During the first few months of Anthony Farrington’s campaign for district attorney, he made many deceptive and untrue claims trying to get himself elected for a job for which he has no experience or qualifications.

He claimed to be a “prosecutor” and to have “prosecuted” cases when he has never been a prosecutor and has never prosecuted a case. He made claims about the DA’s Office and Susan Krones which were false or deceptive.

In all fairness to Farrington, he has to engage in such tactics to get elected, since he has no prosecution or law enforcement experience, and has no relevant record to run on. His only chance for election is to spread misinformation and deceive voters, something many politicians are very good at.

The election is less than two weeks away and he has now doubled down on the deception and misleading claims in his political mailers to voters. In one mailer he posts a photo of himself shaking hands with Kamala Harris, hoping voters will be impressed and think he must be someone important and be a good candidate for district attorney.

The photo with Kamala does not make him a good candidate for DA. Even after shaking her hand he still has no training, experience, or skills as a prosecutor or manager of a DA’s office.

But that is what politicians do. Show a photo of yourself with someone the voters recognize to try to get votes. The fact he shook hands with her does not make him a better attorney or magically give him any experience needed for the DA’s job. I have a photo of myself with Guy Fieri, but that didn’t make me a good cook.

Farrington also sent out a political hit piece to voters briefly highlighting three criminal cases District Attorney Susan Krones was involved with, that he is hoping will deceive voters and convince them not vote for Susan. That is what a good politician would do.

Farrington was not involved in any of these cases, and because of his inexperience and lack of knowledge about criminal cases, he does not understand the many different sentencing factors the Probation Department, district attorney and judges need to consider when sentencing someone.

But in true political fashion, he wants voters to think these three cases are typical examples of cases handled by Susan. That is false, intentionally deceptive, and bordering on dishonesty.

What Farrington does not want voters to know and does not tell voters is that Susan has been involved in the prosecution of literally thousands of criminal cases in her 29 years as a prosecutor. She has been involved in sending hundreds of criminals to prison, and thousands to jail.

Susan has literally been involved in prosecuting and sending hundreds of rapists, child abusers, spousal abusers, murderers and other criminals to prison. Susan has sent numerous criminals to prison on sentences several decades long, and some for life.

Farrington does not mention this in his political hit piece because that won’t help him get elected. He also does not mention that he himself has never prosecuted a single criminal case, never worked in a DA’s office, and never sent a single person to jail or prison for even one day.

Farrington also implies that Susan bears some responsibility for crime in our community. Nothing could be further from the truth. The increase in crime we have seen in the last decade has been caused primarily or solely by one thing, our criminal laws and sentencing laws being gutted.

Many laws have been enacted that reduced criminal’s sentences, required criminals to be set free to commit more crimes, and resulted in early release of hundreds of violent criminals who were sentenced to prison. Who has been responsible for that? Politicians.

Farrington also sent out a recent mailer detailing support from three Democrat officials — Fiona Ma, Bill Dodd and Alex Gallardo-Rooker. However, none of them actually represent Lake County or its citizens.

Susan is endorsed and supported by local Democrats who actually represent the citizens of Lake County, including State Sen. Mike McGuire and U.S Rep. Mike Thompson.

Susan is also endorsed and supported by the local Lake County Democratic Party, as well as many law and order Republicans that support law enforcement.

It says a lot when our local representatives who know both candidates very well are endorsing Susan for district attorney.

The two most deceptive campaign mailers recently sent to voters by Farrington are ones where it appears some important group or organization supports and endorses Farrington.

Voters recently received a mailer from the “Coalition for California,” which sounds like some important group, and an important endorsement, but it is not. It is just an advertisement paid for by Farrington, and is not an endorsement from anyone or any group. The asterisk next to his name indicates he, along with all of the other people listed in the mailer, paid to have his name included in the mailer.

The most deceptive or misleading mailer recently sent out to voters appears on its face to be an important endorsement of Farrington by a Republican group or organization. It has as its attention-getting header, “Attention: Republicans Primary 2022 Voting Guide.” It is published and mailed by the “California Voter Guide” located in Torrance. All of the people in that mailer also paid to have their name in the mailer, and it is not an endorsement of anyone by any Republican group.

Susan is campaigning for district attorney like a prosecutor. Farrington is campaigning like a politician.

We need an experienced prosecutor and district attorney for the next four years, not an inexperienced politician.

Susan does not need to deceive or mislead voters, or make false claims, to get votes. She has 29 years experience prosecuting criminals, protecting the public, supporting law enforcement and advocating for victims of crime, to get her reelected.

The four most important qualities needed to be a good district attorney are honesty, integrity, experience and a proven commitment to protecting our community.

Susan is the only one of the two candidates possessing all of those qualities.

Richard Hinchcliff is the chief deputy district attorney for Lake County, California.