Prosecutors campaign for only open seat.
Two prosecutors in the Fresno County District Attorney's Office are entering the final weeks of a scrappy judicial race for the only open seat on the Fresno County Superior Court bench.
Altogether, deputy district attorneys Douglas Treisman and Jim Kelley have raised almost $100,000 in an election marked by disputes over who is most qualified and charges of impropriety.
Treisman's campaign treasury was more than three times larger than Kelley's at the end of June, when the last campaign reports were filed.
Treisman reported having raised $75,900 this year, including $52,000 in loans. Kelley had raised $21,600, including a $4,700 loan. Both say they have hosted fundraisers since the primary election in June, and they plan to host more events before Election Day on Nov. 4 -- including a Tower District concert for Kelley featuring a band led by the sheriff's department's spokesman, deputy Chris Curtice.
Kelley and Treisman collected the most votes among four candidates in the June election; Kelley got 38.2% of the vote and Treisman got 26.6%.
The candidates have butted heads over who has the most experience.
Kelley, a deputy district attorney for 11 years and a former civil attorney, handles domestic violence cases. He has worked on more than 100 civil trials and dozens of criminal trials, including attempted murder and rape cases.
Treisman, a deputy district attorney for 19 years and former civil attorney, represents the state at parole hearings and has worked on about 100 criminal trials. He served on the homicide unit for two years.
Treisman has been endorsed by the two previous Fresno County district attorneys, 12 sitting and retired Superior Court judges, the Fresno and Clovis police associations, and the sheriff's deputies association and the sheriff's sergeants associations.
Kelley, who has volunteered as a reserve deputy sheriff for the last nine years, has been endorsed by the California Reserve Peace Officers Association and four Superior Court judges.
Treisman says he would be an equitable judge who would work to make sure courts are open and accessible. He said he would hold everyone accountable -- including law enforcement officers when necessary.
Kelley says he would be a no-nonsense judge who supports the three-strikes law and the death penalty.
He has sharply criticized Treisman for associating his campaign with two men with past legal problems. Campaign consultant Mike Briggs, a former state Assembly member and Fresno City Council member, pleaded no contest in 1986 -- when he was 26 -- to having unlawful sex with a 17-year-old girl; his case was later dismissed after he fulfilled the terms of his plea. Fundraiser Dror Geron, a Fresno businessman who was the subject of a federal probe into allegations of point-shaving by the Fresno State men's basketball team, was acquitted on charges of filing false tax returns in 2003.
Kelley said Treisman should distance himself from the two men to "avoid the appearance of impropriety."
Treisman said he did not know about Briggs' misdemeanor charge. He called Geron an "upstanding guy."
"I consider Dror a friend and I am not in any way embarrassed by my friendship with him," he said. "The only thing I'm embarrassed by is Jim Kelley making an attack on someone acquitted of a crime. I don't see how that creates a problem with my campaign or has any bearing on my credentials."
Treisman, who has won the most endorsements from law enforcement unions, has criticized Kelley for putting up signs that say he is endorsed by prosecutors and law enforcement officers.
Kelley says that many individual prosecutors and peace officers support him.
In his official candidate statement, Kelley states that he is "the only candidate endorsed by local police chiefs, judges, prosecutors and frontline cops." He said the statement is accurate because Treisman does not have any endorsements from any police chiefs.
While no chiefs have officially endorsed Treisman, Parlier Police Chief Ishmael Solis says he supports Treisman.
Kelley said he is endorsed by Thomas Klose, the Sanger police chief, and Frank Steenport, the Huron police chief.
Klose confirmed his endorsement; Steenport did not return calls.
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