Attorney Speaks Out on Whisper Campaign

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors will be selecting a Public Defender for Santa Clara County within a few days as the current Public Defender will be retiring from his position at the end of this month. This selection will have enormous significance for this county given both the historical longevity that past Public Defenders have occupied their positions as well as the age of the remaining three candidates for Public Defender, two of which come from within the office and the remaining who is the Public Defender of Fresno County and himself a minority. Two of the candidates are in their early fifties and the other candidate is in her late thirties. This means that the next Public Defender may well occupy the position and thereby set policy for the office for the next 15 to 25 years.

A deeply disturbing aspect of this selection process, and a discussion of which is only now beginning to creep into the press, has been a vicious whisper campaign which has been existent within the Santa Clara County Public Defender's office concerning José Villarreal, the Public Defender of Fresno County. The allegations which have been circulated have been highly degrading, demeaning and libelous of José Villarreal and have personally attacked almost every aspect of the man.

These and other rumors have circulated wildly within the Public Defender's Office, and they have created a climate of fear, apprehension, desperation and near hysteria within the office. Some Santa Clara County Deputy Public Defenders have taken it upon themselves to call to the Fresno County Public Defender's office to conduct their own inquiries and investigations as to the background of Mr. Villarreal.

The administration of the Public Defender's Office has done nothing to discourage these activities nor to promote confidence in the deliberations and competency of the Board of Supervisors. In fact, members of the administration have actually encouraged speculations of the kind described above.

A demonstration of this attitude occurred in the evening of March 4, 1995 at the retirement dinner of outgoing Public Defender Stuart Rappaport. Chief Assistant Woody Nedom stated that Mr. Villarreal had sent a telegram expressing that he could not attend. He stated that Mr. Villarreal was currently in Modoc County applying for the Public Defender position there, and that this was the 41st county in which Mr. Villarreal was applying to be Public Defender. Neither of the remaining two candidates for the position of Public Defender were the butt of Mr. Nedom's (nor anyone else's) jokes or statements.

Needless to say, no mention has been made by the administration of the Public Defender's Office, nor by attorneys spreading rumors, that José Villarreal has been praised by community leaders in Fresno County for the leadership and direction he has brought to the Fresno County Public Defender's Office. No mention has been made of the fact that he was offered but turned down the position of Alternate Public Defender of San Diego County, nor of the fact that he was one of the finalists for the position of Los Angeles County Public Defender. No mention has been made of the fact that in 1994, Mr. Villarreal was one of a delegation of 30 handpicked individuals from throughout the United States, invited by the Nation of Mexico, who went to Mexico to review the Mexican electoral process and to conduct high level discussions with the Mexican Commission on Human Rights. No mention additionally has been made of the fact that in 1994, Senator Barbara Boxer selected Mr. Villarreal to be a member of the Senate Advisory Task Force on Hispanic Issues.

There is something seriously wrong when an office, which is dedicated to the defense of civil rights and liberties, engages in and is tacitly encouraged to engage in, vicious whisper campaigns, erroneous rumor mongering and malicious character assassination of a Hispanic candidate for Public Defender whom the Board has found to be qualified for consideration.

Any Deputy Public Defender would howl in protest if opposing counsel attempted to prove as fact something against the Public Defender's client using this same kind of whispered hearsay.

There is also something seriously wrong when no one in the administration (including neither of the other two candidates) attempts to stop or at least expressly disapprove of this whisper campaign, given the failure of the current and retiring Public Defender to do so.

The next Public Defender, whoever it may be, will be bringing with him or her a philosophy which will guide the Public Defender's Office well into the 21st century. That philosophy and its perspective towards diversity and community involvement will have a profound impact on the citizens and residents of Santa Clara County. The philosophy of the next Public Defender will also have a profound impact on the quality of justice the indigent and accused receive.

The critical importance that the next Public Defender will have for this county and its different communities and the vigilance required to protect our constitutional freedoms underscores the fact that whisper campaigns have absolutely no place in the selection process for the next Public Defender of Santa Clara County nor among attorneys within the Public Defender's office.

• Thomas Spielbauer is an attorney in the Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office

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