Fazio Launches Bid for S.F. District Attorney: He criticizes Hallinan’s lackluster prosecution record
July 25, 2003
Among his strongest supporters and amid a sea of blue signs, Bill Fazio kicked off his candidacy for district attorney on July 23 in front on the steps of the Hall of Justice in San Francisco.
“I’m here today to say that I am running for district attorney,” Fazio, 56, said to a steady crowd of about 50 supporters. “It’s time to keep the violent criminals in jail and to set [District Attorney] Terence Hallinan free.”
Fazio, a city prosecutor, will be up against Deputy City Attorney Kamala Harris and Terence Hallinan for the district attorney seat in November. Fazio opened his announcement with poignant stories from family relatives of victims of violent crimes, the perpetrators of which he helped prosecute.
Back in 1980, Edna Crandall’s 24-year-old autistic daughter was molested by a CETA-paid bus driver with the transportation division of Canon Kip, a South of Market community house for mentally and physically disabled patients.
“Bill knows how to convict violent criminals who hurt and destroy innocent victims like my daughter,” Crandall said. “And how to keep these criminals from hurting other innocent criminals.”
Mary Louise Aldo-Robinson also came in support of Fazio, who helped her family after her brother was killed on the streets in 1984 after a verbal disagreement.
“Just his availability to me and our family said volumes about him,” Aldo-Robinson said. “He is a voice for the victim, for the family. He didn’t quit until he won justice and healing for our family.”
Fazio highlighted Hallinan’s poor conviction rate of violent criminals as one pertinent reason for his candidacy.
“The day Terence Hallinan was inaugurated, he promised to citizens that he would be tough on violent criminals,” said Fazio. “But just 14 days later, he plea bargained light sentences for three felons who had gang raped two 14-year-old girls.”
Fazio also cited a 1999 San Francisco Chronicle investigative report, which found Hallinan to be last among California’s 58 county prosecutors, winning convictions in less than one third of the criminal cases his office handled in 1998.
“When the job is done right, the system works and there’s justice and a peace of mind that’s part of the healing process,” said Fazio. “But if it’s not, we all pay for a legacy of incompetence and failure.”
With 20 years of experience and a 90 percent success rate of convicting San Francisco’s most violent criminals, Fazio’s platform includes ensuring the safety and protection of seniors by honing in on nursing home abuse and fraud; demanding that parents of juvenile offenders attend all hearings and become more involved in their child’s sentencing and rehabilitation; unclogging courts by implementing a two-pronged system that prosecutes violent criminals and sends them to jail, and processes non-violent drug offenders into separate treatment programs instead of prisons; and enforcing a “zero tolerance” policy for domestic violence.
Kenape Eliapo was among a group of Pacific Islanders who came out in support of Fazio.
“He was my lawyer and he is a good and honest man,” Eliapo said. “He has support from everybody in our neighborhood. He sticks by you no matter what and that’s valuable.”
Sam Tagaloa, who also had Fazio as his lawyer, spoke highly of Fazio’s faithfulness and friendship.
“The city of San Francisco deserves someone like him and the city needs him to be district attorney,” Tagaloa said.
Fazio’s announcement was the perfect gift for his mother, Ann, who celebrated her 81st birthday with her son, daughter and his supporters.
“It’s the perfect gift any mother can ask for,” Ann said. “I’m so proud of him.”
Gina Fazio, Bill’s sister, said her brother supported the family as the eldest sibling and kept the family together after their father passed away.
“I’m going to cry if I start talking about Bill,” said Gina. “He did everything for us and he has always been about helping others first. He walked me down the aisle when I got married and he comes to all of the kids’ activities. He’s a natural leader and he has a good heart.”
Fazio was born and raised in San Francisco and attended City College of San Francisco and the law school at University of San Francisco. He’s served as assistant district attorney for 20 years, and has worked in narcotics division, sexual assault and child abuse cases.
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