Michael J. O’Gara

Friday, March 14, 2008

Page 6

EDITORIAL

Michael J. O’Gara
Los Angeles Superior Court Office No. 94

Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Michael J. O’Gara is clearly the best qualified of the three candidates in the race for Los Angeles Superior Court Office No. 94.

A 17-year veteran of his office, he is not a leading light of it, but is well regarded. One judge familiar with O’Gara’s performance says he would give him a grade of “B.”

Colleagues regard O’Gara as a good, solid prosecutor—who prepares his cases well—and is affable.

The candidate is attached to the Bureau of Fraud and Corruption Prosecutions. He has handled more than 30 complex cases involving, cumulatively, losses in excess of $35 million.

In his Feb. 14, 2008 performance evaluation, as in the previous year’s internal assessment of his work, he’s said to have served the office “exceptionally well,” rendering him “deserving of an outstanding evaluation.”

Eduard Abele is also a deputy district attorney. His standing within the office does not come close to O’Gara’s.

Putting aside the widespread office gossip as to certain views he is said to embrace—which Abele vehemently disclaims holding or ever having expressed—it remains that the candidate does not enjoy favor with a large segment of the county’s prosecutors, and is viewed as lacking in maturity and judgment.

Abele declines to release his performance evaluations though he states he has “received ‘outstanding’ ratings in each category of all performance evaluations I have received the past decade.”

C. Edward Mack is making his third bid for election to the Superior Court. In the past two elections, he claimed “[f]ive years of civil experience” in addition to his “years of criminal experience as a Los Angeles County Public Defender” (now amounting to 17 years). His claim implied five years of experience practicing law in the civil arena. In truth, three-and-a-half years of that time were spent as a courtroom clerk.

In his 2004 run, he came in sixth in a field of six candidates, and two years ago came in third in a three-person race.

In both elections, the Los Angeles County Bar Assn. rated him “qualified” for the Superior Court. We view him as deserving of that designation—but barely so.

The choice in this race is an easy one. We endorse O’Gara.