At a recent candidates forum, Tony Farrington finally had to truthfully answer the question that I have asked many times on behalf of Lake County citizens. When asked how many criminal law jury trials he has completed, he was finally cornered and had to answer truthfully, stating, “I have no criminal jury trials.” That is where Farrington’s truthfulness ends.

In the beginning of this campaign, I made several predictions as to his behavior and tactics. He did not let me down.

He has pulled out the stop and utilized every slick politician trick in the book, including posturing, taking credit for the work of others, whining, playing the victim when the truth was told about him and projecting his own serious inadequacies by minimizing the worth of others.

He minimizes endorsements received by Susan Krones and fails to own up to seeking those very endorsements himself (such as Mike Thompson, our senator Mike McGuire, retired judges, past and present supervisors, to name just a few).

Oh, and let’s not forget being in a parade with a grown man dressed as Batman to help him hand out candy along with his false campaign promises. Maybe Batman can come help Boy Wonder with his first jury trial.

Farrington has gone so far as to capitalize on the military service of his family members in his own weak attempt to try and give the perception that he is on the same level as Susan Krones, a true Army veteran of many years. He comes very close to crossing the unforgivable line of stolen valor.

In his latest display of the political melodrama that he has become infamous for, he misleads the public regarding the DA’s number of trials during the pandemic. He whines that only 17 jury trials took place during the pandemic. In reality, while Farrington was hiding on the sidelines, Susan Krones and her staff were bravely holding things together under the worst of circumstances.

During the height of the pandemic, there was a state-funded program (run by Lake County’s Health Department) to find temporary housing for the homeless in local motels in order to keep a very vulnerable population safe. Now Farrington has constructed a bizarre political platform seeking prosecution of these same motel owners.

Farrington has even gone so far as to loan his own campaign $25,000 in order to create a glossy political fear flyer trying to convince the voters that prosecuting business owners will somehow “take back our neighborhoods.”

Targeting those who provide shelter to the homeless will not do anything to prevent violent crime in our county. It would arguably have the opposite effect, as it would put more homeless out on the streets.

Farrington pretends to be outraged by a sentence handed down to a woman recently convicted of vehicular manslaughter. He seems to have conveniently forgotten his satisfaction with the even lesser sentence handed down to one of his fiancees for hitting and ultimately killing a local man (a father of multiple school-age children) who was walking home from work. His then-fiancée was charged with felony manslaughter, drunken driving and felony hit and run. An elected district attorney long before Susan Krones allowed this to take place and then-Supervisor Farrington never expressed any outrage over the soft on crime sentence his then-fiancée received.

His claim of wanting to inspire others in the DA’s office is laughable. I have worked with Farrington for more years than any other person in this county and I cannot find one person that worked in our office who is willing to say that they were ever inspired by him. The reality is, there were several running jokes about how little he did and how much credit he took.

Farrington recently made a sarcastic dismissal of an award earned by one of the most vigorous prosecutors this county has ever known. Rich Hinchcliff, working with Susan Krones, has once again won the State’s Wildlife Prosecutor of the Year Award. He is also the individual who has successfully prosecuted arson (among other very serious felony cases) in this county for decades.

Farrington has a ridiculous campaign platform promising to establish new awards for local prosecutors. At least that is something that might be within his limited skill set.

In fact, maybe someday Farrington will finally manage to complete his very first criminal jury trial and we can all pitch in to get him a participation trophy.

Rob Brown lives in Kelseyville, Calif.