Wrigley Association Meeting 4/5- Candidates Night City Attorney & Prosecutor

Lawyer’s Night

Wrigley Association

to hold Candidate’s Forum

for Long Beach

 City Attorney & City Prosecutor races

                                                                       

 

 

Monday, April 5, 2010

7:00 p.m.

Veterans Park

101 E. 28^TH Street, Long Beach

 

One week prior to the election, the Wrigley Association will hold a debate with candidates for the election to the both the City Attorney and City Prosecutor races for the City of Long Beach.  The election will be April 13, 2010.

 

The candidates for the City Attorney are:

• Robert Shannon
• Tom Reeves

 

The Candidates for the City Prosecutor are:

• Doug Haubert
• Timothy O-Reilly

All candidates have confirmed their attendance.  This forum is a long time tradition with the Wrigley Association.  Over the years, the Wrigley Association held several very successful and well attended forums for the Mayoral, Sixth & Seventh District, State Assembly and the Auditor races.

The Wrigley Association is a neighborhood association dedicated to improving the lives in the Wrigley area of Long Beach.  The general meetings are held on the first Monday of each month at 7:00 P.M. at the Veteran’s Park Social Hall, 101 East 28^th Street. (If the first Monday is a holiday, meeting will be held on the second Monday of the month). Child Care and parking are free. Refreshments are served.

 

Email us
wrigleyvillage@att.net

 

City prosecutor candidates battle over experience, endorsements at debate

  

LONG BEACH - City prosecutor candidate Doug Haubert continues to hammer at the criminal defense history of his opponent, Timothy O'Reilly, as Tuesday's election approaches.

Haubert's most recent attack came Monday night at a candidate forum sponsored by the Wrigley Association at Veterans Park, as well as through mailers recently sent to voters and a Web site that say O'Reilly defended two Long Beach murderers.

On Monday, O'Reilly didn't dispute having a role in the defense of two men who were convicted of murder in Long Beach.

However, he maintains that his 15 years as a criminal defense attorney give him valuable experience that makes him a better prosecutor. O'Reilly is Long Beach's assistant city prosecutor and has worked in the office for four years.

O'Reilly has countered that Haubert doesn't have the experience to lead the prosecutor's office, which handles Long Beach's misdemeanor prosecutions, including domestic violence, drunk driving and graffiti.

The two convicted murderers who O'Reilly helped defend were Dick Keech, a World War II veteran who was convicted in 1998 of killing his son-in-law, and David Jonathon Harris, who was convicted in 2001 of killing two brothers in a North Long Beach liquor store robbery.

During Monday's debate and in an interview afterward, O'Reilly explained that he wasn't the principal defense attorney in either case, but he did help because the law firm that he worked for handled the

cases.

He said that there is nothing wrong with being a defense attorney, which is about supporting Constitutional rights.

"Believe it or not, there are actually people that are accused of crimes that are not guilty of them," O'Reilly said during the debate.

He later attacked Haubert on his professional background, which includes less than two years in the Long Beach City Prosecutor's Office and about nine years working for a law firm that handles smaller cities' prosecutions and legal matters.

O'Reilly painted Haubert as a politically connected candidate whose endorsements, which Haubert has often lauded, don't show his qualifications for the job. Haubert has a lengthy endorsement list of former and current local and state elected officials.

"The political endorsements? Frankly, he can have them," O'Reilly said. "The professional endorsements? Look at my list."

O'Reilly's endorsement list is almost entirely composed of attorneys. The list includes current City Prosecutor Tom Reeves, several current and former deputy district attorneys, retired judges, and past presidents of the Long Beach Bar Association, among others.

Haubert responded that it is his abilities that have gained him his endorsements.

"I'm flattered that anybody could think that I have that kind of sway over County Supervisor Don Knabe and state senators," Haubert said.

He added: "My opponent works with all nine council members right now. There are seven of the nine council members, currently, in Long Beach that are supporting me. Maybe it's because they know me and maybe it's because they know my opponent."

paul.eakins@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1278

 

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