Banks cites record, relationship with police agencies

On Nov. 5, incumbent Island County prosecutor Greg Banks wants voters to look beyond recent attacks on his record by his political opponent.

Banks currently is embroiled in what is becoming the county’s dirtiest race for office the fall. Matched against state Rep. Kelly Barlean, who has repeatedly accused Banks of being incompetent as an elected official, Banks is fighting accusations over his perceived lack of communication with law enforcement, and an alleged tendency to plead down serious crimes.

Banks calls Barlean’s statements irresponsible and incorrect. He claims his office has a tough prosecutorial record and a good relationship with law enforcement.

Barlean’s attacks, Banks said, have focused on severe crimes, such as a particular child rape case, in order to stir up the public without having to present any sort of facts and figures.

“That’s an emotional issue,” Banks said Thursday. “If you don’t have prosecution experience, and you’re running against the incumbent, what else are you going to do? You want to pick something that riles up the public. He just makes vague allegations.”

Talking about his own record last week, Banks said the prosecutor’s office under his direction has been aggressive in prosecuting cases. He said he has successfully tried a number of cases in the past four years, including a murder conviction that resulted in a 21-year sentence for the defendant.

With this in mind, he said the idea that he seeks plea bargains to an excessive degree is ridiculous.

“The lawyers in our office are good, and they’re aggressive,” Banks said. “We charge the crimes that can be proven based on our expertise as trial lawyers.”

Charges on cases are typically reduced for two reasons, Banks said. Cases are plead down because of a problem with evidence, or a legal snag in the investigation.

“We need to know that there’s enough evidence to prove unanimously to a jury that the person committed the crime,” Banks said. “We as a policy don’t outright decline to prosecute many cases.”

Banks said child sex crime cases are the most difficult to prove because many of them are disclosed long after the incident occurred. Also, he added, there is the age of the child to take into consideration, as well as a lack of corroborating evidence.

The idea when interviewing a child victim of such a sex crime, Banks said, is to avoid “revictimizing the victim.” On this front, Banks said prosecutors working for him during the past few years have been trained to better investigate crimes and conduct interviews. Also, interviews are now being videotaped.

“We put a lot of time into trying to make these cases,” Banks said. “What we are trying to do is raise the level of the investigation.”

The prosecutor’s office has achieved convictions in numerous cases of both child molestation and child rape, as well as domestic violence, Banks said, including a recent prosecution that sent a child rapist to prison for 10 years.

As for his office’s record on DUI convictions — something his opponent has attacked, Banks said this county is tougher on drunk drivers than most others in Washington. Prosecutors have achieved a “guilty as charged” conviction rate 20 percent higher than the state average.

Banks said the success of his office is due largely the restructuring he’s accomplished over the past four years. He has put effort into achieving a “horizontal integration” of his attorneys — putting them all on the same level and removing supervisory responsibilities from some of his deputies. At the same time, turnover has been low.

“I’m really happy that it’s been over a year since anyone has voluntarily left the office,” Banks said.

The longevity of the office’s attorneys has fostered a strong working relationship with local law enforcement agencies, Banks said by way of refuting Barlean’s recent statements to the contrary.

“Overall, I’m hearing that the stability is making people happy,” he said. “Cops for the most part are really appreciative of that.”

While managing changes in how the prosecutor’s office works, Banks said he’s worked hard to create more efficiency in his office. For example, he’s instituted a new case management system with technology funded through $15,000 of state funding. The new technology replaced a case management system based on Rolodex cards.

Banks said the change has saved both time and money, and improved the way cases are handled, making his attorneys more responsive to victims of crime.

“It’s not just efficiency, it’s also the quality of the product that comes into the office,” Banks said.

Banks said this is just one way he’s improved the function of the prosecutor’s office over the years. He’s taken a leading role in dealing with recent budget shortfalls, searching for efficiency both within his office and for the county at large. With tax income limited by recent voter initiatives, elected officials have had to find ways to maintain services with less funding. Banks said he is always looking for methods of doing this.

“We took the office apart,” Banks said about searching for money-saving devices. “We started from the ground up, every year. I’ve spent every year in my office making it as efficient as I can.”

Banks said he feels a deep responsibility to the public he serves, and that he takes his duties as county prosecutor with utmost seriousness.

“I try to lead by example,” he said. “I work long days. You don’t have to go around telling people in an office this size that you want people to work hard when they see the lead guy working hard.”

Barlean makes incumbent’s performance an issue

Republican candidate Kelly Barlean has defined his campaign for Island County prosecutor largely in terms of what he’s not: His opponent.

Nearly every campaign issue Barlean is pulling out of his political hat this election season to the problems or lack of judgment he sees in incumbent county prosecutor Greg Banks.

Whether arguing that Banks is soft on child molesters or too quick to plead down DUIs, Barlean — who entered the race after abandoning his campaign for his party’s nomination to run for the U.S. House of Representative — appears to have adopted an aggressive theme. For Barlean, it’s all about Banks’ record, to which he’s clamped his jaws with all the stubborn ferocity of a pit bull.

Barlean said last week that if it was not what he sees as Banks’ questionable performance, he wouldn’t be running for prosecutor at all. A state representative for the past four years, Barlean said it was concerned people imploring him to run for the position that Barlean said finally convinced him to throw his hat in the ring.

“The more I looked into it, the worse it looked,” Barlean said Thursday.

He said those contacting him about problems in the prosecutors office “went beyond law enforcement to people working in the courtroom.” However, to this date, few local law enforcement or courts personnel have come forward individually to endorse Barlean. He has, to date, received endorsements from two law enforcement unions.

Barlean said those critical of Banks were “biting their tongues” until the race for prosecutor became contested.

This is characteristic of the tenor of Barlean’s campaign, which is becoming a one-man effort to expose the faults in the prosecutor’s office and the prosecutor himself.

Chief among Barlean’s criticisms of Banks is that he does not have the support of local law enforcement agencies. Barlean has received endorsements from the Oak Harbor and Coupeville police guilds, and sheriff Mike Hawley. Though most agencies, including the county sheriff’s union, have remained neutral, Barlean said this indicates a lack of support for Banks.

“Not showing confidence in the incumbent speaks volumes,” Barlean said. “Greg doesn’t have the endorsement of a single law agency out there.”

Though Banks has received endorsements from former sheriff Arnie Freund and numerous county and city prosecutors, Barlean said not getting universal support from law enforcement is indicative of poor communication between the prosecutor’s office and law enforcement. There are too many instances in which Banks has allowed criminal cases to be plead down, Barlean said, such as when a plea bargain knocks a rape charge down to assault. However, Barlean gave no specific case examples.

Also, Barlean said, victims are not being informed when plea agreements are being struck.

“That’s what’s frustrating to the cops,” he said. “There’s too much wheeling and dealing.”

It’s important to build strong ties of communication between the prosecutor and local cops, Barlean said. If elected, he said he will have an “open door” policy with all law enforcement officials. He also said he would work more extensively in preparing officers as witnesses in court to “tailor testimony” and create a strong case for prosecution.

In addition, he said he would work to make officers more comfortable in approaching his office for such things as procuring wire-taps for investigations.

While Barlean admitted that the protection of civil rights is a concern, he criticized Banks for making civil rights protections a high priority in his office.

“That’s like saying, ‘My job is to protect the people from the police,'” Barlean said. “My priority is going to be to the people and to the victims.”

Barlean said he will be a strong advocate for victims of crimes, along with being tougher on such highly emotional criminal cases as sex crimes and instances of child molestation.

Of particular concern, he said, is the poor performance of the current prosecutor in the area of DUI convictions. Barlean said he would be particularly tough on drunk drivers. However, Banks has argued that his conviction rate for prosecuting DUI cases as charge is 20 percent above the state-wide average.

To this, Barlean replied: “Lies, damn lies and statistics.”

Barlean also was critical of what he called Banks’ “temperament” for office, citing an e-mail in which Banks used profanity while corresponding with an Island County sheriff’s deputy.

“I have never in my life as a public official used the F-word in my communication,” he said. “I think that shows his lack of temperament for the office. That just shows his lack of judgement.”

While Barlean admits that he has no experience working in a prosecutor’s office, he said Banks was in a similar position when he took office four years ago. He said his experience serving in the Air Force as an intelligence analyst, and later as an Army infantryman, have prepared his for leadership. Barlean also said three years of running a four-attorney law office in Everett and working as a state representative prove his ability to lead.

As a state representative, Barlean was appointed to the Appropriations committee as well as the Capital Budget committee and the Financial Institutions and Insurance committee.

“I know how to foster an environment of teamwork,” he said. “I’m a very mission-oriented person.”