BishopAccountability.org
	Walsh Makes It Official By Gregg M. Miliote Herald News May 19, 2006 http://www.heraldnews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid= 16662021&BRD=1710&PAG=461&dept_id=99784&rfi=6 NEW BEDFORD -- Vowing to continue to fight for crime victims and deal "head-on" with challenges like gangs, illegal guns and child exploitation, District Attorney Paul F. Walsh Jr. announced his candidacy for re-election Thursday. The 16-year incumbent made it official to seek another four-year term at his Ashley Boulevard campaign headquarters, which was filled with supporters and a handful of unhappy relatives of victims of violence who interrupted him with shouting. Walsh said he was seeking re-election because he believed the district attorney was the "most responsible job in civil service." "I've had the opportunity to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with victims of crime," he said. "In Bristol County, we get in the trenches and fight for the people. We're happy to be heroes in the lives of others ... for people who can't fight for themselves. "Whether it is hardened criminals, soft judges or Boston bureaucrats, I will continue to fight for the people of my district," Walsh said. Pointing to some of his accomplishments, the district attorney mentioned the cases of James Porter, the first priest convicted and sent to prison in the Roman Catholic Church's child abuse scandal; James Kater, the longest-running murder case in the state's history; the bizarre religious cult cases out of the Attleboro area that ended in criminal convictions, including that of Jacques Robidoux; and the successful prosecution of Raymond Cook, who murdered Fall River Police Officer Thomas Giunta. Porter died in prison. Kater, Robidoux and Cook are spending life in prison. "I'm proud of this office and what we've done," Walsh added. "But we face challenges ahead. Guns, gangs, crime on the Internet, child exploitation and identity theft are some of the issues we need to meet head-on, right here, right now." Before Walsh was done speaking, Fernanda Gonzalez, a woman known to him whose son Alberto Luis Gonzalez Jr. was the victim of an unsolved homicide in 2003, began to yell, "For 16 years, you do nothing!" Walsh told his people to let her speak, noting she had as much right to be there as anyone else. "Her son was murdered," he told the crowd. "She's in a lot of pain. It bothers her. It bothers me, too." Walsh conceded, "We've got unsolved murders. We have challenges we need to deal with." But he assured her, "The very best is yet to come." He acknowledged that he has met with Gonzalez and other family members of the victim more than a dozen times. He explained that he could not discuss ongoing cases in public. When he was done speaking, he immediately met with Gonzalez and her family at the side of the room to hear their complaints. Taking some shots at his opponent, attorney Samuel Sutter, Walsh said, "We need a district attorney with some commitment. We don't need someone who wants to be a DA one day and a private attorney the next. We don't need a DA who doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up." Sutter, a Fall River defense attorney, worked two stints as an assistant district attorney for Walsh during the 1990s. He could not be reached for comment Thursday night. If the people of Bristol County want someone with "commitment, leadership, integrity and guts," he said, "I am your man." He added, "A district attorney has to fight for something. I'm not just another bureaucrat in the judicial system." He said he would fight against any candidate who claimed that "our neighborhoods are not safe and our streets are mean. I don't believe this. ... I grew up here and I believe Bristol County is a great place to live. "Will you join me in this fight?" he asked. "Then in the words of Marvin Gaye -- with a different definition -- 'Let's get it on.'"
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