Thanks again to the California Globe for running this piece. You can visit the website at: https://californiaglobe.com/
Oh, and as an added bonus, a piece on the widely discredited social justice “non-profit” Color of Change endorsing Gascon.
Another day, another lawsuit filed against Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon.
Wednesday, the LA Association of Deputy District Attorneys – the union that reps the 750 or so DDA’s under Gascon’s employ - filed its fourth lawsuit, alleging Gascon has “repeatedly and deliberately” the state’s public records act.
The LAADDA said Gascon has thwarted their efforts to gain access to office records which, by rights and by law, are public:
The lawsuit outlines dozens of instances “where CPRA requests to the Custodian of Records in Gascón’s office were either improperly rejected or completely ignored” and accuses him of “citing unfounded and non-existent legal justifications for evading his legal obligations and withholding critical public records.”
Michele Hanisee, President of the ADDA, remarked, “It’s deeply troubling that we are once again forced to take legal action simply to obtain public documents that should be readily available.”
If the word “dozens” rings a bell, that’s because Gascon has been sued by individual deputy district attorneys 25 times since he took office. Adding in the four filed by LAADDA itself and Gascon has been sued by his employees – averaging it out – about every seven weeks since he took office in December, 2020.
The lawsuits began within weeks of the beginning of his tenure, with the ADDA filing suit to overturn many of Gascon’s “special directives” they said were illegal, improper, and/or unethical. The directives set blanket restrictions on charging juveniles as adults, adding sentencing enhancements (extra time if you use a gun, that kind of thing,) and the missing of a defendant’s “strikes” to make sure he did not meet the “three strikes and you’re out” life in prison threshold.
Much of that case is under appeal, but the ADDA won on a number of counts, forcing Gascon to roll back some of his policies.
The cases filed by the individual deputy district attorney’s center mostly on personal retaliation and Gascon’s failure to follow the law. There have been 25 of those cases filed and at least two of them Gascon has already lost.
One of those losses was to veteran deputy DA Richard Doyle, who won $800,000 dollars after he was shunted aside for refusing Gascon’s politically-motivated order to drop charges against a trio of Gascon-friendly defendants who attempted to derail a train (seriously) during an anti-police protest.
Exactly how much Gascon’s legal issues have cost taxpayers is not clear as he will not release the billing records of the very high-end (four figures an hour) lawyers the county has hired to defend him. Publicly, the total lost/settled/paid out is at least $3 million – the real figure will dwarf that sum.
Shea Sanna filed the most recent individual deputy district attorney lawsuit, claiming he was retaliated against by Gascon for his actually trying to properly handle the case of molester/killer James Tubbs.
If you recall, after his arrest for attacking a young girl in a Denny’s restaurant bathroom in Palmdale, Tubbs claimed trans status and demanded to be called “Hannah” – something the Globe will not do because neither we nor our readers are stupid enough to miss that the claim was an effort to game the justice system.
Tubbs was not arrested for the crime for years. Only after a DNA match came back in the investigation into the killing of a Kern County man did Tubbs get picked up.
But because Tubbs was 17 at the time of the brutal attack, Gascon charged him as a juvenile, despite the fact he came to his office’s attention after committing a crime in another state – Tubbs has a long criminal record in California and other western states.
Gascon at the time had a “blanket policy” of charging people who committed crimes as juveniles as juveniles, no matter the crime, no matter they were adults when arrested, no matter how to close to 18 they were –Tubbs was just a few weeks short of 18 at the time of the attack – when they committed the crime.
This policy let Tubbs plead guilty and be sentenced to a youth correctional facility for two years. And since he decided to call himself a girl and since Gascon’s office is both intellectually and morally bankrupt he could have served that time at a girl’s facility save for the Bakersfield killing of Michael Clark.
Sanna’s lawsuit states:
This case involves a prosecutor who prioritized his legal and ethical obligations over the
political interests of his superiors, and incurred their wrath as a result.
Deputy District Attorney Shea Sanna sought to present relevant evidence while prosecuting a child molester who happened to be a few days short of his 18th birthday when he sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl. Because the case garnered extensive media coverage critical of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón’s progressive policies, Gascón prevented Sanna from presenting relevant evidence to the court and removed him from the case.
When Sanna reported that Gascón’s conduct violated established policy and ethics rules regarding the presentation of relevant evidence, the Gascón administration retaliated against Sanna, launching sham investigations to suspend him on absurd grounds.
Gascon’s office said it does not comment on pending litigation.
Woke, broke, and do not mention the problem with the poke, the once-relevant national advocacy group – slash almost certain grift - called Color of Change has endorsed Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon for re-election.
Good luck with that.
In the course of the 2020 Summer of Floyd, Color of Change grew exponentially and had actual influence. The problem is that it seems they had no idea how to handle it.
At the time, they endorsed Gascon and a bunch of other progressive DA candidates, rode the money wave, added staff, and then started spending on stuff maybe not so much related to their mission and got in trouble over serious mismanagement and sexual harassment allegations (and this is a link from the ultra-woke Business Insider, by the way.)
Earlier this week, the group announced it was backing George Gascon.
Good luck with that.
On it’s Twitter/X announcement, C of C said in the thread that:
George Gascón understands that fighting for racial justice isn’t just a one-off action on the campaign trail. He is actively working to build racial equity, and we will mobilize Black voters to support him.
The page has 110 views.
Good luck with that.
In 2020, Color of Change listed exactly $122,508.90 in various types of contributions to Gascon, mostly in the form of field work/social media/text messaging work. Each effort listed the same amount spent, which is rather a surprising coincidence (see: problems with money above/it really really doesn’t cost that much to send texts.)
Maybe there’s not so much money this time – C of C does not yet show up on Gascon’s campaign fiancé forms - because of the massive new salaries and more employees it indulged in in 2020. It seems the group thought the Summer of Floyd – which banked them millions – would never end.
Truth be told, the Globe only learned of this game changing endorsement through an email from a reader/friend. Not including this story, the only other media outlet that has reported on this event is the Davis Vanguard. Never heard of it? You’re not alone – here’s its position on social justice, unedited for unclarity:
Social justice is the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political and social rights and opportunities. Above all else, the Vanguard stands for the fight for social justice. In our view, we believe that means that people should express their views without fear of persecution or retribution. They should enjoy the right to freedom of speech, dissent, press and assembly. There should be a right to representative democratic institutions that will reflect the will of the majority, while protecting the rights of the minority. We believe that people of all races, creeds, religions, ethnicities, income, socio-economic and sexual orientation should have access to the same rights and opportunities. We believe that an injustice to one is an injustice to all. The Vanguard at its core believe as Martin Luther King, that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice and the Vanguard supports that struggle toward freedom, justice and the fight against inequality.
At the top of their game, Color of Change even maybe/kinda/sorta forced billionaire Tom Gores to resign from the board of the LA County Museum because he owned a phone company that charged prisoners money to make a call. They also had significant influence in pushing equity requirement on Hollywood studios. Now, not so much.
They are currently relegated to nobody noticing that they are pushing Gascon and, of course, Kamala, and even – the soon hopefully to be recalled - Oakland DA Pamela Price.
Color of Change is also in favor “content moderation” on social media – read censorship – really hates Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and also seems irked with Atlanta DA Fani Willis, she of Donald Trump and ‘spensive boyfriend fame – for whatever reason.
But in C of C’s (via the Vanguard – it’s not easily, um, findable on the website) own words:
“Color Of Change PAC is proud to endorse candidates who understand that engaging Black voters and fighting for racial justice isn’t just a one-off action on the campaign trail. George Gascón is working to build racial equity, and we will mobilize Black voters to support him,” said Color Of Change PAC Executive Director Jamarr Brown.
Brown added, “This cycle, the preservation of our democracy and the economic advancement of Black and other historically marginalized communities are top of mind. Both of those issues are impacted by the justice system. Prosecutors are the most powerful single actors in the criminal justice system, and support of reform-minded prosecutors is an investment in racial equity that touches many aspects of our lives.”
Well, for one last time:
Good luck with that.