Posts Tagged ‘Steve Tucker’

The Spokesman-Review reported this morning that attorney David Stevens was challenging his boss Steve Tucker for the elected position of Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney.

Attorney David Stevens

Attorney David Stevens came out swinging, and was quoted as characterizing his boss as “an absent administrator” and saying that he has seen a “total lack of leadership.”   The reporter for the Spokesman-Review, Jonathan Brunt, asked Steve Tucker if David Stevens could be let go, and Tucker reportedly said “all options are on the table.”

It will be interesting to see the fireworks in this campaign.  Attorney David Stevens has run for about a zillion elected positions in the past.  You have probably heard his name before.  Here is the tally if you haven’t been keeping track: In 2004, he ran unsuccessfully against Democrat Alex Wood for, who won the 3rd District legislative race.  Part of his campaign was to oppose gay marriage.  See source.  In 2006, he ran for District Court Judge in Spokane against Harvey Dunham and lost.  In 2008, he ran unsuccessfully against Linda Tompkins for Spokane Superior Court Judge, arguing that the bench needed more former prosecuting attorneys.

David Stevens is a 1999 law grad from UW.  Although he has lost all his races in the past, he has always been able to garner a fair amount of endorsements.  It doesn’t seem that he has a web page yet for his latest race.  In 2008, when the Spokane County Bar Association attempted to conduct a poll of lawyers on the potential judicial candidates, David Stevens refused to participate.

I blogged about David Stevens last December on the subject of his questionable decision to send a man to prison for 2 1/2 years for stealing a can of sardines from Rite-Aid.  See post.  I am a former prosecutor and there is something to be said for being tough on crime, but I really wonder about the wisdom of Stevens’ decision to use a prison bed on a sardine thief.  There are just too many other violent criminals that ought to be in there.

What do you think?  Is David Stevens the right man for the job?  Will any defense lawyers run for prosecutor this year?  Was Stevens right to tie up a jail bed for 29 months for the guys who stole sardines?