It's an election day Michael Jackson could love. Or loathe.
Voters in Santa Barbara County, California, are going to the polls Tuesday to elect a successor to Thomas Sneddon, the district attorney whose epic pursuit of the pop star culminated in 2003 with Jackson's arrest for child molestation, and fizzled in 2005 with Jackson's courtroom acquittal on all charges.
Sneddon, a six-term D.A., is not seeking reelection. On the ballot, vying for his title, are three candidates. One, Assistant District Attorney Christie Stanley, was endorsed by Sneddon. One, Doug Hayes, was endorsed by the North Santa Barbara County Women's Political Committee.
And one, Gary Dunlap, was promoted by the Michael Jackson Fan Club.
"I think you've got a 50-50 mix on whether he was guilty or not," Dunlap said recently. "But I think everybody agrees that it was a foolish prosecution."
In April, Dunlap made a direct appeal to Jackson fans in a letter, distributed via a fan club email, that warned a Stanley victory would mean "Michael will probably be best advised to never return to his beloved Neverland."
"When I win, I will change that," Dunlap wrote.
In a telephone interview last week, Dunlap sounded almost sheepish by the subsequent support he'd received from the Jackson faithful. "It's been incredible," he said. "Half the money, I sent back. I had money sent from New Orleans. I said, 'Gosh, anybody sending me money from New Orleans needs the money more than my campaign.' "
Enhancing Dunlap's fandom cred is the fact that the longtime Santa Barbara County attorney was a consultant to Jackson in the early days of the molestation trial, held in Santa Maria.
Jackson family lawyer Brian Oxman said he believes Dunlap was sought out because of his local ties. In an aside that's telling of the litigious life of Jackson, Dunlap noted that his only prior contact with the singer was when he himself sued Jackson. (He wouldn't say over what.)
While Dunlap is clear he believes Jackson was unfairly prosecuted, he is not quite a single-issue candidate. Or, at least, his single issue--that the district attorney's office is guilty of institutional arrogance--is not specific to the Man in the Mirror.
"[Jackson] knew they'd done to me what they'd done to him," Dunlap said.
Like Jackson, Dunlap was in the crosshairs of Sneddon's office for a complicated case involving perjury allegations. And like Jackson, Dunlap was eventually acquitted (in 2003) of all charges. Currently, Dunlap is pursuing a federal lawsuit against Sneddon and Stanley, among other county officials.
"It's a mindset that the office of the D.A. has," Dunlap said. "They're so convinced they're right, they never let go."
With regards to the Jackson trial, letting go apparently has not been a problem for local residents. Santa Barbara Independent reporter Ethan Stewart said the case, which put the region in the spotlight for so long, has been nothing more than a "small issue" in the overall D.A. campaign. In his eyes, not even Dunlap has pushed the matter that hard.
Stewart, who covered the trial, isn't surprised by the lack of Jackson juice, as it were. "By the end of it, there was such local burnout on it," he said. "It was such a long thing. People just wanted it done. And it faded fast."
The buzz is that Dunlap's candidacy is a long shot. Stanley is expected to breeze through Tuesday's election, avoiding a runoff and winning the office outright.
It was not known if Jackson, a longtime Santa Barbara County resident by virtue of his Neverland Ranch address, intended to cast a ballot. His spokeswoman did not respond to inquiries regarding his voting status. (As of the last local election, Jackson was not registered, Stewart said.)
Oxman, for one, doesn't think Jackson, who left Santa Barbara for Bahrain after the trial last year, will let the election results determine when, or if, he returns to his 2,800-acre fantasyland, beset of late by labor woes.
"Michael is very much a free spirit, and he goes as he sees fit," Oxman said. "He loves Neverland Ranch. He never wants to part with it, and when he decides to go back there, he will."
Just in case, the polls are open until 8 p.m., California time--6 a.m., Wednesday, Bahrainian time.