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Politics

2012-11-09 08:48:22

Know your local candidates - part 2

This series with local candidates began last month and as we stated,on November 6th our country will once again be allowed to exercise our freedom, and right to vote in the 2012 elections. As always, we are striving to differentiate ourselves from other media outlets, educating and informing readers and providing information that touches them personally, in their daily lives. All rhetoric aside, we want to dive deep into the issues that matter to you, the voter. In that effort, we've laid out five questions with the following candidates to gather a little insight into who they are, what they're running for, and what issues they can resolve that are important to you, the voter.

Q&A Times: Why do you want to be the Crawford County Attorney? Gayoso: My entire legal career has been centered around criminal law. I left my private practice to run for County Attorney. It was a choice I made because I truly wanted to make a positive change in this community. I did not come to this position because my legal career was disappointing, boring or because I needed a job. I ran for Crawford County Attorney because I wanted the ability to impact and change for the better the dynamic of the community where my wife and I are raising our 3 children. This transition was natural for me because of my experience in the area of criminal law. I have been involved with the criminal justice system for 13 years and I am the most qualified and prepared to meet the challenges of this position. I welcome the truthful examination of my qualifications and the record of my office. Q&A Times: What do you think we should know to be an informed voter on November 6th? In my first term as your County Attorney, my office has been under budget the last 3 years, and earned the distinction of sending more criminals to prison than any other prior administration in their first term in office. As County Attorney my office has achieved a 96% felony conviction rate, while my opponent’s administration had a 50% felony conviction rate when she was a prosecutor. My administration has protected children and families by sending 29 child predators, 6 murderers and 26 manufacturers of methamphetamine to prison. One of those 29 child predators was a former defendant in a case handled by my opponent. Rather than adequately prosecuting him, she put him back on the street giving him a misdemeanor where he eventually molested two other children. My office sent him to prison for his crime! Additionally, I have argued before our State’s highest Court and handled more than 24 criminal appeals. In stark contrast, my opponent has never handled a single criminal appeal as an attorney, nor has she argued before the Kansas Supreme Court. Equally telling is the fact that under the Kansas Board of Indigent Defense guidelines, my opponent is not considered experienced enough to defend a case of murder, rape, aggravated robbery along with many other high level felony cases due to her lack of jury trial experience. If my opponent is not qualified to defend criminals then she is certainly not qualified to prosecute them! I am qualified to handle every felony crime in the State of Kansas. The truth about my opponent is that the closest she has been to a criminal jury box in the last 7 years was when she filmed her commercials for this campaign. I have been in the courtroom obtaining over 600 felony convictions in the last 3 ½ years. My opponent touted her civil law experience for the last 6 years during our debate. However, she failed to explain her lack of high level felony criminal jury trials to make her qualified for the position of County Attorney. I ask for your vote and continued support on November 6th.