We Should Never Be Satisfied with the Status Quo
July 31 was an especially wonderful day this year. Not only did I celebrate another year of my life (as Tom Charron announced to everyone in attendance at the NDAA luncheon), but I was honored to receive the gavel and be installed as your president for the coming year.
Growing up and witnessing how proud our entire family was of my father, who was the prosecuting attorney, and how strongly he felt about serving his community, I knew that I wanted to be a lawyer, but more importantly, a prosecutor.
As I begin the year as the president of this great organization, I am awestruck by the possibilities and the challenges facing America’s prosecutors. Upon reflecting on the years my father was a prosecutor and involved in NDAA, as well as reviewing some of the initial articles penned by former NDAA presidents, it appears that in some respects not much has changed. We still come from different states, different parts of the country, different types and sizes of offices, different life experiences and face some of the same challenges. And, there is a common thread that binds us all—the profession we have chosen as our life’s work. We are prosecutors and proud of it.
As I mentioned in Santa Fe, New Mexico, we are privileged to practice a learned profession but have been given an additional mission of “doing justice,” doing the right thing, and protecting the rights and safety of the people.
NDAA is an organization firmly on the right course. We can always improve in some areas, modify our approach in others, and increase our efforts in yet other areas. But no radical change is required. We must listen to the words of dissatisfaction and criticism with an open mind and work to resolve differences and perfect the organization where we can. We have done that and will continue to do so.
There are many challenges facing our profession, our organization and us as prosecutors. These involve many different areas and issues. I am committed to the fine tradition of our past presidents in moving NDAA forward. To me this means:
- We must continue to work on permanent funding for the NAC;
- We must increase our efforts to combat child abuse and child pornography;
- We must be proactive in developing training to inform and increase public awareness of the affect the Internet and chat rooms have on making our children more vulnerable;
- I will work on implementing efforts to recruit and retain minorities as prosecutors, as members of NDAA and as members of this board;
- We should never be satisfied with the status quo, but must move this organization ahead by encouraging more active participation in NDAA. Every prosecutor should be a member of NDAA, and every member should benefit from NDAA’s services and activities. We must make our committees relevant, informative and productive. We must remain significant to the needs of prosecutors so that membership is indispensable;
- We must remain constant in the fight against domestic terrorism and continue to actively advocate for and promote improvements to our system of justice; and
- We must persist in our goal of convincing Congress to pass a loan forgiveness bill in order to attract and retain the best and brightest young attorneys as career prosecutors and not lose them to private firms and corporations due to exorbitant law school debt.
Most of these challenges cannot be resolved in one year or even several years. I am very pleased to congratulate my good friend and colleague, Jim Fox, on being elected president-elect. Jim and I have discussed these challenges and will be working together during the next year.
In closing, I want to thank you for this honor and privilege and look forward to working for you and with you during this next year. I am proud to be your president.
