Attorney Garth Dano seeks to be prosecutor

MOSES LAKE - Long-time Moses Lake resident and attorney Garth Dano is running for Grant County Prosecutor in the upcoming election.

Dano grew up in Ellensburg and farmed with his family between Royal City and George. He came to Moses Lake after graduating from Gonzaga Law University and has practiced law in state and federal courts throughout eastern Washington.

"The statewide perception from Washington State lawyers and judges is the legal system in Grant County is not good," Dano said. "The system has been ridiculed over the years. Law schools ethics departments have used Grant County and the prosecutor's office as an example of what not to do."

According to Dano, this negative perception has come, in part, from silly lawsuits brought by the prosecutor's office. Dano believes the prosecutor's office has wasted public funds on legal cases which should never have been filed.

As an example, he said, county taxpayers should not be funding the prosecutor's lawsuit against the Grant County coroner. Also, he said, the taxpayers should not be paying the Grant County prosecutor's personal legal bills in response to the Washington State Bar Association pending disciplinary action against him.

Dano is troubled by and hopes to correct the problems he sees facing the county's civil justice system. It is taking 3-4 years for civil cases to get to trial, in part, due to mismanagement and backlog of criminal cases being handled by the prosecutor's office, he said. Improving efficiency is on his task list.

"Criminal cases should be resolved quickly after they are filed," he said.

Dano said the prosecutor's office is quite often inefficient due to lack of experience with many of the deputy prosecutors. He believes experience matters. He believes his legal experience can be of major benefit as he mentors the younger attorneys.

Since 2009, four new deputy prosecutors have been added to the office, Dano said, most with less than three years of experience. Yet, since 2009, felony filings have decreased.

"Does anyone believe that crime in Grant County has gone down?" he commented.

As Grant County prosecutor, Dano said he will personally work with local law enforcement to reduce crime. He will emphasize and lobby for more law enforcement patrols and be a "working prosecutor."

Dano said he plans to run the prosecutor's office with a common sense, good judgment and practical approach. Dano intends to focus on rural farm theft and juvenile gang violence, which he said are a growing problem for the county.

Dano has lived in Ephrata and Moses Lake and raised his family here. He has six children and eight grandchildren. Five of his children have graduated from college, and one is serving in the United States Navy.