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Question: Your critics say you are brash, ambitious and self-centered. Are they right and how do your more aggressive tendencies fit into the administrative role of district attorney?

Bamieh: Well, you can have whatever opinion you have of me. I am a very aggressive prosecutor, no doubt about it. I am tenacious. But what you do in court is different from what you do as a person in your everyday life. I am not a trial lawyer when I go home to my family, I am not a trial lawyer when I am doing other tasks, whether it is working in the community or doing something else. I think most people who know me in everyday life, and know me well, would have different opinions.

Q: What percentage of the lawyers, and employees overall, are racial or ethnic minorities in your office? What steps would you take to make the district attorney’s office reflective of the entire community, including the 33% of residents who are Latino?

Bamieh: I’ll talk about the attorneys. If [the number of minorities is] over 10% to 15%, I’d be surprised. And if you go to management, it is even lower. My personal opinion is we don’t make a sincere effort to recruit people. I am not an affirmative action person, but I do believe it’s important that the office does reflect some of the county that we represent. Our biggest problem is that when we recruit, we don’t recruit in terms of what support would someone have if they came to our office. Why would somebody of ethnic origin, who was ambitious, come to the office? Then he looks at the management structure and thinks, wow, there doesn’t seem to be anybody of ethnic origin in the management. Why would I think that I could achieve something big here? Now, the biggest thing that I will do is I will make a sincere effort. The other thing is I am going to ask the community to help us out. I would like to get a board of community leaders and I would like to form what we call a retention committee. Now what retention committees do, is they integrate the new person into the community--social networks, make them part of the community immediately so there is a support network in place. This would be pretty simple to do.

Q: The district attorney’s case against local Hells Angels and their associates is the most time-consuming and expensive in Ventura County history, taking years and perhaps costing millions of dollars: Is it worth the time and money?

Bamieh: Well, first of all, to make it clear, I will comment as an outsider because I have not been privy to the entire investigation. When we go after a gang, you need to have a plan. Now, if the goal is to eliminate the entire gang, can you do that? We have undertaken one of the most ambitious projects going. I will tell you straight out, I don’t understand the prosecution theory behind that case. And I will tell you why. When I run a case, if I am going to make a deal with an informant, or if I am going to make an agreement, I do that prior to the indictment. So to indict 50 people, as an example, and then make deals with 25--that is not something I would approve as district attorney. Now if the goal was to eliminate the gang which was selling drugs to children, I am all for it. If the expense was great, I am all for it. But it must be justified at the end of the day. And the public is going to hold them accountable.

Q: People’s right to die at a time of their choosing has been upheld by law in Oregon, but is now being challenged by the Bush administration. Which position do you support?

Bamieh: As district attorney your main job is to enforce the laws of the Legislature. And when you start taking positions on controversial issues like this, and you start taking them publicly, you immediately call into question your ability to enforce the laws equally on both sides. I would be troubled as district attorney doing such. You have a responsibility, first and foremost, to enforce the laws equally.

Q: Years ago, California took a step toward decriminalizing the use of marijuana by making simple possession a misdemeanor offense. Is too little or too much time now spent on marijuana violations?

Bamieh: They created a huge problem because the federal government has a different theory on that crime in this state. Now we have no man’s land. Is there too little or too much? Very little, I can tell you, right now in our county is done in terms of possession cases of marijuana because quite frankly there is little bang for your buck.

Q: You both have worked for Dist. Atty. Mike Bradbury for a long time. What would you say are his greatest strengths, his biggest shortcomings?

Bamieh: I am here in Ventura County because Mike hired me, No. 1. And I will always give him credit for that. His strengths are he is a strong leader in this county and he is a great advocate for law enforcement. One of his shortcomings, quite frankly, is that he has been in that position for a long time. I disagree with him on taking political positions, publicly, as district attorney. I’m not talking about the D.A.’s race, but other races--when we have jurisdiction in terms of whether there are any criminal violations in those races. I wouldn’t do that.

Q: A variety of studies have found that racial profiling by police agencies is a problem. Do you believe it is practiced here and what would you do as a prosecutor, if you saw a pattern of such profiling by local police?

Bamieh: What we have here is a dispute between the people in law enforcement and the people who believe they are being racially profiled. I can tell you straight out that I have talked to enough people who believe it is going on where there has to be some credibility to the argument. I’ve been out and all over this county. Eventually you have to say there is something going on. The biggest issue, I think, is because there is no communication between law enforcement and the public, the community. I’ll speak specifically of the district attorney’s office now. We don’t do anything in terms of community outreach, really. The reason why that is healthy to do is because then you have a public who looks at law enforcement differently. We have to try to rectify this by doing community policing, and letting the police officers be known in the community so the community develops a different relationship with the police officer. The more you have an interaction outside of a law enforcement setting, in terms of working together as citizens to make our community better, the less you have this issue occurring.

Q: The state’s three strikes law has been successfully challenged once in federal court in a theft case where judges found the punishment was too harsh for the crime. Much discretion is left to district attorneys in using this law. Would you use it in cases where minor theft or burglary constitutes the third felony strike?

Bamieh: As district attorney your discretion in terms of what you file and how you file should always be based on what’s best for the community and the protection of the community. You have to understand the basic premises behind three strikes. If a person has a number of very violent assaults, very violent sexual offenses, I would go after them on the third strike. If the background is different, where property crimes have constituted the strikes, I have a different view. The discretion is not only with the district attorney, by the way. It’s also with the courts because the district attorney is just one level.

Q: The district attorney’s office has been criticized for failing to follow basic ethical standards in a case, prosecuted by you, where an unsophisticated crime witness thought she had been promised immunity for her testimony but is now being prosecuted for murder. Does the D.A.’s office press so hard for convictions that fairness is lost?

Bamieh: Well, let me address this because you’ve addressed a personal issue to me. And I will say straight out that, No. 1, everything we did in that case was ethical and proper. My disappointment, if anything, in that case is the way our office chose to handle it. I disagree completely. I say to my opponent in this race, I tell him straight out--I said we should cut her some kind of deal. I was told no . . . . There is no doubt in my mind that everything we did was above board and proper, and out in the open. It is on tape. And legally, I think we are going to be fine.

Q: The district attorney’s office has repeatedly had problems working with local police agencies on cases. There also have been conflicts with some federal agencies. How can this problem be corrected?

Bamieh: Well, law enforcement agencies protect their turf. You can work very successfully with the various agencies in our county, but you have to be open and you have to tell them what you are doing. What I see causes it is lack of communication. I think it is very important for our office when we get into a case to be very clear on what everybody’s role is and get that agreement first. Because the case is much more difficult when you don’t have that agreement.

Q: Your race promises to be one of the most expensive in county history, with lots of out-of-county money coming in. Do you favor any kind of spending restrictions? If so, what?

Bamieh: I guess the simple answer is no to spending restrictions. The thing about campaigns is that it’s all public. It’s not like there is money being funneled in or something like that from somebody that nobody would know about. Every campaign has their resources and the campaign that uses their resources best runs the more effective campaign. That’s part of the challenge.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Ron Bamieh

Age: 35

Occupation: Senior deputy district attorney

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

Background: After graduating from law school in 1991, Bamieh worked for the Justice Department in Washington, D.C. 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 coaches the Buena High School Mock Trial team. He lives in Ventura with his wife and two daughters, ages 2 and 5.

Campaign: Bamieh leads the fund-raising race with large contributions from his wealthy Bay Area parents. He has been endorsed by police in Simi Valley and former state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley).