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Craig Mitchell Eyes D.A.’s Race, Cooley Being Urged to Run
Unknown Factor Is Whether Recall of Gascón Will Qualify for Ballot
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig Mitchell confirmed yesterday that he is a potential candidate for Los Angeles County district attorney, and former District Attorney Steve Cooley acknowledged that he is being urged to run, should the effort to recall incumbent George Gascón qualify for the ballot.
A determination is underway by the county Registrar-Recorder’s Office as to how many of the 715,860 signatures on recall petitions are valid, with 566,857 needed. The count must be completed by Aug. 17.
“I am seriously considering running,” Mitchell said yesterday. “I have not made a definitive decision.”
Cooley advised:
“There are many mentioned as possible candidates. Some are under the radar and some are very overtly campaigning.
“There are indeed many rumors about my running if in fact there is a recall of Gascón on the ballot. I have been encouraged by many individuals and organizations. Time will tell.”
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CRAIG MITCHELL
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STEVE
COOLEY
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Other Possible Contestants
Others who are mentioned as possible candidates are:
•Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Debra Archuleta, who is known to be unhappy in her current position.
•Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Chemerinsky of the Central District of California, son of University of California at Berkeley School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, a Gascón supporter.
•Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami, a critic of Gascón from the start, who has opened a political action committee to advance his efforts and has been lambasting the incumbent on Facebook and in tweets.
•Deputy District Attorney John McKinney who is utilizing social media and who said on Fox 11 on July 5 that if there’s a recall election, “I do intend to run a vigorous, hard-fought campaign” to replace Gascón.
•Deputy District Attorney Maria Ramirez, a past president of the Mexican American Bar Association, who is suing Gascón over her demotion, saying in her Los Angeles Superior Court complaint that this was “in retaliation for disclosing violations of law and/or refusing to violate law concerning unlawful practices and policies.”
•Deputy District Attorney Eric Siddall, vice president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, who has penned articles critical of Gascón and is pursuing an administrative complaint over being denied a promotion.
Siddall would not say yesterday if he is considering becoming a candidate as rumored, in the event of a recall election, but did remark:
“The district attorney’s approach to criminal justice reform is failing. We need to move forward in a new direction, one that prioritizes public safety and sustainable, responsible reform over self-promotion and stubbornness.
“Whether that happens in the next few weeks or two years is in the registrar’s hands.”
2005 Appointment
Mitchell, a Democrat, was placed on the bench in 2005 by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was at the time his appointment a deputy district attorney, a position he had held for 11 years, following two years in private practice.
His law degree, earned in 1991, is from Southwestern.
Mitchell definitely is running—in a non-political sense. He started the Skid Row Running Club, and runs several miles three days each week with members of the downtown Los Angeles homeless community.
Runners World magazine quotes him as saying:
“The physiological benefits that running offers people who are covering from drug addiction is well known. ‘But, apart from the science, it’s the discipline—it’s having to answer to a group of people who care for you and who you care about.
“A tremendous number of people who are suffering from addiction, they’re estranged from their families, they’ve burned a lot of bridges. So now we have a community to whom that same person has to answer.”
Three-Term D.A.
Cooley was elected district attorney in 2000 and served three terms. He opted not to run for a fourth term, instead campaigning in 2012 for the election of his then-chief deputy, Jackie Lacey, who won, and was reelected in 2016, without opposition, but lost to Gascón in 2000.
Since 2012, Cooley has maintained a thriving law practice, as well as doing consulting work. He also devotes time, pro bono, to representation of direct victims of crime and to families of those who were slain, opposing policies of Gascón favoring leniency toward persons who have been convicted and drawn lengthy sentences.
In 2010, Cooley was the Republican nominee for California attorney general, losing narrowly to Kamala Harris, now U.S. vice president.
His law degree is from USC.
Resignations From Office
If Archuleta or Mitchell becomes a candidate, it would be necessary to resign from office.
Art. VI, §17 of the state Constitution says:
“A judge of a court of record may not practice law and during the term for which the judge was selected is ineligible for public employment or public office other than judicial employment or judicial office....”
As interpreted by Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal in the 2014 case of Gilbert v. Chiang:
“Because Section 17 applies only to sitting judges and not to persons who have resigned or retired from a judicial office, it does not prohibit such persons from holding other public office or engaging in other public employment, without regard to whether any time remains in the judicial ‘term’ for which that person had been previously selected.”
The issue was raised by Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert of this district’s Div. Six who was contemplating resigning and accepting a post in the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown. After receiving the green light from the Court of Appeal in an opinion that reversed a judgment denying him declaratory relief, Gilbert decided to remain on the bench.
Copyright 2022, Metropolitan News Company