Who is George Gascon, LA’s newly-elected DA?
I wrote about LA’s Soros-backed DA George Gascon previously in this post, and you can read more here. In summary, Gascon supports a sweeping leftist overhaul of the entire prosecution system in LA County in a way similar to that of other Soros-funded prosecutors – which is to say, he wants to practically dismantle that system by expanding prosecutorial discretion to the breaking point.
The policy advocated by prosecutors (or should we call them unprosecutors?) such as Gascon is the opposite of “broken windows.” The latter idea was to prosecute even minor crimes in order to get across the message that chaos and lawlessness will not be tolerated. The Gascons of the world believe in shrugging their shoulders instead. One of my favorite (and that’s a sarcastic use of the word “favorite”) policies he plans to implement in LA is this one, which appears to put in place a bail sliding scale:
When cash bail is being requested under the limited circumstances delineated in this memo (felony sexual assault, violent felonies), DDAs shall recommend cash bail amounts that are aligned with the accused’s ability to pay.
LA County, where Gascon holds sway, is bigger than many states and is the biggest county in the US, encompassing not just the city limits of LA but most of the suburbs. It has a population of over 10 million people.
Looking at Gascon’s Wiki page, I was surprised to see that he is the child of Cuban immigrants and that he came here at the age of thirteen. So many Cuban immigrants lean right, but not Gascon. Gascon also was in the Army, and then a police officer. That’s not exactly the classic leftist profile. So, what happened? Perhaps some clues are here:
During his tenure with the Los Angeles Police Department, he attained the rank of Assistant Chief of Police under Chief William Bratton. In 2006, Gascón was appointed as Chief of Police for the Mesa Police Department. He had frequent clashes with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio over immigration sweeps targeting Latinos. In 2009, then-Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Gascón as the Chief of Police for the San Francisco Police Department. In 2011, after Kamala Harris was elected California Attorney General, Newsom appointed Gascón to be the San Francisco District Attorney. In 2019, Gascón announced he was running to be the District Attorney for Los Angeles County.
So perhaps he became more radicalized over the immigration issue.
Gascon had gotten a law degree in 1996 from Western State College of Law, while he was with the LAPD.
In 2000, he took command of the LAPD training unit at the height of the Rampart scandal.
That was a huge case of police corruption. Gascon was in charge of an overhaul:
One of his first orders as training commander was to create an ethics training manual for the LAPD. He also implemented problem-based learning and posted a copy of the bill of rights in every LAPD classroom. Michael Gennaco, the former head of the United States Justice Department’s civil rights division said at the time: “He fundamentally changed the way the LAPD teaches its officers about civil rights.”
It seems that experience must have been formative. But once he became San Francisco’s DA, he was in another role entirely:
During Gascon’s time as [SF] District Attorney, property crime increased by 49%. Some of Gascon’s critics have blamed this increase on his office’s reluctance to file charges against low-level offenders; during Gascon’s tenure, misdemeanor charges were only filed in 40% of cases presented by the San Francisco Police Department. Having worked with Gascon, San Francisco Mayor London Breed and City Attorney Dennis Herrera declined to endorse him in his bid to become the District Attorney of Los Angeles County; Breed and Herrera instead endorsed his opponent, the incumbent Jackie Lacey.
But it’s this that especially stuns me about Gascon’s tenure as SF’s head prosecutor [emphasis mine]:
…Gavin Newsom appointed him the interim District Attorney when Kamala Harris was elected to Attorney General. Even though he’d never tried a case, let alone prosecuted a case, Gascon’s statement on his qualification to be the District Attorney was telling. He stated, “Running a D.A.’s office is not the same as prosecuting cases on the floor. They’re different skill sets. I believe I have the organizational skills, and I have an understanding of the criminal justice system not only today, but where we need to be in the future.”
Herein lies one of the most basic flaws with George Gascon being the chief prosecutor in San Francisco — the gross misconception that being the head of an office of prosecutors is little more than a management position…
For those of you who have been in the trenches, who know what it’s like to do battle in the courtroom, who know that our role is to do what’s right, you know that your elected District Attorney is your leader, not a manager. When the head of your office hasn’t spent a day in your shoes (and never cared to understand what a courtroom prosecutor does), as a line prosecutor, you don’t get what you need to succeed and it’s demoralizing….
So, Los Angeles County, take a look at the state that Gascon left San Francisco as a cautionary tale. It’s no wonder he didn’t seek re-election in the county where he was an incumbent. It’s because he could never win another term here. He left the city in such shambles that even San Francisco’s Mayor and City Attorney took the unusual step of endorsing his competitor, incumbent DA Jackie Lacey. George Gascon wreaked havoc on the San Francisco DA’s Office and the City as a whole. I just hope he doesn’t get an opportunity to ruin Los Angeles as well.
Obviously, that was written prior to November 3, 2020.
The funding by Soros of numerous insanely radical DAs across the country is a matter of the greatest importance, but all too seldom discussed. The standard answer from the GOP establishment (and, of course, from libertarians) is that the free market is somehow sacrosanct, and that lobbying and political funding should always be protected as forms of free speech, but the concentration of power by the oligarchs of Big Tech and the ability of leftist billionaires (by no means only Soros) to ensure victory for highly ideological elected officials should be seen as, without question, a dire threat to the future of this moribund republic.
This goes right along with Dennis Prager’s column today
RIP California.
Chesa Boudin replaced Gascon as SF DA, which is a win for Soros, Chesa’s parents, and Chesa’s foster parents (Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn). Yes, it is surprising that a Cuban refugee turns lefty.
Again, he had ample opposition from a satisfactory opponent. It’s puzzling that the joys of vandalism are now incorporated into voter behavior in important locales. Bill diBlasio, Kim Foxx, Kim Gardner, Ilhan Omar, Chesa Boudin, and this tool are the beneficiaries. It’s for this reason I’m a tentative advocate of partition. I do not recognize any kinship with people who think this way.
Lancaster County is the second or third most populous in Nebraska. The Dem who is running for County Attorney is a term-limited State Senator who has never tried a case. DDB points that out on Twitter. In the words of a liberal UNL professor, I am “endlessly horrible.” And proud of it!
It is noteworthy that Gascon worked directly under Bill Bratton at the LAPD. Bratton is best known for his work at the NYPD and was something of a father for the broken windows policy, but he had also made a great name for himself previously as a Boston PD commissioner. Possibly as an LAPD chief Bratton hadn’t matured terribly well that late in his career.
A proper prerequisite in order to be considered for the job is to be able to demonstrate that one has been employed as a local prosecutor for at least four years during one’s time at the bar, with time employed in a U.S. Attorney’s office or in a state attorney-general’s office perhaps substituting if the office in question had delineated segments devoted to criminal from civil prosecutions and you were assigned to the former.
It would be agreeable if we had more populous multi-county jurisdictions for district attorneys and made use of competitive election only consequent to a local-option referendum. Some other method – e.g. selection by a convocation of county legislators, followed by retention-in-office referenda every four years – seems more in keeping with the skill set you might want your district attorney to cultivate.
It is noteworthy that Gascon worked directly under Bill Bratton at the LAPD.
Sounds like he wants revenge on the guy by pissing on the man’s achievements.
The Dem who is running for County Attorney is a term-limited State Senator who has never tried a case.
If you had fewer elected offices, you’d reduce the frequency of this sort of musical chairs maneuver. For example, reduce the number of state executives chosen by popular election from six to one. Have the chief of your audit-and-control inspectorates chosen by a vote of the legislature from lists submitted by parastatal guilds (accountants, actuaries, engineers, &c). Have the attorney-general appointed by the governor with advice-and-consent or elected by the legislature for a grace period – and then subject to retention-in-office referenda every four years. Have appointed Lt. Governors who supervise portfolios of state agencies.
Art Deco: “I do not recognize any kinship with people who think this way.”
The same for me. It’s as if a mass psychosis has struck the country. I understand that it has been building for some time, but it has become quite open and clear that there are people in this country who:
1. No longer believe in personal responsibility.
2. Believe the country is systemically racist.
3. Consider riots that destroy private property and mass looting as peaceful protest.
4. Have abandoned all thought of enforcing laws against vagrancy, public drug use, urinating/defecating on public streets, public nuisances, and building code violations.
5. Seem to believe less law enforcement will lead to less crime.
Or, are the leaders of this thought process people who are following the Cloward-Piven strategy to overwhelm the system and destroy it? Are those who keep voting for them just useful idiots?
None of this irrational behavior or belief system by such as Gascon, De Blasio, Foxx, Boudin, etal makes sense when viewed as part of a society that has done rather well by valuing law and order. Their motive must be the destruction of our system.
Until our so-called “elites“ feel any pain, pressure, or consequences in their lives, they will continue to push radical people and policies. To them, it’s all feel-good window dressing, while others deal with the messes they create.
Look at the Biden’s, they have the money and power to shield and protect Hunter from his degenerate lifestyle. All of the degenerate things are pushed by the elites, which they’re shielded from. The lower classes buy in, but do not have the money or the power to escape or protect them from the consequences.
I guess the only positive thing is, is when the generational wealth runs low or out, many of their grandchildren or great grandchildren start to suffer the consequences.
More and more and more evidence every day that assures my wisdom fleeing the Peoples Batshit Left Crazy Republic in 2006. Central Florida (Winter Park) has no mountains, but there’s little danger for being a rock ribbed conservative.
The LA DA before Gascon was a black woman whose husband chased BLM radicals away from their front porch during a “demonstration” by holding a hand gun and telling them to “Get off my porch.” That was probably enough to elect him.