We have little doubt that Marty Desmond, the attorney hoping to win his former boss’ Mahoning County prosecutor’s post, is focused and smart.

Desmond, 46, a Republican from Poland, showed great attention to detail and preparedness when he spoke with us about his candidacy, relaying what he sees as shortcomings in the way the office currently is being run by longtime incumbent prosecutor Paul Gains, 69, a Democrat from Boardman.

Specifically, Desmond raised issues about the rate in which Gains’ office reduces criminal charges and the office’s growing expenses.

It is true that Gains’ office has seen a decline in the percentage of cases in which defendants pleaded guilty to original charges from about 82 percent in 1999 to about 63 percent in 2017. Gains has been Mahoning County prosecutor since 1997.

Gains said his “pleaded as charged” rates are on par with the norm, adding, “Nobody has a 96 percent pleaded-as-charged rate.”

Of course, no one wants to see prosecutors reduce charges, but that is a reality in criminal prosecution today. An analysis of data maintained by the Ohio Supreme Court showed that Mahoning County statistics fall in line with several other Ohio counties.

Regarding increased spending, there’s no debate that prosecutor’s office expenditures have grown. Data obtained by The Vindicator shows spending in the office increased from $3.29 million in 2008 to $4.65 million in 2018. Gains attributes much of these expenses to things like the legal work his office provides for Mahoning County townships, including assisting them with legal issues. Additionally, the prosecutor’s office took over workers’ compensation cases that previously had been contracted to outside legal counsel.

“Fourteen townships in Mahoning County were all using outside legal counsel,” Gains said. “Now each of the 14 townships don’t pay outside lawyers. They don’t pay us, but we provide it (counsel) to them. We saved the townships and the county over $38 million.”

Additionally, Gains handled all the legal work for the creation of the “Campus of Care” at the former Youngstown Developmental Center location.

“We also were paying $150,000 for an outside firm for workers’ compensation,” he added, noting it was taken in-house for a cost savings.

Regionalizing services is an issue we have long supported. We believe a cooperative attitude, like the one exhibited by Gains and his staff, goes far in efficiency and combined cost savings for the county’s taxpayers as a whole.

Desmond had worked as an assistant prosecutor under Gains until he was terminated in 2017 after Gains alleged that Desmond had made false claims of an ethical violation involving another assistant prosecutor. Desmond appealed his termination to the State Personnel Board of Review and also sued Gains for defamation. Both cases are pending.

During his election campaign, Desmond also has claimed that Gains acted improperly in allowing his office to handle a 2018 case involving a second cousin to another assistant prosecutor. Gains said there was no legal ethical violation, but in hindsight he should have avoided the case and the appearance of impropriety.

We agree and believe Gains should have stayed away from the case.

Still, after 23 years in office, we are not troubled enough by this one instance to not support his re-election bid.

Rather, under Gains’ leadership we believe the prosecutor’s office has provided overall good service to the residents of Mahoning County. Gains has worked as a good neighbor to local communities, and worked hard to bring criminals to justice.

Frankly, we see no reason to change direction now.

We endorse Paul Gains to maintain his seat as Mahoning County prosecutor.

editorial@tribtoday.com