Letters to the Editor
DA RACE

Now is the time for real change

The voters of Boulder County should understand that a district attorney has virtually unlimited discretion over the application of Colorado law and holds more power over the civil rights and liberty of citizens than any other public official. The office of district attorney is a public trust of the highest magnitude. The Boulder District Attorney and his office have egregiously violated that trust. It is necessary that the people of Boulder County receive an accounting of that violation.

Throughout the Ramsey investigation, we have observed Alex Hunter and his office to be arrogant, inept, deceitful, and insensitive or antagonistic to the rights and well being of crime victims, witnesses and law enforcement personnel. This conduct is antithetical to the interests of an efficient and fair criminal justice system. We have also experienced the Boulder District Attorney's extreme vindictiveness toward those who have been critical of his office. Alex Hunter is not seeking re-election. As a result, his office is now preoccupied with considerations of self-preservation, not criminal justice. That preoccupation must change. Effecting that change will require confronting the past conduct of Hunter and his office and impartially assessing the impact of that conduct on the Boulder criminal justice system.

We do not believe that Mary Keenan, a candidate who has spent her entire prosecuting career within Hunter's office, will be able to make the requisite changes. During her campaign, she has glossed over the profound problems that have plagued her office and the Boulder criminal justice system. If elected, we fear that she will fail to address those problems and not provide the community with an accounting. To do other wise would not serve her personal interests or those of an incestuous small-town legal and judicial establishment that has thus far chosen to do nothing about the misconduct of its district attorney and the fundamental problems facing its criminal justice system.

We strongly encourage the voters of Boulder County to elect Dave Sanderson to the office of District Attorney on Tuesday.

FLEET AND PRISCILLA WHITE
Boulder