Gus Kramer, accusers, voters deserve speedy decision on Grand Jury call to remove him from office for harassment
The legal foot-dragging over the trial of Contra Costa Assessor Gus Kramer for willful or corrupt misconduct in office must stop.
The county civil Grand Jury has filed a formal accusation, a seldom-used process for public officials that should trigger a trial to determine whether Kramer will be removed from office.
Kramer created a hostile work environment, related to inappropriate comments of a sexual nature, for employees within his office and under his supervision, according to the accusation.
It alleges that Kramer told stories about his conquests with women; made unwanted advances on a subordinate; talked about giving a sex toy to his niece; made crude comments about his sexual desires; and disparaged people of Mexican descent.
Kramer deserves his day in court. His accusers, who have feared losing their jobs for speaking up, deserve resolution. And the voters of Contra Costa deserve a public airing of the case against him — as quickly as possible.
This is no ordinary legal case. It will determine whether an elected official stays in office. While this case is pending, Kramer remains in charge of one of the county’s most important departments, determining the tax values on more than $200 billion of property in Contra Costa County.
This case should be handled with alacrity. But District Attorney Diana Becton, Kramer attorney Michael Rains, and Superior Court Judge Theresa Canepa are dragging it out.
It’s been more than two months since the Grand Jury reached its findings on April 16. It took more than five weeks, until May 24, before Becton’s office served Kramer with the accusation, a legal step required before a court hearing could be held.
At the first court hearing, June 5, Kramer’s attorney filed a demurrer motion, a claim that there were insufficient grounds in the Grand Jury’s accusation to merit legal action. Judge Canepa set a court hearing for Wednesday to consider the demurrer and for Kramer’s arraignment.
But on Wednesday, all of that was postponed for five weeks, until July 26, because Rains told the judge he planned to file a motion to disqualify Becton’s office as the prosecutor in the case.
He has a fair point. The district attorney’s office, because of questions about its handling under prior leadership of a past criminal investigation of Kramer’s land deals, declined to assist the Grand Jury in its recent inquiry. It’s hard to understand why, if they had a conflict then, they wouldn’t have one now.
If Becton and her office are disqualified, the case would be turned over to the state Attorney General’s Office.
Becton should step aside now. Otherwise, it will take until at least July 26, more than three months after the Grand Jury reached its findings, before a determination is even made on who is going to prosecute the case.
Put the case into its larger context and the delay is even more egregious. The allegations against Kramer in this case date back as far as 2013. Some of the incidents were first reported to the county in 2015. It took county officials until 2018 to investigate.
Employees feared losing their jobs for reporting Kramer’s behavior, according to the accusation. One worker took stress medication and sought professional counseling. Another broke down in tears when relating her fears to a supervisor. A third asked not to be required to work on the floor where Kramer approached her. A fourth worried about his safety from retaliation and sought mental health counseling.
If not for the courage of one of Kramer’s employees to speak up, and this newspaper’s reporting on the case, the investigation findings about the assessor’s behavior would have never seen the light of day.
The county finally disclosed that its investigator had found that Kramer “more likely than not” made inappropriate and offensive comments in the workplace of a sexual nature that the involved female employees found unwelcome and inappropriate.
County supervisors censured Kramer, but they lacked the authority to remove another elected official from office. That’s when the county civil Grand Jury stepped up, launching its own investigation.
It’s not the first time a Contra Costa Grand Jury has issued an accusation. The last time, in 2017, the case against then-District Attorney Mark Peterson was superseded within a month, when he pleaded no contest to a state criminal charge of perjury and resigned his elected post.
The Kramer accusation case will likely last far longer. It’s up to Judge Canepa to ensure it starts moving with the speed it should.
June 21, 2019
The Mercury News
By Daniel Borenstein
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