2-Term D.A. to Face Runoff

Two-term Dist. Atty. Paul Pfingst will face a runoff with prosecutor-turned-Superior Court Judge Bonnie Dumanis after a withering primary campaign in which three challengers accused Pfingst of cronyism and mismanagement.

Pfingst carried 41% of the vote, Dumanis 23%. In order to win, a candidate had to get 50% of the vote. Former federal prosecutor Michael Aguirre had 21%. Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Pettine received 16%. Aguirre immediately endorsed Dumanis.

Dumanis said the vote shows that “Paul Pfingst is very vulnerable” because of allegations of mismanagement in his office.

The Deputy District Attorneys Assn. has given Pfingst a vote of no confidence.

Pfingst has attributed much of the criticism to a labor-management struggle in which the association blames him for not doing more to assist in its contract negotiations with the county Board of Supervisors.

Dumanis contended that Pfingst enjoyed a last-minute boost in the polls by holding several news conferences to discuss the high-profile kidnapping case of Danielle van Dam, 7, whose body was found in the desert late last week.

Pfingst denied that he had held the news conferences for political benefit.

During the campaign, Pfingst was described as an aloof and arrogant boss who denigrated the work of deputies who did not support him politically and covered up the misdeeds of those who did.

Pfingst responded by saying that his office has the highest conviction rate--92%--of any district attorney’s office in California and that his efforts to toughen prosecutions in rape cases, welfare fraud and hate crimes have been lauded by outside agencies.

“If we talk about my record, I’m fine,” Pfingst said after Tuesday’s primary. “I hope we have a campaign that finally talks about the record rather than a campaign that has tended to be negative.”

In 1994, Pfingst ousted a six-term incumbent who had the backing of the Deputy District Attorneys Assn. He was unopposed in 1998, but a series of controversies left him politically weakened.