The real meat of the election season is upon us — it’s debate time.

Candidates for Humboldt County District Attorney are sure to offer fireworks with four candidates running for the job held by Paul Gallegos since 2003.

The first debate will be held Thursday, April 15th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Senior Room of the Arcata Community Center and will air live on Channel 12. The debate will be hosted by the Redwood ACLU and moderated by ACLU chairman Greg Allen.

The second debate starts at 6pm on Friday, April 16 at the Humboldt Area Foundation. Focus will be on animal cruelty cases. More info at the Humboldt Vegetarian Society.

Gallegos, according to his Facebook page, is the “best criminal prosecutor we’ve had in Humboldt County.”  His three challengers think otherwise. Tune in to see who makes the case.  You be the judge.

[Guest post from Tokyo Rose.]

There were a number of Democrats at the Republican Central Committee’s Annual Dinner on April 10th, honoring Muriel Dinsmore. Some of them clearly came in support of the Republican of the Year, while others seemed to be more interested in promoting themselves.

Current Eureka Mayor, Virginia Bass, presented a proclamation to Muriel and praised her as a classy and gracious lady. The other supervisorial candidate, Jeff Leonard, and his dad, were also present, though noticeably uninterested in Virginia’s presentation of the City of Eureka proclamation.

Current Supervisor Jimmy Smith came with a proclamation for Muriel and was warm and gracious to all.

Kathleen Bryson, one of the four Democratic candidates for District Attorney, was also in attendance. She, like both the Leonards, spent most of the evening working the room for money and votes.

The only notable Republican candidate was some earnest young guy, whose name I can’t remember, challenging Congressman Mike Thompson.

Rob Arkley gave the keynote speech. It was moderate in tone and he actually praised Nancy Pelosi for her political skill. Though he doesn’t support the health insurance reform bills, he acknowledged her success in getting them passed. Give him credit for being willing to recognize talent.

Rumor has it the Humboldt seaside utopia of Trinidad hosted a handfull of political hopefulls Thursday night at Cher-Ae Heights Casino.  Feel the bipartisan love.

The Redding Searchlight reports that Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman spent the day in Redding before locals spotted her in the Northern Humboldt party spot.  Whitman was reportedly flanked by fellow Republican Johanna Rodoni, candidate for County Assessor, and Democrats Virginia Bass and Allison Jackson, each of whom are running for two of the highest offices in the land — Humboldt County Supervisor and District Attorney respectively.

Former County Administrator — and close advisor to Bass — Loretta Nickolaus apparently tagged along.

Anyone get photos?

Whitman is supported by local Republican hot head Rob Arkley, who donated $25,000 to her campaign last year.

The Del Norte County District Attorney’s Office recently began asset forfeiture proceedings against a high-ranking Mexican Mafia gang member who is currently being housed inside Pelican Bay State Prison’s Security Housing Unit.

According to court records, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation seized more than $26,000 held in inmate Danny Roman’s prison trust account after an investigation determined he allegedly received much of the money as a result of gang and drug activity.

Allison Jackson, Worth Dikeman and Paul Hagen.

The last time Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos had to defend his job on election day he faced seasoned prosecutor Worth Dikeman.  Gallegos won, and eventually sent Dikeman packing from the DA’s office.

Current candidate Allison Jackson was a big supporter of Dikeman back in the day, but recently released campaign donation forms reveal Dikeman’s money is on former environmental prosecutor Paul Hagen this time around: Dikeman donated $99 to Hagen’s campaign.

The donation is dated March 4th — the day before Jackson announced her intention to run, which wasn’t a secret.  But maybe Dikeman didn’t know of her intentions.  Or maybe he had money burning a proverbial hole to throw at any opposition.

Perhaps Jackson will have the opportunity to list him in the next round of disclosure forms.

Dikeman and Jackson worked together in the DA’s office before and (briefly) during the Gallegos tenure.  They shared a passionate dislike of Gallegos, and Jackson supported Dikeman both in the failed 2004 recall attempt on Gallegos and the 2006 election.

To peruse an easy list of “high-rolling” donators to this year’s local elections, check out John Osborn’s blog.