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Politics Jul 05, 2022
LA County District Attorney George Gascón, shown here in 2010 when he was San Francisco's police chief. | Photo courtesy of Shawn Calhoun/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
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Organizers of an effort to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón were set to submit roughly 717,000 petition signatures to election officials Wednesday in hopes of putting the fate of the county’s top law enforcement officer in the hands of voters.
“We’re turning in everything right now,” Tim Lineberger of the Recall DA George Gascón campaign told City News Service just after 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Gascón has been under fire virtually since taking office, when he issued a series of directives critics have blasted as being soft on crime. The directives include a rule against seeking the death penalty, a ban on transferring juvenile defendants to adult court and prohibitions on filing sentencing-enhancements in most cases.
Gascón has repeatedly defended his policies, saying his stances were well-known during his campaign and his election signified public support of his agenda.
Organizers of the recall effort need to provide 566,857 valid petition signatures to force a recall election. At the Norwalk office of the county Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office Wednesday afternoon, organizers delivered a truckload of petitions, with the signatures of an estimated 717,000 signatures, according to the campaign.
Wednesday was the deadline for the petitions to be turned over to the county.
In a statement Tuesday, recall organizers said residents “have spoken in a resounding way,” noting the sheer number of people who have signed petitions and pointing to 37 cities in the county that have taken “no-confidence” votes in Gascón.
“On Wednesday, we will be submitting the required signatures to initiate a recall,” according to a statement from the campaign.
“The sheer magnitude of this effort, and time and investment required to get to this point, show how strong the public desire is to remove George Gascón from office. From day one, this recall has been led by the very victims who Gascón has abandoned, ignored and dismissed. When the recall qualifies, he will not be able to ignore them any longer.”
Gascón, asked about the recall during a Tuesday news conference, declined to comment. He defended his record in various interviews Wednesday, telling ABC7 his office has filed charges in felony cases at the same rate as his predecessor, deflecting allegations that he is soft on crime.
“The recall rules are fairly lax in the state of California, it requires a very low threshold,” he told the station. “You don’t have to show criminal intent. You don’t have to show malfeasance. It’s very easy. We don’t like you, boom. We want to start a recall. But, be as it may, I understand the process and we’re ready. If they get the signatures, we feel very strongly that we will succeed. If they don’t get the signatures, I’m sure there will be another recall attempt.”
Gascón has softened on some of his hard-line directives in recent months, and a state appeals court panel recently sided with a lawsuit filed by his own prosecutors trying to block orders against filing sentencing enhancements or prior-strike allegations.
The recall drive gained some late fuel following questions about prosecutors’ handling of a criminal case against a man who last month fatally shot two El Monte police officers. Critics said gunman Justin William Flores had a history of arrests but was given a plea deal last year that allowed him to avoid any jail time for possession of a weapon, ammunition and methamphetamine.
Gascón held a news conference to defend the handling of the case, saying the plea deal was appropriate under the circumstances.
Updated July 6, 2022, 9:58 p.m.
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