OREGON OBSERVATIONS 30 JULY 2022 Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By admin While Lane County’s DA has served with an admirable record, she has the same dilemma as other Lane County department heads: Lack of proper funding. In her case, it’s to do the job of protecting this county’s citizens from the criminal element. ‘The crime rates are going up because of the decriminalization of drugs in the state of Oregon. People who are high are not in their right mind necessarily, and many are committing crimes of violence while under the influence of hard drugs. They are stealing to pay for drugs. Drugs didn’t become free when they became decriminalized.’ And there you have it. That MUST be the most accurate and commonsensical statement made by any public servant I’ve heard in a long time. Her situation reminds me of the words from one of the country songs on my playlist: ‘she had a great attorney, mine was fair.’ Having trouble connecting the dots? Allow me to illustrate. Let’s assume a doper is arrested for breaking into a residence and was in possession of the stolen goods. Given the financial status and general wherewithal, he probably doesn’t have legal counsel on retainer, so a public defender is assigned. It’s at this point that the aforementioned wages come into play. The DA’s office has to have prosecutors on staff with more expertise than the public defender in order to obtain a conviction. To hire attorneys of that caliber, the DA’s office has to be able to pay a wage that is consummate with the level of skill and knowledge required to obtain the most convictions possible. She can’t do that if the politicians holding the county’s purse strings think it’s more important to find a place for a bum to sleep than putting a bad guy in jail. Any questions? Unless you quit electing Democrats, this’ll never change. 4
