Changes at NDAA

The National District Attorneys Association has undergone a great deal of change since the publication of the last issue of The Prosecutor magazine. Tom Charron, the executive director of NDAA for the past four years resigned effective March 1, 2008, to seek other opportunities. He is currently serving as interim executive officer for the Cobb County, Georgia, Superior Court. He previously served as the elected prosecutor for Cobb County for over 20 years.

Mary Galvin, dean of NDAA’s Education Division, has taken the reins of our association as interim executive director. She is working incredible hours performing two jobs for the association. We have had to take some dramatic actions because of the fiscal situation which we face as a result of federal funding problems.

There have been lay-offs at the National Advocacy Center as well as at headquarters in Alexandria. We are reducing the number of issues of this magazine from six to four. We have implored our partner at the National Advocacy Center to provide funding in order the keep the NAC operational, but to date we have not been successful. Let me assure you that our efforts will not stop because of the benefit to all of America’s prosecutors that the NAC provides. We are using the challenges we face as an opportunity to streamline our operation and reorganize responsibilities.

The vast majority of prosecution offices in our country are very small and have limited resources. The NAC has provided quality training at no cost to jurisdictions since 1998. As a result of the federal funding crisis we are no longer able to provide transportation and lodging for our students. We are also not able to compensate faculty members, who have been most generous volunteering their time. This has most significantly impacted small offices which are great distances from Columbia, South Carolina. We are continuing all of our efforts to educate and train America’s prosecutors.

Another issue of great interest to our members is the continued effort to obtain some form of student debt relief for prosecutors and public defenders. We have made great progress, with the Senate already having passed the John R. Justice Prosecutor and Defender Incentive Act and the House having passed the Higher Education Bill, which contains similar provisions to the Senate Bill. We are optimistic that the conference committee will resolve the differences and send the bill on to the President for his signature.

The final revision of the proposed third edition of the National Prosecution Standards has been completed. Based upon the timeline established at our last board meeting in San Antonio, Texas, we will have the final draft on the agenda for our board meeting in Savannah, Georgia, on April 12, 2008. I hope that we are able to approve the final draft. I am grateful to the former dean, Bob Fertitta, and former chairman of the board, Judge Paul Logli, and all of the ad hoc committee members who devoted so much time and effort to the completion of the long overdue third edition.

On a final note, pursuant to Article VIII of the bylaws of the association, the executive committee is responsible for recruiting, screening and recommending to the board not less than two, nor more than five, candidates for executive director. In an attempt to broaden participation in the candidate search, I have asked a committee to recommend an appropriate process to maximize input from our members.

Chair of the committee is John Gill, an associate member and vice president of the board and a member of the executive committee. He will be working with Jim Reams, our treasurer; Sandee Meyer, prosecutor coordinator for Idaho; and Jim Backstrom, a past vice president. They will make this recommendation to the executive committee in consultation with board members. Because of the current financial problems, the process will not be completed until our board meeting at the NDAA Summer Conference in Tucson, Arizona, in July.