A War on Many Fronts
AMERICA'S PROSECUTORS are struggling. Struggling to stop the destructive flow of drugs on our streets. Struggling to find a way to stop the manufacture and distribution of the especially harmful substance methamphetamine. Struggling to combat the increasingly organized and violent gangs that are both home-grown and imported from other countries. Add in the daily outbreaks of street crime, domestic violence and property and traffic offenses, and it is clearly a struggle on many fronts. But it gets even more challenging.
Inside the prosecutor's office are additional challenges involving the attraction and retention of bright and dedicated lawyers equal to the task of moving cases through a crowded and sometimes hostile court system. Once hired, those lawyers have to be trained and adequately compensated so that the people of the state are represented by able and experienced counsel.
It is a war on many fronts, and in the center of it all is the elected or appointed state and local prosecutor who bears the unique responsibility to make our communities safe places for everyone. The National District Attorneys Association has the responsibility of helping America's prosecutors by providing training, research and legislative advocacy. While we have made great strides in fulfilling our mission, we can and must do better.
Fortunately, my predecessor as president, Paul Walsh, and many others before him have laid a good foundation for improving the value of NDAA to America's prosecutors. With the merger of NDAA and the National College of District Attorneys along with the ongoing operation of the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina, NDAA is now poised to bring the same excellence in education to the desktop of every prosecutor in America. Currently 50 satellite reception systems are being installed in prosecutors' offices around the country. Others can easily be added with a modest investment by individual offices. Educational materials will be sent to prosecutors' offices via satellite, the Internet or through a DVD forrnat. We will continue to offer quality educational programs live and in locations around the country, but we will now be able to deliver our educational product to every office in any corner of our nation.
NDAA has increased its legislative presence on Capitol Hill and we have been successful in supporting legislation helpful to prosecutors and at the same time stopping legislation that would not be helpful. Recently, as an example, NDAA was able to stop federal legislation that was intended to restrict the sale of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine. Unfortunately, the legislation would have also preempted tougher state laws that had already been passed and were working well in halting the growing number of local meth labs. Due to the efforts of people like County Attorney John Sarcone of Polk County, Iowa, who is co-chair of the NDAA Legislative Committee, the preempting federal legislation was stopped in the Senate Judiciary Committee. What eventually evolved was legislation that would adopt federal standards regarding the sale of over-the-counter precursor drugs without preempting tougher state laws.
The efforts of NDAA to bring about the passage of loan forgiveness for assistant prosecutors is continuing as well. The issue of loan forgiveness has turned out to be a multi-year project, but I am convinced it is doable. The effort, though, cannot be restricted to activities on Capitol Hill. Every prosecutor should meet with their congressional representative preferably within the home district. Bring along to the meeting some of your assistants who are struggling with large student loans. Let those assistants tell your representative how difficult it is to try to do the good work of an assistant prosecutor with low pay and high loan payments. At the same time, plan to join NDAA at the annual Capital Conference, which will take place on January 31-February 2, 2006. The more we prosecutors can bring to Washington the more effective our voice will be.
Finally, help NDAA grow its membership. We can do more in the areas of legislation, education and changing public perceptions if we add new members and increase the intensity of our message. We can help change public perceptions regarding destructive behavior such as domestic violence and drunk driving and make our communities safer, but only if we take advantage of our national "bully pulpit" and get our message out.
I am honored to be the president of NDAA for 2005-2006. I will continue the fine work of my predecessors to make this organization even more valuable and relevant, not only to elected and appointed prosecutors but also to assistant prosecutors. Working together we can bring the strongest possible prosecutions to our courtrooms and make this great nation a safer place for everyone.
