John Bradley challenges incumbent District Attorney Tim Cruz
By Frank MandPosted Nov 2, 2018
It is not a state-wide race, nor does it often have the heat of a contested local campaign. So the election of Plymouth County District Attorney is often overshadowed by other contests. Not this year.
PLYMOUTH – It is not a state-wide race, nor does it often have the heat of a contested local campaign. So the election of Plymouth County District Attorney is often overshadowed by other contests. Not this year.
This year the race is between long-time Republican Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz and an assistant DA he fired six years ago, Democrat John Bradley Jr.
Both candidates were asked why Plymouth County voters should care who runs the district attorney’s office in the first place.
Cruz offered the basic argument that residents need to, as he put it, “weigh in to ensure that their voice is heard.”
Cruz suggested that there are no particularly controversial issues in his department, but that this the election is an opportunity for residents to “to look at the accomplishments that our office has attained and hear about our future endeavors and the direction we want to take to move the county forward.”
Bradley focused on the importance of the district attorney’s role.
“The DA is the chief law enforcement officer in the county,” Bradley said. “He or she has a tremendous amount of power. The DA decides who to charge with crimes, what crimes to charge, what sentences to recommend.
“Even if it’s just a fiscal matter to you – the DA has a significant budget paid for by your taxes - you ought to care about where that money goes.”
Bradley then pointed to over $2 million in taxpayer money that Cruz spent defending himself against allegations that he – Bradley – was wrongfully fired from his position as an assistant DA under Cruz.
Asked about the use of outside counsel to defend himself and his office Cruz avoided the issue of cost and focused on what he saw as the successful dismissal of the case.
“This was a lengthy proceeding in U.S. District Court that began back in 2013 when John Bradley brought claims against me, two other employees and the DA’s Office,” Cruz explained. “I maintained throughout this case that all the claims made by Mr. Bradley were false, and we successfully fought for the complete dismissal of Mr. Bradley’s case. The attorney general negotiated the settlement against my objection.”
Bradley received just under $250,000 in the settlement.
What was the case about? It depends on whom you ask.
“While serving as a prosecutor in the office, Mr. Bradley disobeyed direct instructions and failed to comport himself in a manner consistent with the expectations that the office has for all prosecutors and staff members in carrying out the mission for justice in Plymouth County,” Cruz said. “I set high standards for prosecutors and staff in this office, and Mr. Bradley did not meet those standards.”
Bradley says he was on thin ice with Cruz after raising concerns about the manner in which the DA’s office was operating.
“I was selected by other attorneys in the office to raise concerns about bad things going on, about top people not showing up for work and other issues, and (Cruz) pretended to listen to those concerns but didn’t do anything about them, so I stopped donating to his political war chest.”
“Then four days after returning a conviction on a complex murder case I was fired,” Bradley said.
The lawsuit claimed that Bradley was fired for not contributing funds to Cruz’s reelection campaign in 2010, and that the termination was done eight months shy of Bradley’s 20-year pension vesting date.
Besides the $248,000 payment – a portion of which went to his attorneys - the settlement added those eight months to his tenure, allowing Bradley to qualify for a 20-year pension. He was later hired by the Worcester County District Attorney’s office.
Cruz and Bradley were asked to name one issue that would help voters differentiate between them.
Cruz emphasized his county residency and in doing so raised an issue about Bradley’s.
When Bradley announced his candidacy the DA successfully petitioned to have Bradley’s name kept off the ballot, arguing he had not taken up residence within the county in time. Bradley had to run a sticker campaign in the primary but is now certified as a resident of Plymouth and is on the ballot.
“I am a lifelong resident of Plymouth County,” Cruz said. “This is my home and it always has been. I am proud to have raised my family here and work here and I care about this county. This job is 24/7, and I am doing a job that I love in Plymouth County.”
Bradley said he would differentiate himself from Cruz by an emphasis on treating everyone that comes in to the criminal justice system in Plymouth County equally.
Public safety has to be a priority, Bradley said, but there are other important elements that he believes are missing from the DA’s office under Cruz’ leadership.
Bradley asserts that this campaign is also about “competence and experience.”
In the decade-plus he worked for the Plymouth County DA’s office Bradley prosecuted murder cases, and in the last four years, Bradley said, the DA’s office has been making “awful decisions” about other murder cases.
“He dismissed seven murder cases in that time,” Bradley said. “A layperson might not see that as statistically significant, but if you asked someone familiar with the system they would say that that is a staggering statistic, might even be some type of record.”
And recently, Bradley said, Cruz’ office failed to file the proper paperwork resulting in the release of a dangerous sex offender, Richard Gardner. Bradley calls that a clear “pattern of incompetence.”
Cruz says he stands by his office’s homicide clearance and conviction rates.
“From 2001 to 2018, of 240 total homicides that occurred in Plymouth County, we have solved 206, or 85 percent,” Cruz said. “From 2001 to 2015, of 151 cases tried, a conviction was secured in 121 of those cases amounting to an 80 percent conviction rate.”
Cruz further states that his office has been transparent regarding the Gardner case.
“Our office fought to protect the public and worked to see that Mr. Gardner remained behind bars,” Cruz said, “including working with Weymouth Police, Quincy Police, Massachusetts Department of Probation and officials from Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
“We additionally asked our legislative delegation to adopt changes in the civil commitment process, which addressed reforms to the procedures established for the civil commitment of a sexually dangerous person.”
If re-elected Cruz says his first priority will be to continue what he calls “our groundbreaking work on the opioid epidemic.
“Throughout my tenure as DA, I have engaged and implemented a wide spectrum of approaches, including creation of the Plymouth County Drug Abuse Task Force, training our schools to handle Drug Endangered Children, getting Drug Courts up and running in every district court in the county and continuing to prosecute drug dealers and traffickers who are peddling this poison in our communities.
“The work we have done here in Plymouth County has been recognized at the state and national levels, and I look forward to continuing our efforts until this issue no longer haunts and devastates families.”
Bradley says that to be truly effective in fighting the opioid epidemic – and the multitude of other issues that touch the DA’s office – the system has to be fair for all. That can’t happen, he says, under the DA’s present leadership and using an antiquated cash bail system.
“We are incarcerating people who are mired in poverty simply because they can’t afford to have family or friends post small amounts of bail. They are doing time in the House of Corrections prior to a determination of guilt, most often for minor [offenses], including drug possession, that they would never have to do time for after a guilty finding.
“We need to strike a balance between keeping the community safe and not locking up people before trial, emphasizing that they are innocent until proven guilty.”
http://plymouth.wickedlocal.com/news/20181102/john-bradley-challenges-incumbent-district-attorney-tim-cruz
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