Bobby Grace Mulls A Run For District Attorney
Categories: Politics
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In an interview this week, Grace said he is interested in the job, but hasn't made up his mind whether to run. If elected, he said would focus on cleaning up corruption in the county's smaller cities.
"Our office has done a good job of covering one major one," Grace said, referring to Bell. "But you know that's probably the tip of the iceberg."
Grace, 50, has been in the D.A.'s office for 21 years, and is currently assigned to the Major Crimes Unit, where he works alongside Alan Jackson, who declared his candidacy last month. Grace prosecuted high-profile defendants including serial killer Chester Turner and the "black widows" Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt.
If he runs, Grace would be the third African-American in the race. Jackie Lacey, the number three administrator in the D.A.'s office, and Danette Meyers, another veteran prosecutor, have already announced plans to run.
That could make things a bit crowded, as each tries to build a coalition to win countywide. But Grace said he didn't think that would be a problem.
"All the candidates have constituencies that extend beyond the African-American community," said Grace, a Democrat. "I don't anticipate there's going to be an issue like that."
So far, none of the announced candidates has much of a constituency at all. They are all career prosecutors, and are virtually unknown to the general public. The other potential candidates with a higher profile -- Rocky Delgadillo and Carmen Trutanich -- are staying on the sidelines for now, perhaps because they don't have as much work to do building name identification.
In addition to pursuing public corruption, Grace said he would focus on truancy and welfare and insurance fraud. He said he still is talking to supporters and political observers as he decides whether to run.
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