Democrat

Candidate name: John McCarthy

Place of residence: Rockville

Date of birth: March 3, 1952

Place of birth: Jersey City, N.J.

Current occupation: Deputy state's attorney; associate professor, Montgomery College

Education: J.D., University of Baltimore; B.A. in politics, Catholic University

Community associations, involvement: Coordinated an anti-drug program for seventh-graders at a Silver Spring grammar school since 1996; board member, Good Counsel High School, 1997-2003; lecturer, Montgomery County Public Schools Safe Street Program in 2000 and nearly every Montgomery County public high school; lecturer, Maryland State Bar Association Trial Advocacy Program; lecturer, various senior groups including OASIS in Chevy Chase and Gaithersburg; mentored disadvantaged minority youth since 1994; coach, youth basketball teams; Special Olympics; National Youth Leadership Forum

Professional associations: Maryland Bar; president Montgomery County Bar Foundation; secretary, Criminal Law and Practice Section Counsel, Maryland State Bar Association; president, Montgomery County Bar Association, 2004-2005; legal adviser, multiple task forces, including Sniper Task Force (2002), and female homicide victim task force; U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division's Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training; Montgomery College Paralegal Studies advisory board; Board of Directors, Montgomery County Retail Security and Loss Prevention Association; various committees charged with drafting legislation addressing issues including aggressive panhandling, drunk driving laws and school safety issues; Criminal Law Section Counsel of the American Bar Association

Family: Wife, Jeanette McCarthy; four children, Patrick, 24, Meaghan, 22, Conor, 17, and Matthew, 14

Campaign address, telephone: P.O. Box 4169, Rockville, MD 20849, 240-671-2200

Web site: www.johnmccarthy.us⁄

Link to state Board of Elections campaign finance database

The most urgent issue facing Montgomery County is gang violence. Our State's Attorney's office established Maryland's first gang prosecutor in 1999, and serves as a state model.

Working with local police departments, we have gathered vital intelligence on gangs. As I outlined at the recently concluded Mid-Atlantic Gang Investigators Conference, this information needs to be coordinated and shared, uniform operational definitions established, and children deemed at risk for gang recruitment identified for intervention. I propose to address the gang issue through a comprehensive program of suppression, identification, education, and incarceration of violent gang offenders. Schools, police, private, faith based organizations, and the State's Attorney must join together to meet this challenge.

Second, I am committed to the use of domestic violence dockets to protect the victims of abuse. These dockets will allow us to prosecute, advocate for, and council the victims of domestic violence. During the last ten years, 83 women have lost their lives in instances of domestic abuse in Montgomery County. If you are serious about addressing the issue of homicides in Montgomery County, you must be serious about the approach you take addressing the issue of domestic violence.

Finally, I am committed to maintaining the safest possible learning environment for every child. In order to achieve the safest possible schools, I pledge to work tirelessly with school administrators, teachers, the school board, and the Montgomery County Police in exchanging information and supporting programs that keep our schools safe. I am currently working on an agreement with the Montgomery County Police Department in an effort to ensure that each agency has the necessary information to keep our children safe. Every child is entitled to a quality education and a safe learning environment in which that may take place.

How would you rate the performance of the current State's Attorney: excellent, good, fair, or poor? Why?

I am not running against Doug Gansler. I am running on the basis of my own 25 years of experience in the State's Attorney's office, and my own proven ability to manage and lead this office.

Given the broad power a State's Attorney has to initiate a grand jury investigation and determine criminal charges, what do you see as the most important character trait of the county's top prosecutor?

The primary role of any prosecutor is to seek justice. Therefore, any investigative tool available to the State's Attorney must be used fairly. A State's Attorney must possess integrity, energy, vision, and experience, and have the ability to lead others. I possess 25 years of experience in prosecuting, managing, and directing the prosecutorial units within the State's Attorney's Office for Montgomery County. Therefore, I have the vision and energy needed to be our next State's Attorney.

Do you believe the State's Attorney should speak out publicly in cases where prosecutors strongly disagree with a judge's sentence?

The vast majority of the time, advocacy on behalf of the people of this county belongs in the courtroom. However, the State's Attorney is the representative of the people. Therefore, there may be rare occasions when it becomes necessary for a prosecutor to publicly speak out about a sentence or disposition that they feel is not in the public interest.

Each year the Maryland State's Attorney Association lobbies the General Assembly for changes in criminal laws. What, if any, legislation do you believe is needed to better protect the public?

I believe that in the next legislative session there are two primary areas where legislation needs to be adopted in order to provide greater protection to the people of Montgomery County. The first is in the area of gang violence, where I call upon the general assembly to adopt a little RICO statute that would enable prosecutor's offices around the state to attack the criminal enterprises that serve as the hub for many of Maryland's most violent gangs.

Second, I will work again this year to have adopted in Maryland a new criminal statute that holds accountable those individuals who commit crimes of violence in front of children. For too long, children have been the invisible victims of domestic violence, and it is time for Maryland to recognize this form of child abuse.

Would you have tried the snipers in Montgomery County?

As Deputy State's Attorney, it is unethical and improper for me to comment on a pending criminal matter.

Is the State's Attorney's Office doing enough to prevent the increase in the number of gangs?

The State's Attorney's Office for Montgomery County became the first prosecutor's office in the State of Maryland to establish a full time gang prosecutor. As a result of this, this office serves as a model and an epicenter for the dissemination of information and training on the prosecution of gangs in Maryland.

The prevention and suppression of gangs is a community, regional, and national issue, and can only be addressed through coordinated efforts of all levels of government, schools, faith-based organizations, and civic associations. The point agency for identification and suppression of gang related activities is the police department. I pledge to work with all local police agencies in the identification, suppression, and educational programs necessary to address the challenge posed by gangs. As State's Attorney, I would seek jail time for the commission of any crime of violence committed as part of organized gang activity.

What changes need to be made to laws governing drunk driving?

I favor mandatory jail sentences for repeat drunk drivers. I would support legislation that would mandate jail sentences for repeat offenders.

Do you believe state laws need to be changed to charge more juvenile offenders as adults?

No, I believe that the current Maryland law sufficiently addresses this issue. Maryland law as it currently exists allows juveniles, in appropriate cases, to be tried as adults.