>> good evening, everyone, and welcome to the forum featuring the five candidates for san francisco district attorney. we appreciate the efforts they have made to share their perspective on this very important office. i am president of the bar association and san francisco

-- senior counsel at wells fargo bank. i want to thank the league of women voters for being our co- sponsor and for their help running this event tonight. thanks also to the san francisco government television for their lives dreaming of this form and for taping it to show san francisco voters during this election season. thanks also to our moderator for formulating the questions asking tonight. he has met with several people to develop questions that will hopefully help you determine how the vote in the november 8 election. many thanks also to the criminal justice advisory council who helps with creating the questions and putting the event together, and also many thanks to the committee of the bar association of san francisco and its share, who also help put this event together. i would first like to introduce

cynthia foster, the first vice- president of the league of women voters of san francisco. she is the executive director of the hillsborough will foundation and is former president of the junior league of san francisco. as a member of the junior league -- junior league of california's state public affairs committee, cynthia held promote the passage of bills to fund critical services for low- income breast cancer patients and domestic violence victims. her advocacy has led to her placement as statewide co-chair has led to her commitment to make a difference and influence public policy through advocacy and education. we are really glad to welcome cynthia foster today. [applause] >> thank you. good evening and welcome. i am cynthia foster, vice president of the league of women voters of san francisco. believe it is a nonpartisan

political organization dedicated to the active and informed participation of all citizens in government. we never support or oppose candidates, but we do take stands on issues. for further information about candidates and election issues, this is the web site. the league wishes to remind you that if you are not registered to vote, please do so right away and urged others you know to register. the actual deadline to register to vote for the november 8 election is october 24, and if you have moved, you need to register again. we want to thank our co-sponsor for tonight's forum, the bar association of san francisco, and our media partner. you will hear from the five candidates for san francisco district attorney. all will have a chance to present their views on issues affecting the city and to answer your questions and those of the

committee of the bar association on issues. to submit questions for the candidate, look for a volunteer who will be collecting index cards you find on your table. we are privileged to have as our moderator tonight peter king. he is a professor of law at golden gate university school of law, former chief assistant san francisco public defender, was president of the bar association of san francisco in 1989, and also served as vice president of the state bar in california. he's an internationally known legal analyst and provides regular legal analysis on cbs television and radio here in san francisco. he offered san francisco's handgun control ordinance and proposition 190, amending the california constitution & reforming the state commission on judicial performance. peter is a well known and

expected -- respected leader in the community and a perfect person to moderate tonight's forum. it is my pleasure to introduce our moderator for this evening, peter keane. [applause] >> thank you very much, cynthia. it is a great pleasure for me to be here, and i thank the league and the bar association and the criminal trial lawyers association for inviting me to do this. i am a neutral moderator. i have not endorsed any candidate in regard to this race, and you will hear from the candidates who will have an opportunity to answer the questions which i have formulated. i want to thank tony and julie for the hell they gave, along with other people in formulating the questions we have come up with. the questions in the long run are those that i have written and that i will put to each of the candidates. in regard to the ground rules, i

would say each candidate will have two minutes to make an opening statement and then a closing statement. each candidate will have one minute to answer every question, and in addition to that, i have a number of intermittent questions, which are lightning round questions, that i will just throw in and ask for a yes or no answer, and then move on to the more fleshed out questions. the time keepers in the first row will hold up a yellow card to signify to the candidate that they have 30 seconds remaining, and they will hold up a red card when it is time to stop. we will be very fierce on the time here. every aspect of this forum will be equally fair to all of the participating candidates. you have many important decisions to make on november 8. we hope tonight's forum will give you an opportunity to be heard. let's begin with opening

statements from each of the candidates in alphabetical order. >> thank you. i am very honored to be here. as an example of some of the work i have been doing this past 22 years as a prosecutor, i would like to tell you a story. george will be was a sadist roaming the streets amongst us. sharon frazier was a prostitute with a 6-year-old daughter. george willoughby was evil incarnate. when sharon frazier got into his car, she had no idea that she was in the presence of a monster. after he raped her, sodomized her, and terrorized her, he took her to a tree and hired her by her left and -- by her neck and ankle to the tree. he set her on fire, and she died hopping around on her right leg on fire. that night, her 6-year-old daughter became an orphan and

was left with no one. sharon fraser's story is important because like the over 1000 unsolved murders in san francisco, i reopen that case, and with the use of dna evidence, the dna that he left on the road that night, solve the murder. that gave closure to sharon frazier's family. you will hear a lot throughout the campaign about our dna labs, the state it is in, which is a failing state, and our dap's inability to address it either as police chief or as d.a.. i wanted to give you this issue because in the 21st century, dna is a critical tool, essentially -- essential to our ability to put the most dangerous and violent criminals behind bars and give closer to their families. every time we put a serial criminal, rapist, and murder behind bars, we are that much safer. as a dna expert, prosecutor for 22 years, and the leader of an

elite trial unit, experience matters. i will bring my experience to my job and leave san francisco to a safer and protected city. >> thank you for inviting us and making this possible. i am the oldest one up here, but the newest member of the candidates for district attorney. i entered the race less than a month ago. the reason i entered was i was a district attorney for 20 years, but i have been a defense attorney for the last 16 years. i looked around and was encouraged by friends and colleagues to enter the race. i looked carefully and realize i had everything all of the current candidates have to offer plus i am que native san franciscan. i bring a well-balanced approach to the administration of criminal justice, having been a prosecutor and a defense attorney for almost the same amount of time here plus,

because of my background, my family lives here. i live here. my kids went to public schools. i have two grandchildren. one lives here, and one lives in the bay area. i think i bring to the district attorney's office in a unique opportunity to look at crimes from the perspective of the san franciscans, someone who knows and appreciates san francisco values. knowing these values and knowing how to prosecute and when to prosecute, simply because a case can be prosecuted does not mean it must be prosecuted. i think those of us who practice in san francisco and practice in other counties no distinct difference between the prosecution of criminal defense in san francisco compared to other counties. i think most people will agree with me it can be much better. i would like to hear support. i would like to end my career at the high point, being san francisco's district attorney,

as i began 30 years ago. >> thank you so much. first, i want to thank the for their support and creating the opportunity for this for -- forum. and the bar. without their help, my office would not be functioning as well as it is. i want to tell you about myself and my trajectory. i came to this country when i was 13. i emigrated from cuba. i grew up in a very important neighborhood. english was a second language. but eventually went to college and law school. i walked with the lapd for 20 years, walking some of the toughest neighborhoods and working in community is very similar to the ones where i was raised. i taught ethics reform in the wake of the and -- i oversaw ethics reform in the wake of a major police scandal.

was able to effectively reduce crime in what i thought was one of the most toxic, racist environments in the country. our work and creating an lgbt community forum for the first time in the city. as the chief of police in san francisco, i was able to bring homicide rates down to 1860 levels. there were 97 homicides in the city. i came in the middle of 2009. there were 20 homicides this year. we were able to bring it to 50% -- to over 50% from being down 23% and here we have the highest referral rid of cases in six years. as your d.a., i am committed to working closely to dealing with violent crime. we have prosecuted eight out of

nine homicide cases this year. i have also worked to create neighborhood courts to bring low-level offenses out of the courtroom, and drug courts. >> i want to start by thanking the lead and bar and for all of you for coming tonight. your story running for this return because our criminal justice system is completely broken. we spent so much on our personnel have practically bankrupt in the state. seven out of 10 people who come out of prison return within three years. we need to completely overhaul this broken system. in order to do that, we need someone who knows how to reform the system to make it more efficient and more fair. i started my career at walden house adolescent facility counseling kids and helping them turn their lives around. i worked at the national council

environmental case where i helped write the book during the clinton administration of the clinton justice department on alternatives to incarceration. i then graduated from stanford law school and got a fellowship to work and legal services for children where are provided free legal services to low-income kids in san francisco and went on to work at the hayward burns institute for juvenile justice, fairness, and equity. at the mayor's office of criminal justice and on the police commission, i helped bring national best practices to san francisco law enforcement, and it brought it all together at the berkeley center for criminal justice, which i found it with the mission of bringing law enforcement and community together to build collaboration around pragmatic criminal- justice reform. that is what my entire career has been about, and that is what this entire campaign is about. however i going to do that? by focusing on what works. we know keeping kids out of the adult justice system is the best thing we can do to keep us

safer. i will reform the juvenile justice system and the juvenile unit in the d a's office. we know that helping them get jobs is the key to helping the reenter society safely. i have a track record of bringing it together from all sides to do that. we talked about what works. we have to talk about what does not work. the death penalty does not work. i will not seek it under any circumstances. thank you. >> thank you. is this on? >> yes. >> i received my legal training in san francisco. i am graduate about uc hastings in 1992. i have been a deputy public defender in orange county. i am the current commissioner to the state law advisory commission. we identify for the public highly proficient criminal law

attorneys. it is a mandate under california will support 9.35 in which we identified attorneys that practice in criminal law falls through the state, and it is a certification program. i moved here in april. i brought my wife and two kids here. the reason why -- we have 1000 unsolved murders. she said, the criminal justice system is in dire need of reform, and it is because of the investigative process. we are not using modern tools to support our investigation of crime. two very effective tools must be used by law enforcement -- the high definition video camera and dna. we need to have a crime lab that is independent.

we need real solutions to the problems that we are facing. and we should be focused on truth and the fairness of the system. i am hoping that in this debate, we can talk about the problems we have and bring real solutions. once we identify these solutions, we need to the employment them by de- politicizing the system -- we need to implement them. thank you. >> thank you very much. the questions i will not ask in a rotating order alphabetically. remember, you have one minute for your answer. the question is -- what is your position on reporting to immigration authorities only people convicted of violent or serious felonies, not reporting those arrested, awaiting trial, and not reporting victims? why do you think it is desirable or not desirable? >> i was born in iran to iranian

parents. we came to san francisco when i was just four years old. my passport says "born in iran." i have gone through virtually every high security checkpoint you can imagine. i am extremely sensitive to being targeted based on immigration status, and i am committed to making sure san francisco is a sanctuary city where that will not occur. let me say that i am a strong proponent of community policing, and i believe that in order to generate the kind of information we need from community policing, there cannot be a chilling effect on those who are not from this country. i am not in support upper deporting people based on their immigration status. >> your sort practicing attorney both as a prosecutor and defense attorney. i know the rest is not indicative of what will happen later on.

i supported supervisor campos and his resolution making san francisco continue to be a sanctuary city and telling our elected officials not to cooperate with federal authorities who would turn that around. so strongly opposed to turning over information of individuals who have been arrested to the federal immigration office. they are convicted of a felony, it is another matter. they have been through the criminal justice system and we can look at it in that perspective, but i strongly oppose anything that would keep the city from remaining sanctuaries city it has come to be known as pure drama i oppose secure communities. -- come to be known as. >> i oppose secure communities. i took a very strong stand against the policies of the local sheriff in arizona where

immigrants were being scapegoating and arrested, held for hours, and then deported without committing a crime. when i came to sentences, i continued that policy. i created a policy with the help of other community members to insure that when people were being stopped and did not have a driver's license because they were immigrants, that the car would not be impounded if they could find someone with a driver's license. i have worked with staff in arizona, utah, georgia, and most recently alabama to overturn legislation that was clearly and plainly designed to discriminate against our immigrant community. >> i have said strongly and repeatedly that i am against secure communities, that we should attempt to opt out, following the lead of states like new york and massachusetts and illinois. i believe i was the only candidate