MARTINEZ — Contra Costa County District Attorney-elect Mark Peterson won’t be sworn into office until Monday, but he’s already made good on a campaign promise to bring big change to the office by dismantling the current management team.
In a move that isn’t unusual for an incoming DA, Peterson has alerted all five top-paid managers who served under retiring DA Robert Kochly that they would be demoted and replaced by four senior attorneys who supported him during the contentious election in which the bulk of the office favored Peterson’s main opponent, Dan O’Malley. The announcement has prompted the early retirement of sex crimes unit head Dara Cashman.
“I need to bring in my own management team — people I have trust and confidence in — and this is part of the change that I promised when I was elected,” Peterson said. “Change can be painful, but it is usually beneficial.”
Monday’s changing of the guard comes at a time when office morale is low because of understaffing, underfunding and uncertainty about the future. In recent years, support and investigations staff have been decimated, attorney staffing has been cut by about 25 percent, and those who remain are struggling to keep up with heavy caseloads amid county pay cuts and furloughs. Staff members are also recovering from a nasty 18-month election season during which debates often centered on the ongoing prosecution of a former veteran deputy DA charged with raping a young colleague in 2008.
In mid-December, Peterson met with and gave demotion notices to all five of the office’s top-paid, at-will managers: chief assistant DA Brian Baker, assistant DA Paul Sequeira, misdemeanor unit head Bruce Flynn, Richmond office boss David Brown, and Cashman.
Cashman, who at the time of notice was nearing the end of a monthlong preliminary hearing for seven defendants in the widely publicized Richmond High School gang rape case, told Peterson that for financial reasons, she would take an early retirement over a demotion.
“All these people are very talented, so I hope they will stick around and be part of a successful office,” Peterson said. “I didn’t want (Cashman) to retire, but she indicated that was her plan.”
Cashman, 51, described her 25-plus years with the office as an “amazing, wonderful journey” and said she’s sad to leave.
“It wasn’t a shock because I was not a supporter of his, but I was hoping that my experience and qualifications would mean more to him,” Cashman said. “I am extremely disappointed this is the outcome of the election “… it’s hard to not take it personally.”
Welfare fraud prosecutor Julie Hast, a 24-year office veteran, said that Cashman has long been an office role model — especially for female prosecutors — possessing a wealth of knowledge and expertise, strong ethics, and a willingness to guide other attorneys.
“When I started in the DA’s Office, women were definitely the minority, and Dara was one who rose to a high level quickly,” Hast said. “For a lot of us, Dara has been the standard that we measured ourselves by.
“She is nothing if not dedicated to the prosecution of criminals,” Hast said. “It’s really a great loss to the office that we are losing her.”
Peterson promoted attorneys Tom Kensok, Doug MacMaster, Harold Jewett and Karen Zelis Holder to top-level status, replacing many of the outgoing managers. He noted that two O’Malley supporters retained or kept coveted supervisor jobs: Nancy Georgiou was promoted to head the sexual assault unit and John Cope will remain as head of the homicide unit.
Peterson said he has not named a chief assistant or assistant DA, as he is still evaluating whether to continue the structure of the current administration.
Other changes already afoot include creation of a formal gang unit, and new procedures for employee evaluations and training. A 14-person transition team of outsiders working to identify needs and challenges met throughout December. Peterson said he will spend his first three months as DA auditing the office, and then will start reallocating resources after March in anticipation of spring budget hearings. For staff, that means continued uncertainty.
“People all want to know how the change is going to affect them, and that’s reasonable, but at this point, I don’t know,” Peterson said. “It’s safe to say, for everybody in the office, we’ve all learned different things from the events that occurred over the last two years. We’re all mindful of what has occurred and we are committed to professionalism as we move forward.”
Contact Malaika Fraley at 925-234-1684.
