District attorney exposes her political bias by putting target on Fresno city councilman

Three years after she tried — and failed — to derail the political career of one local Democratic politician, Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp is at it again.

In 2019 Smittcamp went after Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula, who was subsequently acquitted of misdemeanor child abuse. The Republican’s current target is Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza, charged with felony suspicion of extortion.

What did Esparza do to place himself in the crosshairs of Smittcamp’s Public Integrity Unit, which wrote the arrest warrant against him?

Esparza threatened to fire former Fresno City Attorney Doug Sloan, according to the affidavit, telling Sloan during an April 22 one-on-one meeting: “I’m just going to cut to the chase. I am standing between you and you losing your job. From now on you only work for the council majority.”

Sloan provided this version of the events to two Fresno County district attorney’s investigators working under Smittcamp. Sloan’s testimony, along with that of three people who corroborated his story, form the evidence used to charge Esparza.

Opinion

In his only public comments on the matter during the July 21 Fresno City Council meeting, Esparza denied any “wrongdoing in this building” and vowed to continue as council president despite the charges hovering above him.

A more specific denial appeared in a since-withdrawn defamation lawsuit Esparza filed against fellow Councilmember Garry Bredefeld. It read: “At no time did plaintiff Esparza direct, order, imply or suggest to Mr. Sloan that he should work only for ‘the majority’ of the Council or only for any certain Councilmembers to the exclusion of any others.”

Since this was a private tete-a-tete, who’s telling the truth is impossible to determine. Which makes this Esparza’s word against Sloan’s — and just because Sloan recited a near-identical story to three colleagues after the fact doesn’t make his account any more credible. It simply shows he’s careful.

Nor does it matter that Sloan departed Fresno for a similar position in Santa Monica shortly thereafter. Sloan told investigators he was “already in the process” of talking to his new city of employment. After 16 years in Fresno, the final nine as city attorney, maybe this was the nudge he needed.

What we’re left with is a he-said, he-said argument between lawyer and politician. Good luck separating personal biases from that one.

Felony extortion or hardball politics?

Suppose Esparza did utter those words, and in precisely the manner Sloan claims. Does that really constitute extortion, or merely the sort of hardball politics that goes on at City Hall behind closed doors all the time?

I won’t pretend to be a legal expert, but the answer isn’t unequivocal.

Even those of us who don’t have framed law degrees on our office walls know that in any court of law, prosecutors must prove their charges beyond a reasonable doubt. But unless Smittcamp’s investigators have in their possession a secret recording no one knows about, it’ll ultimately come down to the opposing words of two individuals.

Which sure sounds like the basis for a reasonable doubt.

Smittcamp must understand this too, just as she must have understood three years ago that she lacked the evidence to successfully prosecute Arambula of child abuse.

But that didn’t stop Smittcamp from trying — using her office to tarnish the reputation of a popular, second-generation local lawmaker from the opposite side of the political aisle.

Smittcamp’s strategy didn’t achieve the intended results. Since beating the child abuse charges, Arambula was overwhelmingly reelected to the California State Assembly in 2020 and is favored to win a fourth term in November. Word on the street has Arambula first in line to succeed Congressman Jim Costa, possibly as soon as 2024.

Clear pattern by Fresno County DA

If anything, Arambula’s legal entanglement only seemed to embolden him. The Fresno Democrat helped lead the successful push for medical coverage for all Californians, regardless of age or immigration status. He also authored bills that strip away Republican authority over the Fresno County Board of Supervisors (for redistricting purposes) and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

Having failed to sideline Arambula, or bring charges against any Fresno councilmembers for supposed Brown Act violations related to Granite Park (despite going out of her way to publicly insinuate their guilt), Smittcamp made Esparza her latest target.

As written in Fresno’s city charter, the council has clear authority over the city attorney. So Esparza, as council president, was in essence Sloan’s direct supervisor. Esparza’s choice of words while upbraiding a subordinate may not have been exemplary, but calling that felony extortion is a stretch.

Know who would agree? Sloan himself. In an op-ed published this week by GV Wire, Sloan wrote he “never intended or desired for this matter to be made public, much less prosecuted.” (Sloan also claimed to “not recall” calling Esparza a “millennial pissant” in a subsequent conversation with Fresno City Manager Georgeanne White.)

“It’s unfortunate this occurred,” Sloan wrote, “and more unfortunate that some people will try to use the circumstances for political or personal gain.”

Sloan never mentions Smittcamp by name. But it’s pretty clear who he’s referring to.