Recall Begins for Soros-backed Los Angeles D.A. George Gascón

Victims’ rights advocates launched an effort Saturday to recall Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón, the George Soros-backed prosecutor whose radical policies have upended the criminal justice system in the county.

Gascon, who was a “progressive” district attorney in San Francisco during a period in which the city saw rising concerns about drug abuse and petty crime, was the beneficiary of millions of dollars in spending by Soros, who has backed left-wing prosecutors across the nation in an attempt to impose radical criminal justice reforms.

He took office in December vowing to end cash bail, prohibit the use of the death penalty, and end sentence enhancements for crimes committed in aggravating circumstances. His efforts to seek a milder sentence for a suspect accused of a double murder, including that of L.A. Sherrif’s Deputy Gilbert Solano, provoked outrage from the victim’s family and from victims’ rights advocates.

Local prosecutors sued Gascón over his policies, and won a judgement suspending many of them, though the case is expected to continue through the court system.

Now, victims’ rights advocates are kicking off a recall effort, as the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday:

Victims rights advocates on Saturday kicked off their recall campaign against newly elected Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón, who has vowed sweeping criminal justice reforms to the nation’s largest prosecutor’s office.

The recall campaign group held a “victims vigil” outside the Hall of Justice downtown and planned to gather the minimum of 20 signatures required to file a notice of intent to formally begin the recall process next month. About 100 people attended the event, organizers said.

…

Representatives for the Recall George Gascón campaign include victims’ rights advocates, former law enforcement officials and current and former prosecutors, including former L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley. Former L.A. Councilman Dennis Zine is listed as the chairman and former county Supervisor Michael Antonovich is an honorary chairman.

The recall effort must wait until March 8 to begin, because a public official must be in office 90 days before a recall can be launched. Advocates “will have 160 days to collect the necessary signatures, which is equal 10% of the county’s more than 5.8 million registered voters or upwards of 580,000 signatures,” the Times reported.

Other Soros-backed prosecutors include Kim Foxx in Chicago, notorious for the Jussie Smollett case; Kim Gardner in St. Louis, who launched prosecutions of the McCloskeys after they brought firearms onto their porch to defend their property from a Black Lives Matter mob; and Diana Becton in Northern California, who is prosecuting a couple for a “hate crime” after they painted over a Black Lives Matter mural that had been painted on a local street.

Gascón defeated Jackie Lacey, the first black woman to hold the job of district attorney in L.A. County.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.