Garth Dano leads in prosecutor's race

EPHRATA - Moses Lake defense attorney Garth Dano leads current Grant County Prosecuting Attorney Angus Lee by more than 2,200 votes in the race to be the county's top prosecutor, according to election data from county officials.

Dano received 7,706 votes or 58.4 percent while Lee received 5,489 votes or 41.6 percent during the primary election. Election results will be finalized on Aug. 19.

"I am humbled and very grateful to the voters of Grant County for their support. My campaign staff and I intend to continue to work hard through the general election in November and hopefully garner more support. I know there seems to be some dissatisfaction and frustration with how things are handled by the prosecutor's office. If elected, I hope to change the culture of the office to hopefully restore confidence in the prosecutor's office," Dano stated.

Lee pointed to differences between a defense attorney and a county prosecutor job.

"The key difference between me and Mr. Dano is that I have years of experience in prosecution and management. It appears he has no experience with prosecution or management of a large law firm. Mr. Dano has stated he will seek quick plea deals with defense lawyers.

"I will continue the aggressive prosecution of criminals. More quick plea deals means more criminals on the street quicker," Lee stated.

Dano has raised $48,500 in campaign funds while Lee's campaign has collected $14,800 in contributions. Dano's campaign contributions have come from many different sources, with the largest category of contributions coming from defense attorneys.

"Obviously my challenger raised a great deal of money from defense lawyers who are tired of having to face an aggressive prosecution team. My campaign will not take funds from criminal defense lawyers and calls on my challenger to donate all money he has received from criminal defense lawyers to charity," Lee stated.

Dano claimed his donors represent a variety of people and professions.

"The fact that our campaign was able to raise more money for this portion of the campaign simply reflects that we have a broad range of support from all over our community, which includes farmers, ranchers, business people, blue collar workers, in addition to members of the legal community," Dano stated.

He added that only a tenth of contributions to his campaign came from  defense attorneys.

"I note that my opponent has suggested to the public that my campaign is being financed by criminal defense lawyers, who are expecting me to 'repay them and their clients.' This simply is untrue," Dano stated.

"I think raising more money helped me get out my message. The incumbent has had five years of nonstop opportunity to make his case as a prosecutor and has received an immense amount of press coverage over that period of time," Dano stated.

Lee stated his plan has always been to be patient during the primary, and make a "big push in October."