ELLSWORTH, Maine — Three candidates with a wide variety of experience are vying for the post of district attorney for Washington and Hancock counties: Democrat Carletta “Dee” Bassano, Republican Matthew Foster and independent Steven Juskewitch.
After 35 years in the position, current district attorney Michael Povitch is not seeking re-election. The position encompasses the 7th District, which has three offices — one each in Calais, Machias and Ellsworth. The district attorney oversees six prosecutors, four victim-witness advocates, nine support staff and one detective and administers an annual $500,000 budget.
The candidates, in alphabetical order, and their positions are:
Carletta “Dee” Bassano, a veteran prosecutor, having been deputy district attorney for more than 14 years and an experienced trial lawyer for 21 years. She credits growing up on a working potato farm in Aroostook County for a strong work ethic and a devotion to teamwork.
Her quiet, unassuming demeanor directly contrasts her reputation as a tough prosecutor, one who has handled some of the most serious Superior Court felony cases, including as lead prosecutor for all arson cases. She manages the two district attorney’s offices in Washington County and oversees financial management of the budget.
“It is this experience within the legal community that sets me apart,” Bassano said recently. “My goal is to work with people toward building consensus and I’m willing to do it without taking credit.”
Bassano sees the District Attorney’s Office as the bridge between law enforcement and the courts, but said she has learned during her campaign that many people are unfamiliar with the District Attorney’s Office and how it functions.
“They don’t think of us as a resource,” she said. “I’d like to see the office take on more of a community role, helping to solve the problems that, frankly, run us off our feet. Crime and punishment is the reality, but not the solution. We have to go beyond that.” Bassano said it is vital to work with parents, families, schools and others to prevent the spread of drug addiction, and she advocates education and treatment rather than confinement.
“It costs more than $30,000 to house a prisoner for a year,” she said. But “if education and treatment do not work to keep that addict from crime, prison is necessary to protect the public.”
After graduating from the University of Maine and Dickinson School of Law in Pennsylvania, Bassano was admitted to the Maine Bar in 1980 and lived in East Machias and Columbia. She is married and lives in Ellsworth.
Bassano said her strong relationship with local law enforcement is one of her key qualities. “Law enforcement is doing an incredible job,” she said. “And they really look to the DA’s office for help. We owe them that advice and diligent prosecution.” Bassano said she believes even the smallest of crimes has to be taken seriously.
“Major criminals never jump directly into the deep end of the pool,” she said. “They begin by smashing a mailbox or throwing tomatoes at windows. Law enforcement needs to take these small crimes seriously or they are sending a message: ‘You haven’t crossed the line yet, so keep pushing.’”
She said she is the best candidate for the job based on her experience. “The training, the knowledge I have, the experiences and the resources that I can bring to the DA’s seat really set me apart,” she said. “No one is going to learn on the job. I feel obligated to pay back the investments that have been made in me. I also believe public service is the cornerstone of our system of government.”
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At 41, Matthew Foster is the youngest candidate and has the least amount of legal experience in the field of candidates for district attorney, but Foster said that is one of his strong points as a candidate.
“I don’t see that as a drawback,” he said. “I will bring a fresh perspective to the District Attorney’s Office. I have the energy and stamina to make the changes they need to me made and to do a good job.”
There is now a lot of dissatisfaction with the District Attorney’s Office, he said, and people don’t have a lot of confidence in the system.
“The challenge of the next district attorney will be to build public confidence,” Foster said. “The next district attorney will need to be a special person who cares about people. I think that’s me.”
He said would anticipate a great deal of travel to effectively manage the three offices in the district. “The DA needs to be in all three locations,” he said. “They can’t be managed from a distance.”
An Ellsworth High School graduate, Foster holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Maine and a master’s in business administration from Suffolk University in Boston. He earned his law degree from Suffolk University Law School. He joined Foster Law Office in Ellsworth in 2003, working with his father and uncle, and, after his father’s death in 2008, opened his own law office where he works as a criminal defense attorney and also practices family law.
Drug cases are a growing problem in the state, but Foster said there are two types of drug offenders — the users who have a problem and want to get better, and the users-dealers who don’t want to change.
“The two need to be treated differently,” he said.
“For those who genuinely want help, if we can get them the help they need, we’ll see the crime rate go down. Then there are the criminals who do the selling. They need to be taken off the streets, and we need to go after them full force.”
While there is a place in the system for plea bargains, he stressed again that each case needs to be considered individually.
“A plea bargain can save the taxpayers a lot of money, and you have the security of knowing you will get a conviction; there’s no chance they will walk free,” he said. “But in exchange, they get a lesser charge than they would have gotten.”
As district attorney, Foster said he would focus on serious crimes, including violent crimes, drug cases and financial crimes, but also would pay special attention to juvenile cases.
He said he would like to develop and be actively involved in a juvenile alternative sentencing program that would work with juvenile offenders and provide a place for them to meet regularly. Such a program, he said, could support young offenders so they were less likely to commit crimes again.
Likewise, Foster said, alternative sentencing can be effective for adults as well.
“We need to use alternative sentencing to get people the help they need,” he said. “We need to make sure that, if people are looking for help, that we help them — not just throw them in jail. That’s part of our job, to help them.”
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Steven Juskewitch, 62, of Dedham said he has the experience and leadership qualities to become the top prosecutor in Hancock and Washington counties. Juskewitch has been a prosecutor before, in Cumberland County in the mid-1980s and as outgoing District Attorney Michael Povich’s deputy in the 1990s. A married father of five, he also served in the Army for 28 years, retiring from the Army Reserve in 1998. During his service in the military, he said, he oversaw hundreds of people during stints at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Fort Bragg, N.C., and in Kimpo, Korea. He served as a military officer, he said, never as a military lawyer.
“My leadership style depends on making sure the people who work for me are trained and capable of doing their jobs,” Juskewitch said during an interview Thursday at his Ellsworth office. “We accomplish the mission collaboratively.”
A graduate of University of Maine School of Law, Juskewitch said prosecuting violent crimes would be his top priority. Abuse cases, drugs and financial scams also are important, he said, but violence often has the most immediate and lasting impact on its victims.
“We just cannot have violence,” he said. “That is the highest priority.”
Prosecuting with forensic evidence is important in cases of abuse or sexual assault, he said, and going after major drug dealers should be a higher priority. He said he believes the drug problem is getting worse.
For drug addicts who commit crimes to support their habits, treatment and alternative sentencing programs such as drug court, in which participants have to check in regularly with court officials, are key to reducing the number of repeat offenses, according to Juskewitch. Throwing an addict in jail for a couple of weeks or getting addicts to rat each other out is not going to make a significant dent in reducing illegal drug use in the area, he said.
“The key is prevention and treatment for addicts who do criminal things,” the attorney said. “For dealers, it’s a different story. Let’s stop smelt fishing and get the trophy fish.”
Juskewitch said he can increase the conviction rate in the two counties. By charging in accordance with the evidence, he said, he can minimize plea bargains and avoid losing at trial.
“I don’t have to plea bargain,” Juskewitch said. “If I have the evidence, I will get a conviction.”