Congratulations to Laura Conover on winning a bitterly fought primary contest to gain a second term as Pima County Attorney.
The reform of Pima County鈥檚 approach to prosecuting criminals 鈥 focusing where possible on rehabilitation over incarceration 鈥 has not met with universal acclaim, of course, but is necessary and important, and Conover is right to take her lopsided victory as a mandate for the continuation of that change process.
While it remains a bit of a head-scratcher as to why Mike Jette decided to stage his run in the primary as opposed to running in the general election when many more voters might have seen things his way, it is evident from Tuesday鈥檚 result that the outcome would probably have been the same.
The result prevented a return to the LaWall-Neely era, and we believe that鈥檚 a good thing.
People are also reading…
Judging from her post-election comments, Conover is well aware that there is work to be done in winning more Tucsonans over to her approach. She has pledged a 鈥渓istening tour鈥 to hear residents鈥 concerns, but also to 鈥渇urther educate鈥 people about switching from 鈥渢ough on crime鈥 to a more rehabilitative model of 鈥渞estorative justice.鈥
Fine 鈥 but listening should be the priority over 鈥渆ducating.鈥
The campaign was nasty 鈥 probably needlessly so 鈥 but it did surface some areas where the County Attorney鈥檚 Office could better meet community needs. One of those is in domestic violence case work. A disconnect surfaced between the Conover camp and the Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse, a terrific nonprofit that has worked hard to help victims rebuild violence-damaged lives. The County Attorney鈥檚 Office must redouble its efforts to work collaboratively with Emerge and other anti-domestic violence aid and advocacy groups 鈥 and most of all with victims, who must be able to know that their cases get the consideration they deserve.
Conover is rightly proud of her work to reestablish a fraud unit within the office, and her efforts to protect reproductive health care across the state were certainly not overlooked by her base of support.
But the biggest win is for the movement away from punitive, punishment-based justice and toward rehabilitation. That, and the reduction in crime it has helped to bring about, is worth celebrating.
We wish Conover continued success.
