Gwen Wilkinson for D.A.
P. O. Box 137
Trumansburg, NY 14886
NOTES FOR PRESS RELEASE AND CONFERENCE October 20, 2005
I’ve called this press conference to answer false charges made by my opponent, which appeared in the Ithaca Journal.
It is unusual to call a press conference in response to the give and take of a political campaign, especially since the Journal has facilitated a vigorous discussion of the issues. But now time is short on the eve of the election, and when blatantly false and misleading charges appear, as they did yesterday, I believe I must answer personally and stand up to questions.
A pattern of improper conduct by my opponent has brought us to this conference. In his article published in yesterday’s Journal he made false statements of fact, which are so inaccurate that they cannot be left unchallenged. My opponent’s latest charge is that I was overzealous in representing DSS in a family court proceeding. According to my opponent, I am somehow responsible for the removal a child into foster care, and for putting the parents on the Sex Offender Registry. The parents have filed a lawsuit against the county. Although I am bound by the strict laws of confidentiality that govern these proceedings, there are some clarifications I can and will make to set the record straight:
1. I am not a defendant in the lawsuit. There is no allegation whatsoever in any lawsuit that I acted improperly in the performance of my duties, and my opponent knows this.
2. There is no sex offender registry for family court cases. The registry is for defendants convicted of sex crimes in criminal court only. These parents are not on it and never were.
3. Only a judge – not the Attorney can issue the order placing a child in foster care. No exceptions.
4. I was assigned to the case approximately 3 months after the judge ordered the child into foster care.
5. A DSS attorney represents the position of DSS—never her own take on the facts as my opponent alleges.
6. I represented DSS in negotiating the settlement in this case that ended the case prior to trial stage, and was agreed to by all parties.
In sum my opponent’s allegations are blatantly false. This is not spin, these are lies. I cannot talk about the evidence of the case because it is against the law to do so.
And this is not the first time that my opponent has engaged in improper conduct as the county’s chief law enforcement officer.
Last spring, my opponent appeared in Ulysses Town Court on a felony case called People v. Wright. During the court proceedings Mr. Dentes launched into an extremely unprofessional personal attack on the defense attorney in which Mr. Dentes said: that “as long as (the defense attorney) is on the case, we will not discuss any disposition whatsoever in this case, other than one that puts this man in state prison for as long as we can”. In other words, the defendant was going to be punished for his choice of defense counsel.
The defense attorney brought a motion in County Court to redress this violation. In October 2004, in Tompkins County Court, George Dentes was ordered off this felony case by the Judge because, in the words of the Court:
The District Attorney has deliberately attempted to interfere with the attorney/client relationship…in violation of his duty to seek justice… His statement that ‘as long as (the defense attorney) is the attorney on this case, we will not seek any disposition whatsoever in this case, other than one that puts this man is state prison for as long as we can’ is wholly improper.”
This is a most unusual censure of a District Attorney: it is a finding that he is not fit to do his job on the case before the Court. It is a very serious finding of misconduct and raised serious doubts as to my opponent’s fitness to serve.
I can say that I never have and I never will use the power of any office I occupy to overstep the ethics of my profession, or to deliberately mislead the public. Today we cannot say the same about my opponent.
On November 8th: We have an opportunity to clean up this mess and to restore the DA office to the level of respect and dignity that it deserves. Thank you.
