1982_11 The Daily Collegian November 1982

              tensive looking Idiart checks with a television monitor, along with many
Idiart concedes as Hunt lead grows
All night long. Mike Idia
.,,te tallies would tell the s
Well, they did  As the re
', le..d >
■r the a
L
wider and Idiart finally
, omeded   10   Hunt   shortly   alter
Idi.iri said ihe bulk ol his support and.
hem e   the majority of his campaign for
Fresno County District Attorney, would
, ome from the rural areas of the county
We ihmk we re stronger in the county
Well just have to
live by the voters'
decision. That's the
democratic process.'
(outside the city) and tl.e rural areas,"
Iduri s.nd early in the evening. "Those
votes ..re not counted until later because
ihey have to physically bring them into
But as those ballots were counted.
Hunt pulled farther ahead. By 11:05. Hunt
led Idiart by some 3.000 votes In about a
half hour, the lead had grown to 8,000.
By 12:25 a.m.. Hunt had pulled in
approximately 57 percent o( the vole to
Idiart's 43 percent.
"It looks like we're going to lose." Idiart
admitted after the numbers flashed on the
three television screens at his campaign
headquarters "We'll just have to live by
the voters' decision. That's the demo¬
cratic process. It was a lot of hard work
and we had a lot of fun. It was very
demanding."
So ended one of ihe tightest races, at
least"in the pre-election outlooks, in the
county. The Huntldiart campaign was
marred by so-called "mud-slinging" as il
"It did get that way to a cei
Ihe last lour weeks (of the race),
said "That seems to be the trend
ics today It's rather unfortunate because       ^  	
it  reduces the number of people who    bargains,
really want  to vote  for  somebody.  It
creates apathy and disgust among the
Idiart said his people tried to concen
I rate on "the positive," citing his record as
the No. 2 man in the DA's office and his
proposals for the office if elected.
But. Idiart was forced in recent weeks
to answer various charges by Hunt and
other opponents. A deputy prosecutor
charged Idiarl had lobbied him to reduce
drunk driving charges on a defendant
being represented by a campaign con¬
tributor. Idiart said he simply told Ihe pro¬
secutor. Gary Wesley, to use his discre
tion in the case
Idiart was later charged by another
deputy, John Kiraly, of being lenient with
drunk drivers. Idiart said Kirely had dis¬
missed bad-check charges against two
defendants being represented by Hunt in
the hopes of gaining the No. 2 spot in the
DA's office if Hunt were elected.
Recently, deputies within the DA's
office took sides, in the race. Some 12
deputies accused Idiart of of favoritism
and encouraged his defeat. DA Dale
Blickenstafl, who did not seek a second
term, and several other Hunt supporters
said Idiart's actions in the drunk driving
cases in question were in violation of
office policy.
Other deputy DAs took Idiart's side
and more cnarges of "garbage politics"
came out of the verbal melee. One pro¬
secutor was quoted as calling the 12 Idiart
opponents "dissident sleazebags" while
others called the 12 "the dirty dozen."
Idiart then got into the act when he
made his first attack on Hunt's record,
accusing him of being a lenient and medi¬
ocre prosecutor. '■//\
Idiarl said Hunt "jeopardized the public
' safety" when he allowed several plea bar¬
gains when Hunt was a deputy DA. Idiart
also alleged Hunt reduced charges in a
Idiart    particular case as the return of a favor to a
P0''1     defense attorney. Hunt responded by say¬
ing  there were  good  reasons  for  the
The mood at the Idiart reception was
rather festive throughout the evening.
But, as midnight approached, the outlook
for an Idiart victory looked bleaker. The
crowd thinned and became much quieter.
See IDIART, page 12
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Election '82
Hunt emerges
victor in DA race
ByB
Contributlnfl Writer'
Leading from the first election returns
to the last, Ed Hunt emerged the victor in
the heated race for Fresno County dis¬
trict attorney.
Nearly 200 supporters packed into
Hunt s Fulton Street headquarters;
cheers rang up from the reading of each
The race, marked by charges and
countercKarges over the last month,
ended in a surprisingly easy victory for
Hunt. With 55 percent of the returns in,
Hunt led. his opponent Mike Idiart by a
near 60 to 40 percent margin.
"Once me public record surfaced, that
was the turning point," Hunt said Hunt
referred to the publicizing of court
records showing that Idiart, the assistant
district attorney, reduced drv^-driving
charges against clients of one of his cam¬
paign contributors. The reductions
apparently violated a policy of the district
attorney's office that Idiart had written
himself.
Idiart denied breaking office policy and
accused Hunt of*"gutter politics" for
bringing the records before the public
eye. But Hunt said the charges were "fair
comment" because they were based on
In return fire, Idiart accused Hunt of
several instances of being a lenient pro-
'--. Hunt said the charges
based on "distortions and lies."    -
The bout for district attorney hit the
county courthouse Steps. As the candi¬
dates exchanged barbs, deputy district
attorneys began choosing sides. Oppo¬
site sides blasted one another in letters to
Despite the controversy surrounding
the campaign, Hunt said he never
doubted his chances of winning. Through
his campaign. Hunt said he Ijeieved that
the voters were dissatisfied with the cur¬
rent administration because of reports
Unking the administration to ticket fixing
and reduced charges.
"It's finally coming home to the people
that it's Mike Idiart or a change of admin¬
istration," Hunt has said. "And they can't
stand the administration."
"I thought we had a 50-50 chance or
better. By the looks of thing*, I was right,"
Hunt said. '
When he takes office in January, Hunt
said he hopes to instill in the office a philo¬
sophy that the law be enforced "equally,
fairly, and consistently, without regard to
who you are, how much money you have
and who represents you."
Hunt, 40, has been a deputy district
attorney twice. He resigned when Dale -
Blickenstaff took over the office in Janu¬
ary 1979, was rehired by Blickenstaff in
December 1979 and left again eight
months later to return to private practice.
Hunt has constantly stressed his
: _^ -
________