Recall Gascon Update: Statements from Retired LA County DA Steve Cooley

 

Retired LA County District Attorney
Steve Cooley

The recent press release from the LA County Registrar-Recorder's office was a big disappointment for many Angelenos: the Recall Gascon effort did not qualify, missing the minimum signature requirement by about 40,000 signatures.

This is really disturbing outcome, considering that activists worked across the country for three months collecting 715,00 signatures, but then ultimately only 520,000 were accepted. What happened?

LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger's office sounded off their disappointment and frustration with the outcome:

Thank you for reaching out to my office. I share your disappointment in the outcome of the recall verification process. Of the total 715,833 petition signatures submitted, 88,464 were not registered voters and 43,593 were duplicated signatures – representing the majority of the unverified signatures. Regardless, I’m proud of the action taken by our L.A. County residents who stepped up and made their voices heard.

At a minimum, this recall effort has shown Gascon that the public is serious about wanting their elected D.A. to have a high focus on achieving justice for victims. Not all is lost – I’m hopeful that the recall process in and of itself will generate a sustained change in his attitude and decisions.    

Our D.A.'s effectiveness and performance will continue to be closely watched and evaluated by the public, who in two years will have another opportunity to cast their vote. I will always be a strong supporter of the democratic process. Decision-making power should always lay in the hands of the voters.

Sincerely,

Office of Supervisor Kathryn Barger

The full tally of rejected signatures is listed in the full press release from the Registrar-Recorder:

32,000 of the signatures were from different addresses. This is cause for not counting a signature?

As for the 88,000, is there any way to get around this?

I contacted retired LA County District Attorney Steve Cooley (who moved from Toluca Lake to Rolling Hills in 2012 following his retirement from the DA's office), and he shared the following information with me regarding the Recall Gascon campaign's next steps.

1. The lawyers working for the recall campaign have submitted a series of questions to th Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan in order to get more information. Those questions could not be released at this time, but they will help formulate the next series of inquiries launched by the campaign.

2. Cooley suggested that because his firm and lawyers working him issued a number of concerns regarding the standards used to verify the signatures, the county refrained from striking out more signatures than could have been removed. The standards for signature verification are "beyond reasonable doubt," as opposed to "beyond any doubt." Based on the Registrar-Recorder's press release, about 9,000 signatures were rejected because they did not match the voter rolls.

3. He then informed me that there may be a chance for us to restore signatures to the final tally once the team looks at the signatures stricken out from among the 88,000 which were supposedly not registered. Many people move within the county, and they follow the proper procedure to change their mailing address. What happens, however, is that the RR's office fails to follow through on the change. This happened to Cooley himself when he moved to Rolling Hills. He had re-registered, but when he went to vote, the polling station told him that he was not listed on the voter rolls! He ended up calling Dean Logan himself to figure out what was going on, but at the time he had to submit a provisional ballot.

So, it's likely that a number of signatures could be restored to the final tally based on a review of those signatures. I also find it suspect that about 32,000 signatures were not allowed just became the addresses didn't match. That foul-up could also be the fault of the Registrar-Record.

Last of all, Cooley shared with me that if the restored signatures bring the final threshold within a few thousand needed for the 566,000 minimum, then the Recall Gascon team will look at the signatures removed because the signatures did not match the voter rolls.

So, there is hope, faint hope, that this recall effort is not dead yet. Stay tuned.

Karina La Korrupta of Huntington Park Caught in Corruption

The Los Angeles Times is exposing more of the local corruption eating away at Southeastern Los Angeles Count municipalities.

When Bell was exposed, almost every member of the city council was locked up, along with the city manager and the city clerk. The takedown of this pre-eminently corrupt city, overcharging city residents with high taxes and fees proved too much, even for the normally liberal-leaning Los Angeles Times to deal with.

The way a small-town politician used her relationship with city contractors to draw income could pose an important test of the state’s conflict of interest laws, good-government experts said.

FYI: We the People Rising have been reporting on these corrupt transactions for at least two years.

Huntington Park Councilwoman Karina Macias raised money for a 2015 state Assembly candidate who never actually filed to run, and she was paid a commission based on a percentage of the total. The district attorney’s office launched a review of Macias’ commission and her votes as a councilwoman after a Times article that revealed the arrangement.

Karina Macias got rich off of consulting fees for private vendors. Then she voted nicely on the contracts for these vendors. I call this whole scheme a conflict of interest!

Experts said last week that if the practice is found to be legal, or is otherwise permitted, it would provide public officials a loophole they could potentially use for self-enrichment.

Maybe I should be a consultant and help raise money for non-candidates, and then I can vote on nice rich contracts for corrupt vendors, too! YAY!

Macias raised money from people linked to companies that were awarded contracts by Macias and Huntington Park's council majority. Those included the city’s bus service and dial-a-ride operator, its street sweeping and bus stop maintenance vendor and a towing company.

Just because Kreepy Karina announced to the vendors

According to Macias, she informed these people that, if they contributed, she would receive a commission. In prior interviews with The Times, she could not give an example of someone who contributed and was not connected to a city contractor. She was paid $6,800 total for her fundraising work.

Macias has denied that the commission in any way influenced her votes on contracts.

WOW! This is the same lady who shot the middle finger at We the People Rising at a fundraising function near the city hall. Keep it classy, Karina!

There are two main conflict of interest laws on the state’s books that might apply to Macias’ situation. A violation of the law known as the Political Reform Act, which makes it illegal to cast votes that financially benefit sources of income, could mean a possible misdemeanor or an administrative fine.

Lock her up! LOCK HER UP!

What a creepy lady. What a crappy city council!

Steve Cooley, the former L.A. County district attorney who created the office’s public integrity division, said Macias’ commission and votes could have violated the more serious felony conflict of interest law.

The essential question for prosecutors, Cooley said, is whether Macias structured a “quid pro quo” deal.

If the district attorney's office files criminal charges, it would “send a message” that “this is a no-fly zone. Don’t go there,” Cooley said.

Thank goodness for Steve Cooley. There would have never been a public integrity division without Cooley.

Jessica Levinson, a government ethics professor at Loyola Law School, said such a precedent might encourage ill-disposed politicians in places where fewer people are paying attention. That would include relatively small cities and scores of often obscure agencies that make up the patchwork of governments in places like L.A.

Jessica Levinson has weighed on integrity and public interest issues a number of times. When is she going to start focusing on the corruption in local cities, like Torrance California? How about why city council members in the Palos Verdes Peninsula chose to abandon their elected offices? There is a lot of corruption going on in Hermosa Beach--or so I have heard reports about getting people employment by elected office.

Bob Stern, who coauthored the Political Reform Act, said that if there is a determination that what Macias did is aboveboard, then it would be clear that the Huntington Park councilwoman had found a loophole in the law he helped write.

Oh No! I want Karina Macias in prison for her corruption, for her lawlessness, for her hatred of everything that is American!

Final Reflection

When do they lock up Karina Macias?

How about the rest of her corrupt colleagues alone with her?

I am fed upw