EDITORIAL – This year’s race for Madera County District Attorney is one of the most important races in the county. For the last ten years the DA’s office has been running on autopilot with no leadership. Between the current issues regarding employee harassment with the current incumbent to the flat out hostile work environment from former District Attorney Michael Keitz that cost taxpayers over $1.5 million is legal fees and employee settlements, this county DA’s office has been an embarrassment.
When Sally Moreno announced her run for Madera County DA nearly two years ago, on her right was her current boss Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp and on her left was her former boss former Madera County District Attorney Michael Keitz. Michael Keitz will go down as one of the worse district attorney’s in the entire state of California and Sally thought it was a good idea to have him standing there when she announced her run for DA?
It’s a good indicator of what a Sally Moreno District Attorney’s office might look like. Sally at DA and Keitz sitting at number two, a flip flop of what the failed Keitz’ office looked like. The Keitz office was investigated by the Madera County Board of Supervisors and what resulted was a $27K Rowley Report that the board never made public. Unlike the report commissioned on District Attorney David Linn last year by the BOS, we may never know what the Rowley Report said about Keitz or his number 2, Sally Moreno.
What we do know about Sally Moreno is she is now part of the Smittcamp Fresno Political Machine. Like her father-in-law (Bob Smittcamp) did for her, Lisa Smittcamp is using all of her political ties to raise thousands of dollars from Fresno developers to buy Moreno a position in Madera County. This is the same Bob Smittcamp that made crude public statements about President Barack Obama in 2012 and now is the biggest supporter of Congressman Devin Nunes.
What is Sally going to do if one of these mega-contributors like Richard Caglia of Red Rock Environmental were held criminally accountable for the $2.4 million in over billing Madera County trash customers that was uncovered this year by the Madera County Auditor Todd Miller? Or individual members of the Madera County Board of Supervisors who the current DA has been saying for two years have violated the law with votes for and contributions from developers like Richard Spenser, Tim Jones and Robert McCaffery? All of whom have donated tens of thousands of dollars to Moreno’s campaign.
Sally Moreno has been bought and paid for by the same developers that have three out of five members of the Madera County Board of Supervisors in their pockets. She has sold her soul to Bob and Lisa Smittcamp. She is beholding to the people that want to rape and pilfer Madera County for their own profits to the tune of over $130k in campaign contribution.
As for her career in law enforcement, she says she was a police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department in the South Central/Watts area from 1991 to 1992. So basically she was a cop for one year then either quit or washed out?
What happened in 1992 in the South Central LA area? Anyone remember the Rodney King Riots? What happened to Moreno during the riots that she would give up her one year career as a police officer that today she hangs her hat on?
She won’t say what happened to end her career as a cop but she did say this, “When I left (South Central), I knew I wasn’t going to go back to that.”
Working her way through law school she was ready to give up her career again by not paying her $400 California Bar Association fees in 2004. Then she again lost her ability to practice law in 2006 when the California Bar Association suspended her license for noncompliance. Why would you give up your ability to work as a lawyer for only $400? That is half of the billing fees for just one will and family trust. Sally sure seems to be quick to give up on her career paths.
There is also some question as to whether Sally has embellished her weekend military career? She was a reservist that was called up during Desert Storm and took a position as a Port Security Officer in California. That is a lot like my military service as a member of the United States Coast Guard Reserve in Monterey. While my friends in the Army or Marines were sleeping in tents in the dirt, I was living in the condos two blocks from Cannery Row on Lighthouse Avenue; not exactly tough duty in comparison, is it?
While I was on duty in Monterey during the invasion of Grenada, I would never claim to be a veteran of Operation Urgent Fury. Sally claims to be a Desert Storm veteran while she guarded the Port of Long Beach during the Iraq conflict. Meanwhile in Iraq and Kuwait, the United States suffered nearly 150 battle deaths with another 145 non-battle deaths including 15 women and 467 wounded in action. When Sally’s duty day was over in California she could go to Disneyland. When the duty days of the real Desert Storm veteran’s were over, they were still under fire in Iraq. It’s not really the same thing.
Sally says she has served as a prosecutor for over 20 years but her own LinkedIn page only lists under her experience two jobs with Madera and Fresno Counties with her starting in Madera County in January of 2011. So she was a prosecutor for Merced County for twelve years, but during those twelve years she lost her license twice and at some point quit being an attorney twice to have kids?
Sally’s is either a flat out liar or her math just does not add up?
Sally’s website claims, “In every case she takes, she is focused on putting the victim first.” My family knows the truth about her taking short cuts and not caring about the victims. In our case it was a five year old little girl and her mother that Sally let down.when the mother's boyfriend beat her black and blue on surveillance video as well as exposing the little girl to high levels of methamphetamine twice. He got 90 days in county lockup and not the four years in prison the penal code called for. Sally told me then "You have to earn your way into prison". [October 2014 Story]
Well Sally, in my opinion a person has to earn their way into the position of Madera County District Attorney and you have not. Here in Madera County you cannot buy it with all the Smittcamp money in the world. Your boss might be able to throw all her father-in-law’s money around in Fresno County but here in Madera County, we have something called integrity and we know how to spot corrupt politicians and run them out of office.
I trust my family would have gotten justice for our little girl had Paul Hornick been our District Attorney and not Michael Keitz with Sally Moreno as his number two. On November 6th I'm voting for Paul Hornick. Because Sally can’t buy me.