Allegations in the Merced County DA race -- the same old game

Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on Monday, 19 March 2018

In less words than the political gossip in the press, a married couple of Merced County assistant district attorneys moved to Santa Cruz at some point (not reported) after Larry Morse was elected District Attorney in 2006. These whispering lizards of the bar chose to tell the McClatchy Chain local outlet last month that they were driven out of their job in Merced to their present jobs in Santa Cruz because, they allege, Morse sexually harassed the wife. Three weeks later, Kimberly Helms Lewis, an assistant district attorney from Stanislaus County, announces her campaign against Morse, who is running for reelcction.
We hope that Morse and his family can withstand the whirlwind of well known substances that is going to hit them this year better than his predecessor Gordon Spencer did, who was found by a pedestrian one afternoon knee deep in Bear Creek gazing at his pickup, front end buried in the mud.
Spencer was the victim of a number of accusations brought in the press, and a state investigation resulted in a 30-day suspension from practicing law after he resigned, an extremely neglible punishment considering crimes alleged by the Merced Sun-Star. But, as far as we know, unlike Spencer, Morse has not taken on fraudulent marketing by Silicon Valley firms and the candidate of his own party for state Attorney General in 1998, convincing 36 county DA's to endorse Bill Lockyer, candidate of the other party.
Morse has proven himself to be a good man and an outstanding DA -- no doubt earning him the implacable hatred of lesser folk capable of inventing entire novels of his alleged sins. But these will be unpublished novels, unless the media falls for them, because their authors are people who neither read nor write and believe only what they whisper to each other and to reporters eager for scandal.

Morse's enemies can't attack his record, at least in public, so they will try to smear his character. If they succeed, the citizens of Merced County will be the losers.
This will be the most important election on the Merced County ballot this November because we need the best leadership we can get in law enforcement to continue the programs law enforcement officials have developed in recent years after fierce political struggles.

When we read the Feb. 27 article “Ex-prosecutors say DA made lewd comments” (Front Page), we were shocked at the unfair and incomplete nature of the story, especially since several of us were interviewed. Because the Sun-Star chose to omit our comments, we, along with many other women from the DA’s office, feel compelled to come forward in support of Larry Morse. -- Letter to the Editor, Merced Sun-Star, March 5, 2018, signed by 28 women who work for or have worked for or with DA Larry Morse.

#ProtectGoodGovernment

2-26-18
Merced Sun-Star
Former prosecutors say Merced DA Morse made lewd comments to female employees
Rob Parsons
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/article202248744.html

Three former Merced County prosecutors say longtime District Attorney Larry Morse II made lewd comments to female subordinates dating back several years and inappropriately kissed one of his married employees about five years ago.
Attorneys Ilia and Mike McKinney, who are married, and retired attorney Rita Carlson said they are speaking out now because they no longer are employed by Morse. They said they hope bringing these issues to light will motivate progress in Merced County in the same way other stories have brought about change in recent months in what has become known as the #MeToo movement.
“We left Merced because of this stuff,” Ilia McKinney told the Sun-Star. “They need to improve how they treat women in that office.”
McKinney and her husband, Mike, are veteran prosecuting attorneys who left Merced County in October for lateral positions in the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office.
Morse, a 60-year-old veteran prosecutor and elected official, has been the Merced County district attorney since 2006. He is up for re-election this year, seeking his fourth term in office.
Morse said, even before he first was elected as district attorney, no supervisor ever questioned or counseled him regarding any such behavior.
“This catches me totally and completely by surprise,” Morse said. “I’m shocked, disappointed and, frankly, hurt.”
Morse acknowledged “flaws” but said it was unfair to bring up claims, some of which date back many years, that never were brought to his attention before now. He said he should have been given the opportunity to address any potential grievances privately.
Morse said he’s never had a complaint filed against him and said such behavior simply isn’t the culture he promotes in his office.
Mike North, Merced County spokesman, said there “haven’t been any settlements of sexual harassment claims specific to Mr. Morse. No lawsuits, torts or claims alleging sexual harassment have been filed with the Board (of Supervisors) against Mr. Morse.”
Kissing women and making lewd comments
McKinney, a 37-year-old prosecutor, said Morse kissed her on the lips in front of her husband – who also was a deputy district attorney in Morse’s office at the time – during an after-work gathering about five years ago. McKinney said Morse also made lewd comments to her repeatedly during her pregnancies, including numerous suggestions that performing oral sex would guarantee giving birth to a boy.
McKinney said she felt angry and powerless when Morse kissed her on the lips at a downtown Merced bar. She said they’d arrived at the Main Street bar for an after-work get-together with colleagues. She said Morse went to greet her and kissed her on the lips “suddenly” and “without any warning.”
“I felt totally violated,” McKinney said, “but he’s my boss. What am I supposed to say to him?”
Morse said he had no memory of the kiss, but acknowledged it may have occurred, saying that, if it happened, “it would’ve been as a greeting of some sort.”
“I considered Ilia a friend,” Morse said. “There was never anything remotely sexual.”
Morse said it’s common for him to kiss women on the cheek and he said it’s also common for women to kiss him on the cheek and sometimes on the lips, but as a casual greeting only.
Her husband, Mike McKinney, said he was shocked to see his boss kiss his wife and also felt there was little he could do without jeopardizing their careers.
“As a husband, I definitely didn’t like another guy kissing my wife,” Mike McKinney said. “But you have a boss who controls everything about your career.”
He said there were “plenty of times” he wanted to speak out but held back.
“It’s a weird position for me because it’s my boss and it’s also Ilia’s boss,” Mike McKinney said. “It’s tough for me to get involved and in some ways, it’s not right for me to jump in. I didn’t want to create the impression that I think Ilia can’t speak for herself.”
Deputy Merced County Public Defender Stephanie Jamieson confirmed Ilia McKinney spoke with her about the kissing incident at least four years ago.
“I remember her being shocked,” Jamieson said. “She didn’t know what to do.”
Jamieson also said she and McKinney discussed McKinney feeling sexually harassed by comments Morse made. She said McKinney spoke with her about Morse making inappropriate comments many times dating back at least four years.
Two other people confirmed they were told about the kiss and the sexual comments directly by McKinney around the time of the incidents.
McKinney said Morse also made lewd comments to her numerous times during her tenure in Merced, including remarks about her body, her appearance and oral sex.
“I just accepted it as part of being a female D.A. in Merced,” McKinney said.
McKinney said Morse made other comments to her when she was pregnant that made her uncomfortable.
She said Morse told her performing oral sex would guarantee giving birth to a boy and he made what she described as an obscene gesture with his hand and mouth, depicting oral sex.
“There was constant and repeated advice about that, usually with the gesture,” McKinney said.
Morse said he had “zero recollection” of making that specific comment, but said he has used a different description of a sexual act that supposedly “guarantees” giving birth to boys.

The remark as described by Morse was the same comment Carlson said Morse made to her in presence around 2000. Carlson said several attorneys had gathered in an area commonly used for employee breaks. She said Morse, who was a supervisor in the office at the time, but not yet the district attorney, was being congratulated on the birth of a child.
Specifically, Carlson said, Morse was asked if he and his wife had been hoping for a girl. Carlson said Morse remarked that he always has boys in his family and never has girls.
“He said he didn’t have girls because ‘I put it in deep and I put it in hard’ or words to that effect,” Carlson said. “I was just appalled that someone would say that.”
Morse acknowledged making the comment but said he doesn’t believe he would have said that in front of Carlson. He said he was “extraordinarily careful” about what he said around Carlson.
“Yes, I used that description, but not in the office. I don’t believe I ever said that in the office,” Morse said. “Yes, it’s sort of (an) old-guy bluster comment that’s been around for decades.”
DA says allegations ‘incredibly unfair’
McKinney said Morse also made comments she felt were inappropriate after she returned from maternity leave.
“Larry came into my office and made me stand up behind my desk. He made complimentary-type remarks about how much baby weight I’d lost,” McKinney said.
She said the attention embarrassed her. She didn’t feel comfortable with her employer examining and critiquing her body, she said.
Morse acknowledged the comment and said it was neither sexual nor harassment.
“If that was wrong, I apologize. It was not meant in a demeaning way. It was meant as a compliment,” Morse said. “If that’s wrong in this climate, then I made a mistake and I accept that.”
Morse described the allegations as “incredibly unfair” and blasted the claims, saying he had “no memory” of some of the incidents and said other claims were “taken out of context” by “disgruntled” former employees.
“Sure I’ve said things (that) in retrospect were ill-advised or stupid. God knows I’ve said many stupid things in my life. I’m as flawed as any person,” Morse said.
However, Morse described conversations in the office as “innocent.”
“You take them completely out of context and make it into something sinister,” Morse said. “This stuff is taken out of context. We had a friendship relationship. It’s not sexual. It’s not harassing.”
McKinney said that while she was pregnant Morse would “constantly remind me to do my Kegel exercises,” exercises designed to strengthen the pelvis.
“It was so incredibly uncomfortable to have my boss talk about my vagina,” she said.
Morse said he didn’t recall talking about Kegel exercises, but said it might have been “failed attempts at humor.”
“I might have. Sometimes I think I’m funny and I’m not,” Morse said. “I don’t have any recollection of that. I couldn’t tell you that I never said that.”
Additionally, Morse acknowledged his sense of humor over the years included a habit of unsnapping bras. He described it as a prank he played on “friends” and a “pretty sad attempt at humor.” He said he stopped doing it at least 10 years ago.
“I’ve done it. It’s understood to be a joke,” Morse said. “Clearly, it’s not funny. I never had anyone (complain). Never had anyone confront me about that.”
He said he “absolutely never” unsnapped the bra of a subordinate employee or in the office.
He said it was “never done in a sexually harassing way.”
“I don’t know what someone else would consider it to be,” Morse said.
Debate over why attorneys left the DA’s office
Ilia and Mike McKinney were promoted during their tenure in the office. By the time they left late last year, both were working on some of the county’s highest-profile cases, including violent felonies, sexual assaults, street gang and child abuse cases.
Despite both attorneys handling serious felony cases for extended periods of time, Morse said Mike McKinney had been “reprimanded repeatedly about his work,” specifically for what Morse described as disorganization and for not taking enough cases all the way to trial.
Morse also said he sent an email to the Santa Cruz district attorney after the McKinneys went to work there in October. In the email, Morse said, he criticized Mike McKinney but said he would “miss Ilia.” Morse said he believes the McKinneys wanted revenge for the email and because Mike McKinney had been criticized verbally about his work in Merced.
“That’s where this is coming from. I think Mike McKinney is very bitter about his time in this office,” Morse said. “This is an effort to throw dirt on me and the management in this office in retaliation.”
Mike and Ilia McKinney said they didn’t know Morse had sent the email to their new employer. Both McKinneys said they shared their issues concerning Morse with management at the Santa Cruz District Attorney’s Office while they were interviewing for their new positions.
Mike McKinney confirmed he’d been verbally reproached for some of his work, including his trial statistics. He said he’d never been demoted or formally reprimanded.
Both McKinneys said they didn’t like the way Mike McKinney was treated by management in Merced but said it was “absurd” to suggest they’d fabricate allegations because Mike McKinney had been criticized by a supervisor.
“That reprimand didn’t bother me as much as what (Ilia McKinney) was going through,” Mike McKinney said.
Ilia McKinney described Morse’s assertion as “insane.”
“The reality is these things happened to me. I don’t know under what context it’d be OK to say these things to an employee,” McKinney said. “I don’t know how that’s OK in any circumstance.”
Morse also said McKinney was overheard discussing sex with co-workers at office parties and he’d heard her swear frequently.
“I never had the slightest idea she was offended,” Morse said.
McKinney said there’s a clear difference between friends or co-workers – all of whom are free to object without fear of jeopardizing careers – discussing sex or using profanity and an employer or supervisor making specific sexual comments about a subordinate employee and her body.
“None of my friends ever talked to me about my vagina or told me to do my vagina exercises or ogled my body,” McKinney said. “None of my friends ever kissed me on the lips.”
She said Morse was “conflating sexual topics with making personal comments about my sexuality.”
“That’s what I found demeaning and offensive,” McKinney said.
McKinney described Morse’s behavior as “inappropriate” and “intimidating,” but said she never feared for her safety. She said she felt sexually harassed.
“You’re free to tell your friend to stop,” McKinney said. A friend “is not in a position of power over me.”
‘I didn’t know what to say’
Other examples of Morse making women uncomfortable in the workplace go back two decades when he was a deputy prosecutor and a senior-level supervisor in the office, according to Carlson, who retired from the prosecutor’s office in 2011.
“He was just inappropriate with his sexual conversations with females,” Carlson said.
She said that during a Christmas gift-exchange at the office in the late 1990s, Morse gave her a magazine subscription.
“He told me he considered giving me a push-up bra, but got me Vanity Fair, instead,” Carlson said. “I didn’t say anything, I don’t think, at the time. I didn’t know what to say. It was just feeling like what a jerk that he could make that kind of comment to me.”
Morse said he doesn’t believe he would have made that remark to Carlson.
“I know I was extraordinarily careful about what I said (around Carlson),” Morse said.
He said Carlson has been upset with him for about a decade after she was transferred off of sex crimes cases. He said he couldn’t explain why Carlson would come forward with allegations now and said those issues were never raised during the nearly two decades they worked together.
Carlson said she feels that in the 1990s making a formal complaint about such remarks simply wouldn’t have been taken seriously in Merced County and may have hurt the person complaining more than the person accused.
Fear of retaliation kept lawyer silent
Allison West is a veteran employment attorney and investigator specializing in HR-related issues. When Charlie Rose was suspended and eventually fired from CBS in December amid sexual misconduct allegations, West was brought on board at CBS to conduct workplace sexual harassment training.
In an interview with the Sun-Star, West said a supervisor kissing a subordinate employee on the lips without consent is “always totally inappropriate.”
“A DA kissing an attorney on the lips – it’s not good,” West said. “It’s someone who reports to them, it’s that power over them.”
West said while one kiss or inappropriate comments usually won’t rise to the level of a legal violation, employer workplace policies typically are tougher and provide more protection for employees.
In a December interview with CBS News, West said “a kiss could potentially violate the (company) policy. But under the law there are very few attorneys that would take a case for one kiss because it would not rise to the level, typically, of violating the law.”
Merced County has a “zero tolerance” anti-harassment and discrimination policy that applies to all employees, including elected officials. A copy of the policy, as well as steps a person can take to file a complaint, can be found on the county’s website. The policy says, in part, “It is no defense to a claim of harassment that the alleged harasser did not intend to harass.”
McKinney said she didn’t complain for two reasons: fear of retaliation from Morse and because there’s little county authorities can do to an independently elected official.
“I never talked to (Morse) about it. Never. I was way too afraid to complain,” she said. “I felt afraid to say anything even slightly disapproving.”
McKinney said she doesn’t intend to sue Merced County, though she hasn’t ruled out the possibility.
“I don’t want to take money from Merced County. I feel like that would just punish the citizens and not the people who are doing things wrong,” McKinney said. “But if that’s the only way to force them to create a safe workplace environment for their employees, then that’s what I’d have to do.”

3-5-18
Merced Sun-Star
DA Larry Morse treats us like family; we question motives of his accusers
Letter to the editor
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article203646...
When we read the Feb. 27 article “Ex-prosecutors say DA made lewd comments” (Front Page), we were shocked at the unfair and incomplete nature of the story, especially since several of us were interviewed. Because the Sun-Star chose to omit our comments, we, along with many other women from the DA’s office, feel compelled to come forward in support of Larry Morse.
We’ve known DA Morse for much of our careers. He is supportive, compassionate and treats his employees as he would his own family. He is always available to discuss any concerns employees may have and would never punish an employee for voicing their position.
Many of us also considered ourselves to have a comfortable relationship with the former employees quoted in the article. There was never a single indication, in the many years they worked at the DA’s office, that they felt female employees were being harassed. If they actually did feel that way, it is their duty, as prosecutors and protectors of victims rights, to report it immediately. To the contrary, it seems this was nothing more than a malicious attempt to embarrass and slander our boss.
The Larry Morse we know is down-to-earth, approachable and would be the first to stand up for any of us when we are attacked – that’s why we’re standing up for him today.
MINDEE BAGGETT, SECRETARY
ANGELA HENKE, FORMER INTERN
MICHELE BRASHEAR, SECRETARY
LINDA JANSSEN, SECRETARY
SUSIE BUBENCHIK, VICTIM WITNESS
LINDA JONES, INVESTIGATOR
SHERI CARPENTER, INVESTIGATOR
EDIE LOUGH, FINANCE DEPT
MAGALLY CROSS, ANALYST ASSISTANT
HILDA MALDONADO, SECRETARY
SKYE EMERY, FORMER ATTORNEY
JESSICA MALDONADO, SECRETARY
DEBBIE FELKER, SECRETARY
ANGIE MARTIN, SECRETARY
LOURDES FRONTELLA, ADMINISTRATION
DOLORES MELLO, FORMER SECRETARY
LIZ GALLARDO, SECRETARY
JEANNETTE PACHECO, ADMINISTRATION
KATIE GATES, ATTORNEY
SARA ROSENTHAL, ATTORNEY
KATHY GHAHRAMANY, VICTIM WITNESS
NICOLE SILVEIRA, SUPERVISING ATTORNEY
TRISHA GOODMAN, SUPPORT STAFF
DIANA SMITH, SECRETARY
AUSTIN HEIL, INTERN
LANA WEATHERLY, SECRETARY
ANNA HAZEL, SUPERVISING INVESTIGATOR
MAYRA YBARRA, WITNESS COORDINATOR

3-16-18
Merced Sun-Star
Former Merced prosecutor challenges Morse in campaign for district attorney
Vikaas Shanker And Rob Parsons
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/politics-government/election/local-ele...
For the first time since taking office in 2006, Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse II faces a challenger in his bid for re-election.
Kimberly Helms Lewis, a 47-year-old veteran attorney and prosecutor, has filed to run against Morse in the June 5 primary.
Helms Lewis said she believes Merced County residents are ready for a change after 12 years with Morse at the helm of the county prosecutor’s office.
“I’m not a politician,” Helms Lewis said. “I’m a career government attorney.”
Morse said he looks forward to the upcoming campaign and debate.
“The Merced County District Attorney’s Office is recognized as one of the most progressive and accomplished in California,” Morse said in an email. “I’m happy to let the voters compare my record as a trial attorney, administrator, and community and state leader on public safety with my opponent’s.”
The challenge comes just weeks after the Sun-Star reported allegations from three former Merced prosecutors who said Morse made sexual comments to female subordinates and inappropriately kissed a married employee.
Helms Lewis and Morse were co-workers for about a decade before Morse won election in 2006. Morse was a chief deputy district attorney during the time when Helms Lewis was with the Merced County District Attorney’s Office. She said the issues raised in the Sun-Star article published online Feb. 26 were “not surprising.”
Claims of sexual harassment against men in positions of power have brought about sweeping change across the country in what has become known as the #MeToo movement, which has opened the door for women to talk about their experiences with sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.
The movement has been an inspiration for Helms Lewis.
“It’s not just the #MeToo movement,” she said. “But in general, women are feeling like it’s time to stand up if they are unhappy with leadership and it’s time to take a stand.”
She said those issues were part of the reason she decided to run.
Helms Lewis said Morse did not make sexual comments directly to her.
Morse has acknowledged some of the problematic comments he’s made that were reported by the Sun-Star while saying he didn’t recall other allegations raised. Morse on Friday said he stands by “the letter written by 28 current and former women employees of the District Attorney’s Office. They know that story did not represent the culture or atmosphere in our office and they said so publicly.”
Helms Lewis said she’s also concerned about the relationship between the DA’s Office and the public defender. She said relations between management in the two offices soured about three years after Morse sent an expletive-filled voice message to Public Defender Dave Elgin.
After that message was shared publicly online, Helms Lewis said the chilly relationship possibly jeopardized cost-saving efforts between the two officials. The Sun-Star has obtained a copy of the voice mail posted here: (story continues below)
“I think the community feels like there needs to be change and a sense of integrity in the position,” Helms Lewis said, noting that her campaign slogan is “Tough, fair and honest.”
Morse said he’s “enjoyed an excellent working relationship with three public defenders and consider many members of that office to be friends.”
“In fact, several attended my re-election fundraiser two weeks ago,” Morse said Friday. “The people of Merced County care less about my relationship with this public defender (than) they care about safer communities. We are helping to (make) that happen.”
Morse touted his tenure as the county’s prosecutor, saying the murder rate in the region has been “cut in half in the last two years,” that gang violence has been reduced and his office is working with local agencies to cut down on agriculture-related crimes while also helping educators increase high-school graduation rates.
“There’s so much we’ve gotten done I’m excited to have the opportunity to share it,” Morse said.
If elected, Helms Lewis said she hopes to build better relationships between the District Attorney’s Office, Public Defender’s Office and law enforcement agencies.
Helms Lewis said she has practiced law for government agencies in Merced, Stanislaus and Modoc counties.
After working at the Merced County District Attorney’s Office for more than eight years, she spent 10 years with the Merced County counsel’s office until last year, when she joined the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office as a prosecutor.
Helms Lewis is currently a deputy district attorney in Stanislaus County. She said she worked in the same position for Merced County between 1998 and 2007.
“I understand the needs and guts of how the office works,” Helms Lewis said. “I think I qualify with a variety of experiences. And I think I’m good for Merced.”
A Fresno native, Helms Lewis graduated from Hoover High School before completing her undergraduate studies at Principia College in Illinois and her law degree at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1996.
She has four children from her first marriage and three stepchildren. Last year she married her partner of eight years, Tom Lewis, who is a partner at a law firm in Merced. She lives in Merced.

When we read the Feb. 27 article “Ex-prosecutors say DA made lewd comments” (Front Page), we were shocked at the unfair and incomplete nature of the story, especially since several of us were interviewed. Because the Sun-Star chose to omit our comments, we, along with many other women from the DA’s office, feel compelled to come forward in support of Larry Morse. -- Letter to the Editor, Merced Sun-Star, March 5, 2018, signed by 28 women who work for or have worked for or with DA Larry Morse.

3-5-18
Merced Sun-Star
DA Larry Morse treats us like family; we question motives of his accusers
Letter to the editor
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article203646...
When we read the Feb. 27 article “Ex-prosecutors say DA made lewd comments” (Front Page), we were shocked at the unfair and incomplete nature of the story, especially since several of us were interviewed. Because the Sun-Star chose to omit our comments, we, along with many other women from the DA’s office, feel compelled to come forward in support of Larry Morse.
We’ve known DA Morse for much of our careers. He is supportive, compassionate and treats his employees as he would his own family. He is always available to discuss any concerns employees may have and would never punish an employee for voicing their position.
Many of us also considered ourselves to have a comfortable relationship with the former employees quoted in the article. There was never a single indication, in the many years they worked at the DA’s office, that they felt female employees were being harassed. If they actually did feel that way, it is their duty, as prosecutors and protectors of victims rights, to report it immediately. To the contrary, it seems this was nothing more than a malicious attempt to embarrass and slander our boss.
The Larry Morse we know is down-to-earth, approachable and would be the first to stand up for any of us when we are attacked – that’s why we’re standing up for him today.
MINDEE BAGGETT, SECRETARY
ANGELA HENKE, FORMER INTERN
MICHELE BRASHEAR, SECRETARY
LINDA JANSSEN, SECRETARY
SUSIE BUBENCHIK, VICTIM WITNESS
LINDA JONES, INVESTIGATOR
SHERI CARPENTER, INVESTIGATOR
EDIE LOUGH, FINANCE DEPT
MAGALLY CROSS, ANALYST ASSISTANT
HILDA MALDONADO, SECRETARY
SKYE EMERY, FORMER ATTORNEY
JESSICA MALDONADO, SECRETARY
DEBBIE FELKER, SECRETARY
ANGIE MARTIN, SECRETARY
LOURDES FRONTELLA, ADMINISTRATION
DOLORES MELLO, FORMER SECRETARY
LIZ GALLARDO, SECRETARY
JEANNETTE PACHECO, ADMINISTRATION
KATIE GATES, ATTORNEY
SARA ROSENTHAL, ATTORNEY
KATHY GHAHRAMANY, VICTIM WITNESS
NICOLE SILVEIRA, SUPERVISING ATTORNEY
TRISHA GOODMAN, SUPPORT STAFF
DIANA SMITH, SECRETARY
AUSTIN HEIL, INTERN
LANA WEATHERLY, SECRETARY
ANNA HAZEL, SUPERVISING INVESTIGATOR
MAYRA YBARRA, WITNESS COORDINATOR

3-16-18
Merced Sun-Star
Former Merced prosecutor challenges Morse in campaign for district attorney
Vikaas Shanker And Rob Parsons
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/politics-government/election/local-ele...
For the first time since taking office in 2006, Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse II faces a challenger in his bid for re-election.
Kimberly Helms Lewis, a 47-year-old veteran attorney and prosecutor, has filed to run against Morse in the June 5 primary.
Helms Lewis said she believes Merced County residents are ready for a change after 12 years with Morse at the helm of the county prosecutor’s office.
“I’m not a politician,” Helms Lewis said. “I’m a career government attorney.”
Morse said he looks forward to the upcoming campaign and debate.
“The Merced County District Attorney’s Office is recognized as one of the most progressive and accomplished in California,” Morse said in an email. “I’m happy to let the voters compare my record as a trial attorney, administrator, and community and state leader on public safety with my opponent’s.”
The challenge comes just weeks after the Sun-Star reported allegations from three former Merced prosecutors who said Morse made sexual comments to female subordinates and inappropriately kissed a married employee.
Helms Lewis and Morse were co-workers for about a decade before Morse won election in 2006. Morse was a chief deputy district attorney during the time when Helms Lewis was with the Merced County District Attorney’s Office. She said the issues raised in the Sun-Star article published online Feb. 26 were “not surprising.”
Claims of sexual harassment against men in positions of power have brought about sweeping change across the country in what has become known as the #MeToo movement, which has opened the door for women to talk about their experiences with sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.
The movement has been an inspiration for Helms Lewis.
“It’s not just the #MeToo movement,” she said. “But in general, women are feeling like it’s time to stand up if they are unhappy with leadership and it’s time to take a stand.”
She said those issues were part of the reason she decided to run.
Helms Lewis said Morse did not make sexual comments directly to her.
Morse has acknowledged some of the problematic comments he’s made that were reported by the Sun-Star while saying he didn’t recall other allegations raised. Morse on Friday said he stands by “the letter written by 28 current and former women employees of the District Attorney’s Office. They know that story did not represent the culture or atmosphere in our office and they said so publicly.”
Helms Lewis said she’s also concerned about the relationship between the DA’s Office and the public defender. She said relations between management in the two offices soured about three years after Morse sent an expletive-filled voice message to Public Defender Dave Elgin.
After that message was shared publicly online, Helms Lewis said the chilly relationship possibly jeopardized cost-saving efforts between the two officials. The Sun-Star has obtained a copy of the voice mail posted here: (story continues below)
“I think the community feels like there needs to be change and a sense of integrity in the position,” Helms Lewis said, noting that her campaign slogan is “Tough, fair and honest.”
Morse said he’s “enjoyed an excellent working relationship with three public defenders and consider many members of that office to be friends.”
“In fact, several attended my re-election fundraiser two weeks ago,” Morse said Friday. “The people of Merced County care less about my relationship with this public defender (than) they care about safer communities. We are helping to (make) that happen.”
Morse touted his tenure as the county’s prosecutor, saying the murder rate in the region has been “cut in half in the last two years,” that gang violence has been reduced and his office is working with local agencies to cut down on agriculture-related crimes while also helping educators increase high-school graduation rates.
“There’s so much we’ve gotten done I’m excited to have the opportunity to share it,” Morse said.
If elected, Helms Lewis said she hopes to build better relationships between the District Attorney’s Office, Public Defender’s Office and law enforcement agencies.
Helms Lewis said she has practiced law for government agencies in Merced, Stanislaus and Modoc counties.
After working at the Merced County District Attorney’s Office for more than eight years, she spent 10 years with the Merced County counsel’s office until last year, when she joined the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office as a prosecutor.
Helms Lewis is currently a deputy district attorney in Stanislaus County. She said she worked in the same position for Merced County between 1998 and 2007.
“I understand the needs and guts of how the office works,” Helms Lewis said. “I think I qualify with a variety of experiences. And I think I’m good for Merced.”
A Fresno native, Helms Lewis graduated from Hoover High School before completing her undergraduate studies at Principia College in Illinois and her law degree at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1996.
She has four children from her first marriage and three stepchildren. Last year she married her partner of eight years, Tom Lewis, who is a partner at a law firm in Merced. She lives in Merced.

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Allegations in the Merced County DA race -- the same old game