[X] Anybody but Gascón

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Page 8

EDITORIAL

Anybody but Gascón

here are 12 candidates for district attorney of Los Angeles County on the March 5 ballot. One of them is the incumbent, George Gascón.

In light of his extremist policies, including some that have been judicially determined to be unlawful, his efforts to bully deputies into submission—resulting in liability to the county for tortious retaliation amounting to millions of dollars based on one settlement and one adjudication, with scads of cases pending—and the abominable judgment he has exhibited overall, Gascón deserves the boot by voters.

With 11 others in the race, it is inevitable that there will be a run-off, and it is our hope that there will be a choice in November between two of those who are now challengers.

Gascón is a “known entity” and what is known about him is that he is unfit for office. Of the challengers, some of them have name-recognition, some have impressive titles, two of them are obscure figures. We urge a vote for any of the challengers over the incumbent.

We’ll defer endorsing until the results of the primary are in, indicating now only that we view as the worthiest of the challengers (in alphabetical order) former Assistant U.S. Attorney General Nathan Hochman and Deputy District Attorneys John McKinney, Maria Ramirez, and Eric Siddall.

ochman is, in some regards, a highly attractive candidate. We do not doubt that he has the capacity to serve competently as district attorney.

He’s been a prosecutor—not in the District Attorney’s Office, but in the federal courts, as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, conducting more than 100 prosecutions. Moreover, Hochman headed what is tantamount to a huge law office; as an assistant U.S. attorney general, he was in charge of the Department of Justice’s Tax Division, with more than 350 lawyers under his direction.

He is personable, bright, and competent. His is the highest-financed of all the campaigns, and with heavy spending—which has already started with television advertising—he has a high potential of out-distancing Gascón in balloting.

We do have concerns, however, about his campaign—hence, about him.

His ballot designation as “Criminal Law Attorney” is too narrow to be considered forthright. He’s of counsel to a downtown Los Angeles law firm. How does that firm portray itself? It says on its website: “Ross LLP specializes in high-stakes business litigation.” And it says of Hochman’s current role that he is “is one of the nation’s leading litigators, with a focus on complex civil, criminal defense, tax controversy, securities, and environmental matters” and “counsels the firm’s management on issues of risk management, conflict of interest, professional responsibility, communications, and policy initiatives.”

cKinney is the choice of rank-and file county prosecutors, according to a recent plebiscite. He garnered 67.4 percent of the 355 ballots cast. (Gascón received 1.7 percent.) We regard as significant the confidence in McKinney on the part of his colleagues.

He, like Siddall, has strong skills as a communicator. Both have frequently, and with effectiveness, assailed Gascón in television interviews and provided commentary on other subjects.

Of all the 12 candidates, McKinney is the most charismatic. Should he be elected district attorney, he would have high potential for election to higher offices.

He joined the District Attorney’s Office in 1998 and worked his way up the ranks, becoming a member of the Major Crimes Division. After handling, without one loss, 40 murder prosecutions—including that of the slayer of rapper Nipsey Hussle—he offended Gascón and, as punishment, was banished to the East Los Angeles Courthouse where he supervises two deputies in misdemeanor prosecutions. That demotion was ruthless.

amirez, affable and able, has leadership talents. She was director of the District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Specialized Prosecutions—a top management position—overseeing seven divisions: Major Crimes, Hardcore Gang, Sex Crimes, Family Violence, Crimes Against Peace Officers, Target and Juvenile.

She, like McKinney, was demoted by the vengeful district attorney. Her effrontery? She put forth a view as to the inadvisability of a policy directive Gascón issued relative to juvenile cases.

Ramirez, who joined the office in 1990, is now head deputy of one of the seven divisions she previously oversaw: Target Crimes. It handles cases involving animal cruelty, arson and explosives, and child abduction, also overseeing a team that assesses stalking and threat complaints.

The candidate is suing the county over Gascón’s retaliation. We suspect she will prevail.

She was president of the Mexican American Bar Association in 2016.

iddall is a former vice president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys and is endorsed by the board of that labor union/professional organization. In the plebiscite, he came in second, with 15.3 percent of the votes (trailed by Ramirez, with 12.4 percent).

Not only has he expressed his views on the air, but also in print, penning cogent and insightful articles posted on the ADDA’s website.

He, like McKinney, is intelligent, articulate, and forthright.

Siddall was largely responsible for litigation brought by the ADDA which resulted in a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of some key parts of the pro-defendant special directives issued by Gascón on Dec. 7, 2020, his first day in office.

The candidate brought a complaint before the county’s Civil Service Commission contending that the lateral transfer of deputy public defenders to the District Attorney’s Office was violative of the County Charter; lost by a 2-1 vote; and is prepared to take the matter to court. He’s a doer.

here are seven other candidates.

•Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig J. Mitchell could probably do the job of district attorney.

He is leader of the “Skid Row Running Club.” The streets of Los Angeles are their track. You can view a video about the club on his campaign website, and if you got up quite early on Mondays, Thursdays or Saturdays, you would find him trotting in shorts at Sixth and Main.

However, Mitchell has milked his effort for every bit of publicity it warrants—and then some.

•Debra Archuleta is also a judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court. She demonstrated duplicity in her election campaign for a judgeship eight years ago. Then a deputy district attorney, she was endorsed by former District Attorney Steve Cooley, the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, the Mexican American Bar Association, and two Superior Court judges—and all of them wound up withdrawing their endorsements.

She is highly disputatious, and her performance on the bench has been substandard. At one point, dissatisfied with her assignment, she put the court on notice of an intent to sue it.

But even she, though unsuitable for any public office, would not be as bad as Gascón.

•Retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David S. Milton has a sound philosophy on how a prosecutorial office should be run but we question whether he has the wherewithal to lead such an office.

•Jonathan Hatami is a deputy district attorney. To his credit, he was the first deputy to publicly cry out against Gascón’s abuses. But he’s emotional and lacks maturity.

His ballot designation is “Child Abuse Prosecutor.” There is no “Child Abuse Unit” in the office. Legislation was enacted in 2017 barring use of such emotion-evoking and misleading designations in judicial contests but that legislation does not extend to district attorney races. Elections Code §13107 should be amended to prevent abuses such as Hatami’s.

•Chemerinsky has already been mentioned. He and Gascón are Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Siddall terms him, “Mini-Gascón.”

Heavily funded, and with name recognition based on his surname, he’s a viable candidate. That’s a shame.

•Two candidates lacking credentials for the office, who are apparently running just for kicks, are criminal defense attorney Dan Kapelovitz, a former editor of a porn magazine, Hustler, and Lloyd “Bobcat” Masson, billed on the ballot as a “Cold Case Prosecutor.” On his campaign website, “Bobcat” is pictured with a panorama view of the City of Los Angeles behind him, implying a local identity. He’s a San Bernardino deputy district attorney.

There is one favorable aspect to the candidacies of Kapelovitz and Masson: They’re not Gascón.