Tucker’S Tenure Marked By Changes Deputies Have More Authority Over Cases, But Many Have Left Department Anyway

Steve Tucker promised changes in the Spokane County prosecutor’s office before he was elected to the position in 1998.

Changes have come, but some of them haven’t been what he had in mind.

Tucker has taken far fewer cases to trial than his predecessor, Jim Sweetser. But he has won 90 percent of them, compared with Sweetser’s 77 percent. Tucker has also given his deputies more authority in handling individual cases and created a more relaxed working environment, they say.

However, in Tucker’s first year, the office has seen 12 top deputies leave, with 70 remaining. One-third of those who left took higher-paying jobs at the Clark County prosecutor’s office.

Attorney Tony Golik said his departure had nothing to do with Tucker’s leadership skills.

“The joke around here - and I’ve heard it a dozen times since I’ve been here - is that Spokane County has become the training office for Clark County,” said Golik, who is now at Clark County.

A 1997 salary survey showed that in Clark County, senior prosecutors earned $6,451 a month compared with $5,282 for Spokane prosecutors.

Snohomish, Yakima and Kitsap counties also pay more than Spokane.

But Spokane County Commission Chairman John Roskelley said it’s necessary to consider other factors besides salary, such as medical benefits and union representation. Clark County deputy prosecutors are nonunion.

Only deputy prosecutors in King, Kitsap, Pierce, Snohomish and Spokane counties are represented by unions, Roskelley said.

Under a new law, each elected prosecutor now has the power to end his deputies’ status as at-will employees and grant them a contract, which Tucker said he intends to do.

He hopes the bill will help him retain and attract talented attorneys to the office.

Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza gave Tucker high marks after his first year in office. He sees a renewed vigor in the courtroom from Tucker’s deputies.

“They are clearly approaching cases with more zeal than they did under the previous administration,” Cozza said.

“I think there was a feeling that existed under the former administration that they had to go to trial whether they should have or not,” he said.

Golik said he left only to be closer to his family and for a pay raise. If not for those factors, he said he might have stayed in Spokane.

“It’s definitely a more calm atmosphere in the office; it’s not as aggressive as it was before,” he said. “There’s not as many cases going to trial and not as much emphasis on prosecution.”

Instead, prosecutors are allowed to use more discretion to plea bargain or drop weak cases.

Before running for the prosecutor’s office, Tucker was deputy prosecutor from 1987 to 1997 before he quit.

During the campaign, Sweetser said Tucker would not pursue convictions aggressively. But Tucker said he’s not soft on crime - he’s practical about crime. He said he has no desire to come close to the 200 criminal cases that Sweetser sent to trial in 1998. That was a Spokane County record.

Sweetser boasted a 77 percent conviction rate at trial when he ran against Tucker.

In Tucker’s initial report to be submitted to the governor’s office, the major crimes unit reports a 90 percent conviction rate for the prosecutor’s office in 1999.

There were 52 jury trials that resulted in 47 convictions. The major crimes unit prosecutes murders, felony assaults, kidnapping, armed robbery and arson crimes.

“I’m pleased with what we’re doing,” Tucker said. “It’s nice to see prosecutors stand on their own two feet.”

Graphic: Deputy prosecutor pay