BEHIND THE PAPER WITH ERIC GRANOF
When Prosecutors Go Rogue
Over the past several months, I have been doing a ton of research on the progressive prosecutor movement. While I am sure most of you know about this movement, for those of you that don’t, it is a focused strategy by the progressive left to dismantle our current criminal justice system, by electing soft on crime prosecutors. These prosecutors then promote and initiate a series of pre-planned initiatives and directives to fundamentally change the way the prosecutor’s office operates.
In a normal county’s district attorney office, there are dozens of seasoned and battle tested prosecutors. These prosecutors have committed themselves and their professional legal careers to protecting the public from dangerous criminals. When a progressive prosecutor is elected, one of the first things they do is fire their existing staff of seasoned prosecutors and replace them with their own staff of inexperienced defense lawyers. They do this, of course, placing their hand on the bible and swearing to uphold and defend both the state laws and the state and federal constitutions. And yes, I said they replace the prosecutors with defense attorneys.
These soft on crime prosecutors hire attorneys who defend criminals and ask them to now prosecute them. As you can imagine, that doesn’t work out the way most of us would hope…and it is not intended to. By installing defense attorneys into the role of prosecutor, the new DA completely destroys the integrity of the office and, in the process, puts the entire community at risk. These rogue DAs direct their staff to stop charging certain crimes, despite their professional and ethical obligation to do so. They also direct them to stop asking for bail, which results in the mass release of dangerous criminals with no accountability.
Ultimately, what these directives do is completely undermine existing laws. These DAs are making up their own rules and taking an enormous amount of discretion to achieve their misguided goal of a more equitable system. It is not only scary but, in my opinion, dangerous and irresponsible.
One of the most notorious of these prosecutors is George Gascon. He has followed the progressive prosecutor playbook to a T. On day one he fired and/or reassigned his most seasoned and experienced prosecutors. He replaced them with criminal defense attorneys. He then issued a series of directives designed to make Los Angeles criminal justice system more equitable. This included no longer seeking gang enhancements, no longer asking for bail in most cases, no longer treating repeat criminals as repeat criminals, as well as a long list of other nonsensical and dangerous policies. The results, since Gascon has been in office, are property crime have increased over 20% and violent crime have increased over 14%. Smash and grab shoplifting crimes have increased a whopping 133%. It is safe to say that Gascon’s policies are not working…at least not from the perspective of the public. Since he was elected, Los Angeles and its surrounding communities are less safe.
If there is any silver lining to this dire situation, it is that it looks like Gascon’s failed reign over Los Angeles County is hopefully coming to an end soon. Former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman appears to be beating Gascon, with recent polls showing that 45% of voters prefer Hochman over Gascon’s 20%. If these numbers hold true, there will be a new sheriff in town, and Los Angeles residents might finally be free from the dangerous policies of Gascon.
California is not the only state that is dealing with these rogue prosecutors. The progressive prosecutor movement has infiltrated counties all over the country, from large metropolitan cities to small rural counties. And it is not by accident. This movement is a highly coordinated and highly funded, with George Soros being at the center. But it looks like the public is losing its patience with these careless prosecutors and the movement is beginning to unravel. Over the past 12 months, several of these prosecutors have lost their elections or have been removed from office. This includes Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, Buta Biberaj in Loudon County, Virginia, and Jose Garza in Travis County, Texas to name a few. The public is beginning to wake up and see the devastation these DAs have had on their communities. They are seeing the true cost of these soft on crime policies.
As we look towards the future, we need to understand how these rogue DAs operate and how they are able to persuade voters at the local level to elect them. We need to fight them where they are…at the local level. We need to combat their tall tales and promises with cold hard facts and statistics. Only then can we motivate the masses to wake up and see the lies, misinformation and dangerous results that these DAs create. And only then can we return to a place where law and order matter and the safety of the public is a priority.
Eric Granof is the Vice President of Corporate Communications for AIA Surety.