Job Puts Pacheco Nearer Top Post

Former state Assemblyman Rod Pacheco was promoted to Riverside County assistant district attorney Tuesday, an appointment that leaves him in a strong position to run for district attorney if Grover Trask retires at the end of his current term.

Pacheco, 45, a Riverside resident and UC Riverside graduate who has served as a chief deputy district attorney since returning in 2002 to the office he worked in before his election, will begin supervising the Southwest Division near Murrieta on Jan. 9. His position is newly created, and he will be one of four assistant district attorneys.

“I consider Rod one of our top leaders,” said Trask, whose sixth term ends in 2006. “He has a great understanding of the district attorney’s office, great integrity and principle, and he has the capacity and competency to run a major office.”

Trask, district attorney since 1983, has not announced whether he will seek reelection, but several prosecutors say that Trask is grooming Pacheco as his replacement and that Trask is expected to announce next year that this term is his last.

Trask did nothing to quell that speculation Tuesday, saying, “I’m going to be around here for the next three years.”

If he runs for district attorney, Pacheco would probably benefit from past political support from conservative Riverside County voters.

“Grover’s done a truly incredible job for Riverside County, and I would not speak for his intentions,” Pacheco said. “[A district attorney candidacy] is nothing I want to comment upon today. My computer screen saver reads, ‘Man makes plans, and God laughs.’ Opportunities have come to me, and I figure if I continue to do my job well, opportunities will continue to come.”

Pacheco served in the Assembly from 1996 to 2002, representing the Riverside County-based 64th District, which includes Riverside.

Pacheco was the first Latino Republican elected to the Assembly in more than a century, leaving after three terms because of term limits. In Sacramento, he sponsored Proposition 222, the so-called Peace Officers’ Safety Initiative, which refused parole to those convicted of murdering a peace officer.

In his new role, Pacheco will earn $156,395 and preside over the Southwest Division, where the population boom in Temecula and Murrieta has resulted in the opening of a new courthouse.