Jay Boyarsky: Boyo Wonder

They’re calling him “RF Jay” at the district attorney’s office after a newspaper columnist compared him to late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. And deposed DA Dolores Carr probably wishes she hadn’t demoted the office’s newly named chief assistant, Jay Boyarsky, back in 2007. That move ultimately wound up costing her her job. Oops….

Boyo had been a supervising deputy district attorney running the Palo Alto office, named in his mid-30s to that post by then-DA George Kennedy. Life was good, with a one-mile commute to work, until Carr stripped him of the management post and reassigned him as a trial attorney, working in a courtroom a half-hour from his home.

Boyarsky tried to get out of the office by running for judge in 2008, but Diane Ritchie wound up taking that bench in a five-way contest. After that, Boyarsky became the chief architect of the regime-change scheme to place his buddy Jeff Rosen in the top prosecutor’s slot.

Success is the best revenge, they say, but Boyarsky is taking the high road. “This is not the time to rehash what happened four years ago,” he deflects. “We have a lot of important work to do.” He says prosecuting violent sexual predators “turned out to be great experience.”

And if the plan was to shorten his commute, it was a failure. Even though he has since moved even closer to the office he once oversaw, he’ll be making his way on freeways to the county building on Hedding Street each day, where he’ll clock in to the powerful role of running the prosecutorial machine for newly elected DA Rosen.

The Fly is the valley’s longest running political column, written by Metro Silicon Valley staff, to provide a behind-the-scenes look at local politics. Fly accepts anonymous tips.

4 Comments

  1. Jay is by far the most honest, committed, decent public servant I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.  It’s about time that people like this are rewarded for their tireless effort.  Best of luck to Jay and Jeff.

  2. > Jay is by far the most honest, committed, decent public servant I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

    Sadly, not an unambiguously high complement considering the local political landscape.

    Kind of like finding him remarkable for being a “tall pygmy”.

    I know. I know. R-A-A-A-Y-cist; insensitive; offensive to pygmies; yadda, yadda, yadda.

    OK.  I apologize.  It’s probably unfair to compare decent, honest, hard-working pygmies with any politician.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *