43
After close election, Gains reflects on lessons learned, moving forward
YOUNGSTOWN
Paul J. Gains says statistics show his office has greatly improved its productivity and the safety of the public.
He added, however, that he narrowly retained his job as Mahoning County prosecutor because he didn’t tell that story effectively; he didn’t get the local Democratic Party endorsement; and he suffered from a low turnout in the March 6 Democratic primary, which strengthened the party faithful’s influence on the outcome.
“I knew it was going to be close. ... I had some very, very influential forces against me,” Gains said of his struggle in that primary to win a fifth consecutive four-year term as county prosecutor.
“I believe it was my opponent’s election to lose,” Gains said, referring to Youngstown Prosecutor Jay Macejko, who got the party endorsement and lost to Gains by 561 votes in the two-man primary contest.
No Republican or independent candidates will oppose Gains in the Nov. 6 general election. His only possible opponents then would be write-in candidates.
Gains said Macejko’s denial during the campaign that he sent or received a derogatory text message about President Barack Obama in an exchange with an assistant city prosecutor “defies logic.”
The message series went public in a federal religious- discrimination lawsuit by Bassil Ally, a Muslim assistant city prosecutor, in which Ally won a $110,000 lump-sum settlement and a $4,000 annual pay raise.
“We’re processing more cases than ever before with a limited staff,” Gains said, noting the consistent rise in prison commitments obtained by his office from 153 when he took office in 1997 to 445 in 2011.
“We’re looking out for the good of the community, and we want to improve this community as best we can,” Gains said, adding that the integrity of his office has been unassailable.
“I don’t care about political consequences. We follow the law,” he added.
As for lessons he learned from the most formidable election challenge he faced in his 15 years as county prosecutor, Gains said: “I learned that I’ve got to do a better job of marketing myself.”
He added, however: “I’m not one to go out and tout myself. ... I don’t like marketing myself, which is the antithesis of a politician.”
Gains noted that he calls few news conferences and does not enhance his media visibility by appearing in court for jury verdicts and sentencings and granting interviews immediately afterward as other prosecutors have done.
Although he acknowledged that he is ultimately responsible for all activities of his office, Gains said he would rather give the credit to his assistant prosecutors for the good work they do.
Gains acknowledged he seldom personally tries cases. The last criminal case he personally tried was the October 2008 jury trial of Michael Davis, who was sentenced to 310 years in prison after a jury convicted him of setting an East Side house fire that killed six people.
“I am a managing partner in the largest law firm in this county,” Gains said of his role in his office, which prosecutes serious criminal cases and represents the county and its townships in civil matters.
“Unfortunately, I just don’t have the time to go in and try these cases,” Gains said, adding, however, that he hopes to try at least one high-profile case this year.
Most of the elected county prosecutors in large Ohio counties do not appear frequently in court to try cases themselves, Gains said.
Gains said he has spent considerable time performing many other tasks, including defending himself in a public-records lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court by Cafaro Co. lawyers that was related to the now-dismissed Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal conspiracy case.
Gains said he also has been heavily involved in county budget and debt-management issues. “When I’m sitting down and looking at those figures, that takes a lot of time,” he said.
Last fall, Gains noted he was instrumental in getting the county budget commission, of which he is a member, to increase the projected 2012 general-fund revenues from $46 million to $54 million.
The lower figure, he said, unnecessarily raised the specter of a financial crisis that could have caused county employee discontent and layoffs.
Gains said his major goals are to find the money to fully reopen county jail facilities, to avoid a repeat of the 2003 federal lawsuit by inmates concerning jail crowding, and to expedite court dockets, thereby shortening jail stays.
“The most important role for government is public health, safety and welfare. Part of that is [fully] opening the jail,” Gains said.
Two prisoner housing units in the main jail remain closed; the entire minimum-security jail is closed to overnight use; and 23 sheriff’s deputies remain laid off.
To achieve the return of revenue-generating federal inmates to the county jail, Gains said the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 141 labor contract with deputies requires that all county jail facilities be fully open.
Gains also said he’d like the judges to expedite court dockets by setting firm trial dates as the federal courts do.
“Judge [R. Scott] Krichbaum sets firm trial dates. He always has, and, you know, quite frankly, I wish that the others would also,” Gains said of the county’s other four general division common pleas judges.
“This way, it keeps my lawyers working to be prepared. But, what happens is, if you expect a case to be continued ... then the lawyers are not going to prepare,” Gains said.
“People don’t see what lawyers do. ... I’ll guarantee you that for every hour in that courtroom, you’ve got three to five hours of preparation that you don’t see” by a lawyer, Gains noted.
The common pleas court’s general division is the trial court for major criminal and civil cases.
“I don’t control the court’s docket. ... Under the law, the judge controls his docket,” Gains said.
“He is God or she is God in that courtroom,” he added.