Drain the swamp: Choose Villar for county prosecutor

To the editor:

Mike Villar is my candidate of choice. I support Mike Villar because he is not part of the political swamp that runs Allegan County.

He is not someone who feels entitled to the position. He knows that his willingness to stand up to Margaret Bakker and the Allegan swamp might cost him in his day-to-day legal practice. Mr. Villar is well respected by his colleagues and is an active citizen in both his faith and in the City and County of Allegan. He is willing to stand up for all residents of Allegan County in order to fight for what is right.

And YES Mr. Villar is very much a Republican.

His opponent, Myrene Koch, on the other hand, is the hand-picked apprentice and would-be-successor to Circuit Judge Margaret Zuzich Bakker. Unlike other counties, there was zero transparency and openness regarding Ms. Koch’s appointment. Other counties — with even an attempt at integrity and openness – receive applications from inside and outside of their counties. Some counties even appoint a team of people to sit on a committee to recommend which person should be elevated to the position of Chief Prosecuting Attorney.

No, Ms. Koch’s appointment was Margaret Bakker as Queen Maker to groom her successor.

Ironically, Myrene Koch applied for the Berrien County Prosecutor’s position in 2013 and would have left Allegan County had she obtained the position. Unlike in Allegan, the Berrien County judges accepted applications from within and without Berrien County. Ms. Koch’s commitment to Allegan County can seem suspicious considering that she was willing to leave Allegan County to become the chief prosecutor in Berrien.

Ms. Koch even has the brazenness to advertise she was selected by her friend Margaret Bakker on her campaign literature, thus bragging about the entanglement of the partisan executive brand of government and the non-partisan judiciary. The danger of entanglement goes to the very heart of why sitting judges are forbidden from endorsing political candidates.

For the record, Mr. Villar has been ENDORSED by RETIRED Allegan Judges Harry Beach and George Corsiglia and RETIRED Allegan Magistrate Ron Goodwin.

This is not the first time that Margaret Bakker has arbitrarily appointed political patrons as part of her kingdom. She placed four of her judicial law clerks in highly paid jobs within the county – many of them making decisions about Allegan county families – despite lacking lengthy legal experience and personal experience as parents.

The most recent former law clerk was made an assistant prosecuting attorney. One should question the entanglement of Ms. Bakker’s office and that of the prosecutor. Even the new Circuit Court Administrator was hand-picked by Ms. Bakker.

Not only should Ms. Koch’s commitment to Allegan County and inappropriate entanglement be questioned, but also her views on the constitutional rights of Allegan citizens. She told the first defense counsel in People v Anthony McFarlane that she didn’t care if the defendant was innocent, just whether there was enough evidence to convict him. Mr. McFarlane – a disabled veteran – was subsequently sent to prison on questionable scientific evidence regarding shaken baby syndrome; (so questionable that the University of Michigan was awarded a DOJ grant to defend wrongly convicted shaken baby defendants). https://www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/mic_sbs_grant_100516.aspx

In People v Joseph Treacy, Ms. Koch refused to drop the criminal sexual conduct case during trial even after the complaining witness committed perjury on the witness stand. When the defense attorney asked the complaining witness why she made up her testimony the complaining witness responded “I wanted Miss Myrene to win” – check the transcript, I was there! Yet Ms. Koch proceeded to deliberation instead of doing the honorable thing and drop the charges.

Was this witness coached? A prosecutor has an obligation NOT to prosecute those who are innocent and those where the case cannot be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. These are just two cases where her ethical duties as a prosecutor should be called into question.

In her short tenure as Chief Prosecutor, Circuit Court criminal cases are now crowding out all other docket items. The primary cause is due to overcharging by the prosecutor’s office and not offering appropriate plea bargains. Why is this important? Overtime is paid to every sheriff, officer, and law enforcement official who must testify and there are countless more preliminary examinations, pretrial hearings, and trials.

This strategy is wasting taxpayer dollars and did not occur under Fred Anderson. The Circuit Court even had a meeting this spring to address this very issue, but no one was allowed to blame Ms. Koch’s tactics and Margaret Bakker defended Ms. Koch’s methods.

Help stand up for the rights of citizens in Allegan County. Drain the Allegan Swamp and consider voting for Mike Villar on Aug. 7.

Kevin L. Travis, Esq.

Watson Township Supervisor