Here's what Merced County DA-elect pledges to voters

Merced County's district attorney-elect said Wednesday she was grateful for the decisive victory at the polls on Election Day, and she looks forward to bringing "greater transparency" to the office.

Kimberly Helms Lewis, a veteran government attorney and prosecutor, secured 65.7 percent of the vote compared with incumbent Larry Morse II's tally of 34.1 percent, according to the unofficial numbers from the Merced County Elections Office. With 11,171 votes, Helms Lewis outpaced Morse by 5,377 votes.

Morse conceded the election Wednesday after the surprising landslide victory.

"I congratulate Ms. Lewis on a decisive victory and pledge to do everything necessary to ensure a smooth transition." he said in a statement on Wednesday. "It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as district attorney and especially the opportunity to work with the incomparable employees of our office, who have done so much to make our county safer."

The district attorney-elect is set to take office in about six months and said she'll spend that time meeting with community leaders and advisers to develop the plan for her first steps in office. Noting that "very long period of time," she declined to discuss any potential change in staffing at the office.

She also appears to be the first woman to ever hold the district attorney's seat in Merced County.

Helms Lewis said, during the campaign, she heard many times from constituents that it was unclear how and why the district attorney's office made filing decisions in criminal cases.

"I think there's a need for just a greater sense of communication and openness in general," the a 47-year-old said.

She noted the commitment she made at a May forum to create a quarterly report on arrests and charging decisions broken down by race and gender.

Helms Lewis said Wednesday she's heard from constituents that the response to "lesser crimes" has driven up frustration among many residents. "There's a turnstile almost with the county jail," she said. "I'd like to bring a sense of assurance to our businessmen and our community members that even the small crimes will have attention in the district attorney's office."

Improving the relationship between the district attorney's office and defense attorneys is on her to-do list, she said.

"I think that we've (understood) very clear when we've been talking with voters that there has been a concern about fairness in the charging that's been going on at the district attorney's office," she said. "There's also been a concern about the cooperation with (defense attorneys)."

A deputy district attorney in Stanislaus County for about a year, Helms Lewis said she has a good relationship with the incumbent district attorney there, Birgit Fladager, who held a significant lead in her race for re-election.

Helms Lewis, who came onto the political scene in Merced County just three months ago, ran a campaign that touted "change," saying Merced County voters were ready for new leadership in the prosecutor's office.

Her candidacy was announced just weeks after the Sun-Star reported allegations from three former prosecutors who said Morse inappropriately kissed a married subordinate employee and made sexual comments to women in the office. Morse denied any wrongdoing and said the allegations were incidents taken out of context.

Bolstered by the momentum of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, Helms Lewis kept the issue of workplace sexual harassment at the forefront of her campaign. She said while Morse never made any inappropriate comments to her when she worked in Merced, the allegations raised by the former prosecutors were "not surprising."

The race grew increasingly combative with both sides jabbing and counter-punching criticisms. Morse focused on his depth of experience as a prosecutor and supervisor, noting Helms Lewis never held a top leadership position. His campaign questioned her decision to accept a large campaign donation from a company that had once been sued on behalf of Merced County for environmental violations. Morse also said Helms Lewis botched three sexual assault cases by failing to file them before the statute of limitations ran out.

But the challenger brushed off the criticisms, saying Morse's office had several more years to file those cases when she left the office and the large campaign donation came with no strings attached.

Throughout Tuesday night, Helms Lewis' camp, which gathered at Cova's restaurant in Merced, remained cautiously upbeat, but refused to declare victory even as vote totals showed her running up the score. Helms Lewis' camp declared victory after 11:30 p.m.

This story was originally published June 6, 2018 at 4:35 PM with the headline "Here's what Merced County DA-elect pledges to voters."