Totten win close to 200 local endorsements, including a wide cross-section of elected officials, minority community leaders and labor and police unions.

“We may differ on other issues or candidates, but on this one we are together,” said Hank Lacayo, chairman of the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee and president of El Concilio del Condado de Ventura, the county’s largest Latino advocacy organization.

“It takes a special kind of candidate to unite a diverse group of leaders,” Lacayo said. “I have personally seen Greg Totten in action for the past three months; he cares and his work in our communities is earning him [broad] support.”

Totten is not without detractors.

Some deputy district attorneys say he is closed off and has done little to improve a culture of fear that permeates the office. They worry that he will brush aside management changes they believe are badly needed.

And as the race has heated up, some have been startled by what they see as a mean-spirited tone coming from his campaign.

Last week, Totten called a news conference to bring attention to a Spanish-language television ad run by his opponent that features a 72-year-old Santa Paula man who, unbeknownst to the Bamieh campaign, was convicted of selling cocaine more than decade ago.

Totten said he found his opponent’s ties to a drug dealer reprehensible. Bamieh backers say Totten’s conduct was reprehensible for dragging the elderly man’s past into the campaign.

“To me, that shows his true colors,” said Maeve Fox, a senior deputy district attorney. “We should applaud people who have made mistakes and come back and prove that they can be contributing members of their community. It was mean-spirited and it was nasty, and I think people should take note of that.”

Totten said the issue isn’t the elderly man.

“The issue is about Mr. Bamieh’s judgment,” he said. “He acknowledged that he doesn’t even know this man and that is a fact that should be important to voters. District attorneys should not be dealing with people who are convicted drug dealers.”

‘There Is No Looking Back’

Sitting at a conference table, Bamieh looks worried. His team has three weeks to go and by all accounts is unprepared.

“What can we do to get better?” he asks.

He isn’t talking about his campaign team. No, he fully expects to win on election day.

This lecture is for the Buena High School Mock Trial team, which he has helped coach for eight years. On this day, Bamieh, who has spent far less time with the team than usual because of the campaign, tries to pump up a few less-experienced students.

“You have to understand that when you are in Mock Trial, everyone is very nervous,” he says. “You have to act incredibly confident--you own them. You can’t show any fear in there.”

He pauses with dramatic effect, and adds: “You also understand, once this thing starts, there is no looking back.”

Bamieh could easily be describing his run for district attorney.

He knew he was picking a fight when he decided to enter the race, but he also believed the office needed a change and that he was the only prosecutor with the financial backing to make it competitive.

“People thank me for running,” Bamieh said. “They are happy that they get a choice for a change--that it is not going to be anointed.”

Bamieh grew up in the Bay Area, the son of a financial consultant who made a fortune after emigrating from Jerusalem in the late 1950s.

Sam Bamieh became involved in Republican politics, and spent huge sums of money backing candidates whose ideology, particularly on fiscal policy, was to his liking.

“I have known every Republican president since Nixon,” he said in an interview last year, noting that his son grew up in that environment. “He learned leadership from the pros.”

After earning a business degree from USC and a law degree from Loyola University Chicago in 1991, Bamieh landed a position as a civil attorney in the Justice Department in Washington. When former President George Bush vacated the White House, Bamieh left too.

In 1993, he joined the Ventura County district attorney’s office and spent several years trying misdemeanor, felony and sexual assault cases. For the past four years, he has handled homicide and gang-related crimes.

After promoting him in 1997, Bradbury tested Bamieh by assigning him an unsolved slaying, which deputies and investigators in the office had given up on. Bamieh closed the case, without a body or murder weapon, and sent the killer to death row.

“He is all about the case and the victims,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Audry Rohn said. “As a prosecutor, I find that really inspiring.”

Prosecutors who support Bamieh describe him as courageous and savvy, a lawyer capable of making the office more efficient and supportive of its employees.

“The office is currently run under an atmosphere of fear,” said Fox, who has worked there for 12 years.

“I know people who have been pressured to prosecute cases in which they didn’t believe,” Fox said. “Ron wants to breathe new life into the office by making people more accountable, but at the same time giving them more discretion to do what they believe is the right thing.”

Opponents Question Experience, Tactics

But Bamieh’s critics fault him for having no administrative experience. They say he is abrasive and overly aggressive in prosecuting crimes.

“He’s pushy, he’s arrogant,” said Glen Kitzmann, a district attorney’s investigator and president of the Ventura County Deputy Sheriff’s Assn., which endorsed Totten. “It can’t be win at all costs, it has to be about seeking justice.”

Kitzmann and others say Bamieh’s campaign tactics show he is willing to do and say anything to win.

They have repeatedly criticized him for exaggerating his trial experience in ads stating that “in over 60 cases, he has never lost a felony trial.”

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

Bamieh contends that those statistics do not include at least 50 felony cases he took through preliminary hearings. He calls the criticism another petty attack by his opponent.

“When you are losing, and you are desperate, you do whatever you can,” Bamieh said. “Their whole campaign is based on throwing mud, and I think it is mostly due to the fact that that old boys club is losing and there is going to be a change.”

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Ron Bamieh

Age: 36

Occupation: Senior deputy district attorney

Education: Bachelor’s degree in business from USC. Law degree from Loyola University Chicago.

Background: After graduating from law school in 1991, Bamieh worked as a civil attorney for the Justice Department in Washington. He joined the Ventura County district attorney’s office in 1993 and spent several years trying misdemeanor, felony and sexual assault cases. For the past four years, Bamieh has been a prosecutor in the major crimes unit, handling homicide and gang-related cases. Bamieh is a coach for the Buena High School Mock Trial team. He lives in Ventura with his wife and two daughters, ages 2 and 5.

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Greg Totten

Age: 47

Occupation: Chief assistant district attorney

Education: Bachelor’s in economics from San Francisco State University. Law degree from Pepperdine University.

Background: Totten joined the Ventura County district attorney’s office after graduating from law school in 1982. After more than a decade prosecuting criminal cases, he spent three years as executive director of the California District Attorney’s Assn. in Sacramento. Totten returned to Ventura County and has spent the past five years as an administrator, running the child support division and serving as second-in-command. Totten lives in Ventura with his wife and their 12-year-old daughter.