In the twenty five years of my private practice prior to my opponent’s appointment, maybe a handful of prosecutors have quit. Allegan county used to be a place for career prosecutors. They had a large amount of institutional knowledge and were extremely competent. However, since my opponent became prosecutor, an astounding number of prosecutors have quit. 17 to be precise. The only prosecutor remaining from when my opponent took office is the chief assistant prosecutor. Every other assistant prosecutor has resigned. That is a sign of incompetence at the highest level.
In addition, while losing 17 prosecutors, the Budget of the prosecutor’s office has ballooned from 1.2 million dollars per year to 2.1 million dollars per year during my opponent’s tenure. To top it off, the prosecutor’s office is only winning less than 25% of it’s district court trials and about half of it’s circuit court trials. Most prosecutor’s offices win at least 90% of their trials. This isn’t the result of incompetent Assistant Prosecutors. Rather, it is the leadership of the prosecutor’s office who does not allow the Assistant Prosecutors the discretion to make plea bargains in cases that are problematic. The massive budget increase has not resulted in improved results for the prosecutor’s office. Moreover, despite the huge budget increases, the prosecutor’s office has continued to lose assistant prosecutors.