LA County DA Nathan Hochman is Doing Good -- And Some Thoughts About Charging a Rogue Police Officer

Election 2020 was a disaster, not just because Trump lost the election (unfairly, I might add). In Los Angeles County, where I live, I witnessed the flagrantly pro “criminal justice reform” former District Attorney of San Francisco, George Gascon, carpetbagged down from the Bay Area and become the District Attorney for Los Angeles County.

His opponent, incumbent Jackie Lacey, wasn’t perfect. She called illegal aliens “undocumented”; she fumbled numerous public integrity cases, including against the infamous former LA County Assessor John Noguez; and she went out of her way to appease the left by dismissing a slew of marijuana cases.

All of that liberalizing did her no favors, as Black Lives Matter activists harassed her at candidate forums, town halls, and even her own home.

She lost to Gascon, and LA County lost any semblance of law and order for four years.

Mothers whose sons had been murdered by gang-bangers voted for the George Soros-backed insurgent, but within weeks regretted their vote and joined a recall effort to get the guy out of office. One mother was bulldozed by a felony juvenile offender driving his car down a narrow alley in Venice. A registered Democrat who had voted for Gascon, she went on Fox News and admitted that she had made a mistake.

But the damage was done. Smash-and-grab robberies proliferated across the county. Thieves even targeted the Del Amo Fashion Center in my home of Torrance, CA—that never happened before. Murders increased, homeless camps and all their vagrant crime spread. Juvenile offenders committing all sorts of crimes also skyrocketed, because Gascon had announced at the outset that he would go easy on “the kids,” refusing to try them as adults, and ordering no prosecutions for misdemeanor offenses.

This is criminal justice reform? Not one bit, and remember that Gascon rose to power at the height of the “Defund the Police” movement along with Biden’s open border atrocities.

Everyone woke up, in a good way, about Gascon, but after three failed recalls, LA County voters would have to wait for the next election.

And in came Nathan Hochman. In 2022, he ran for state Attorney General as a liberal Republican. He earned enough votes to get just above 40%, decent for a Republican in a deep blue state.

Then came the real opportunity to win and do good: he entered the race to replace Gascon, switching to Independent and backing away from all national politics in the process, aside from a tepid endorsement of Kamala Harris so that Gascon could not smear his opponent as a “Trump puppet.”

Hochman won, and things have never been better in Los Angeles County (at least compared to the last four to eight years. Remember that even Jackie Lacey was kind of a flop.)

DA Hochman is doing the right things. He has rolled back the pro-criminal polices of his corrupt progressive predecessor. He even hosted a town hall in Torrance, CA, urging the governor and the state legislature to provide more funding so that the county could fully implement the people-backed, real criminal justice reform in Prop 36.

I respect all this. For the first time in years as an LA County resident, I voted for someone who won in a county race, and he has exceeded expectations. He may publish some disagreements with the Trump administration, and he does attend a few liberal events here and there, but I don’t care: He’s getting the job done. He even reinstated the death penalty, something which Lacey as well as Gascon had refused to consider.

-------

With this immense and hopeful background, I want to drill into a recent controversy swamping Hochman’s office.

The SoCal News Group (which also provides news coverage for my South Bay home) reported: “D.A. facing criticism over charges against LAPD officer who secretly recorded colleagues’ derogatory remarks.”

Here’s a decent summary from the report:

Following the filing of felony charges against a Los Angeles police officer for recording his co-workers’ derogatory remarks, District Attorney Nathan Hochman is facing criticism from Mayor Karen Bass about that decision.

Officer Daniel Flores, 43, faces 16 felony counts of eavesdropping after the recordings were deemed by the District Attorney’s Office to have been obtained illegally. In those recordings, fellow officers in the LAPD’s Training Division were heard using slurs and making derogatory remarks about Mexican, Asian, and Black people, as well as women. The recordings were made in 2024.

If convicted, Flores could face up to 13 years in state prison.

Hochman is charging a police officer for recording his colleagues without their permission. What’s the big deal? Unlike most states, California requires the consent of all parties before any recordings can take place in private. Granted, I think it’s unfair to prevent citizens or employees from recording their colleagues or elected officials in one-on-one conversations. Why would we not want to expose our leaders or other government actors when they do something wrong? Mayor Bass—who should be focusing on her burned-out, hollowed-out shell of city—claims that Flores deserve whistleblower protection.

It’s not a crime to say mean things about people. There’s no justification for such an argument.

The law is the law, and a police officer cannot undermine the integrity and trust of his station, unit, or his partners.

Hochman is facing backlash from pro-police forces, too. After all, part of Hochman’s restorative success included reversing the anti-police agenda of the previous administration. Gascon had pledged to prosecute rogue cops, and he even reopened a case against two Torrance police officers after they justifiably fired on a suspect who had what appeared to be a firearm in his lap. To his credit, Hochman has dropped the charges and moved to dismiss the case against those police officers.

Hochman is not anti-cop. He wants to support law enforcement across the country. LA County Sheriff Robert Luna joined him at the Torrance town hall last year in part as a show of solidarity and cooperation.

All of this and more should show us that Hochman is doing the right thing, and his integrity is only enhanced because of this action. No one is above the law, and for a rogue cop to record other cops to implicate them in anything, that lowers morale in the worst way.

Cops NEED to be able to discuss confidential matters without the risk of release of information. Sure, police officers say nasty things in private (who hasn’t?). Yes, they hold a position in society in which they should be above reproach. But should we allow law enforcement abolitionists to exploit these private moral failings, and allow a rogue officer to get away with betraying the truth of his department and violating state law?

No way. Hochman is showing his true colors and character by taking this case. I think he should work out a proper plea deal, but Officer Flores needs to face hard time for what he did.

That said, we do need to amend the consent-to-record laws in the state of California, as well. Hochman has remarked that the unprofessionalism of the specific police officers is a problem. I hope he takes the opportunity to call on the state legislature to amend those laws.

Recall DA George Gascon Update

George Gascon's days may actually be numbered after all.

So many irregularities in the removal of signatures, and so many signatures that should have been added but were not, have all come up in the audit of the signatures that were rejected.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, October 10th, 2022   Initial Review Reveals Substantial Number of Improperly Invalidated Signatures, Recall Committee to File for Injunctive Relief Against Registrar of Voters    (Los Angeles, CA) – “The initial review of invalidated signatures demonstrates the Registrar’s counting process was seriously flawed, resulting in substantial errors, the wrongful invalidation of many valid signatures, and the disenfranchisement of thousands of Los Angeles County Voters. These extremely disturbing findings necessitate a complete and timely review of all invalidated signatures. This review is currently being obstructed by the Registrar’s office.  The Recall DA George Gascon Committee will be filing for injunctive relief imminently and is also exploring other significant issues, such as the inaccurate and inflated number of signatures required to qualify the recall due to bloated voter rolls.” – The Recall DA George Gascon Committee   Substantial number of improperly invalidated signatures found in initial review Since September 6, 2022, volunteer attorneys for the Recall DA George Gascon Committee have been conducting a review of invalidated signatures. Clear, obvious, and legitimate challenges have been identified for 39% of the invalidated signatures reviewed to date. Examples of improper invalidation and disenfranchisement include: Signatures incorrectly invalidated as “printed” even when the voter’s signature on file was itself printed. Signatures incorrectly invalidated as “non-matching” despite showing substantial similarities to the signatures on file.  In addition, many of the decisions to invalidate for this reason appear not to have been signed off on by multiple reviewers, as required by law. Signatures incorrectly invalidated as “not registered” when in fact, the person was a registered voter who could easily be identified in the voter database. Signatures incorrectly invalidated as “duplicates” without the Registrar counting at least one of the alleged duplicates as required by law.  Some of these invalidations are particularly troubling because it required a deliberate act by an examiner to go back into the system and modify a previously validated signature, changing it from “Valid” to “Max # of Times Signed”.  The committee has also observed many incomplete entries that were crossed out by the petition signer due to error, and then filled in correctly in the next entry below, only to have examiners wrongfully reject both as duplicates. Signatures incorrectly invalidated as “different address” because the voters entered their “residence address” as directed by the Petition, and according to the form and wording required by the Registrar, instead of their “addressas registered.”  There is also substantial concern that the Registrar may have failed to properly notify voters of involuntary changes to their registered address, potentially leading to signatures being improperly invalidated.   Recall Committee to file for injunctive relief against Registrar of Voters imminently The Registrar has placed arbitrary and capricious limitations on the review process that substantially limit review hours, workstations, number of reviewers, access to information necessary to determine the legitimacy of a signature invalidation, and more. Under the current restrictions imposed by the Registrar, it will take more than a year to review the invalidated signatures. The Recall DA George Gascon Committee is preparing to file for injunctive relief (as early as next week) to seek the expanded access and additional information necessary to conduct a meaningful review. Given the troubling findings from the initial review of invalidated signatures, it is imperative that a complete and timely review of all invalidated signatures be permitted to take place. For additional information on the current limitations put in place by the Registrar, and the expanded access requested by attorneys representing the Recall DA George Gascon Committee, please refer to this letter sent to Dean Logan on September 21, 2022.   Inaccurate and inflated number of required signatures for qualification of the recall due to bloated voter rolls According to estimates from independent and non-partisan data analysts, Los Angeles County active voter rolls were artificially inflated by at least 208,000, and as much as 515,000, when the number of signatures required for qualification of the recall was originally set. Those estimates do not account for those who died out of state but are still registered in LA County. This problem has been persistent.  In 2019, LA County was sued and agreed to remove 1.5 million inactive voters from its voter rolls because LA County had failed to maintain and clean up its voter rolls for years, and had more voters on its voter rolls than actual citizens. Federal law requires such removal. The Registrar also agreed to ensure the accuracy of its active voter rolls moving forward. Unlike the qualification thresholds for other recalls (which are typically based on a percentage of voter turnout from previous elections) LA County requires signatures from 10% of ALL Los Angeles County registered voters on its active voter rolls. Thus, the failure to maintain accurate voter rolls creates an inherently inaccurate and inflated signature requirement to qualify. The original requirement of 566,857 signatures to qualify (based on bloated voter rolls showing 5,668,569 active voters at the time) should have been set anywhere from 515,357 to 546,357. This issue alone could substantially affect the outcome of the recall given that the Registrar has already identified what it deems to be 520,050 valid signatures.  This does not even account for the signatures that were clearly wrongfully invalidated.  ###

So, there may be some hope, after all.

Brooke Jenkins Taking on Drug Dealers in San Francisco (What a Concept!)

 Wow! Who would have thought?

Holding criminals accountable stops crime!

Arresting malfeasants stops malfeasance.

I am shocked--shocked!

Check out Brooke Jenkins latest eblast for her election campaign in San Francisco:

Hi Arthur, Since 2020, our city has tragically lost nearly 1,700 lives to accidental overdoses -- fentanyl unsurprisingly the most common drug involved in these deaths. Holding drug dealers accountable and tackling this crisis aggressively is a top priority for District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.   Listen to her commitment to this crisis in our new campaign ad below ⬇️ Criminals coming into our city should not be able to deal lethal drugs or break into cars and businesses without consequence. With Brooke Jenkins, we have a District Attorney who prioritizes public safety and holds criminals accountable for their actions. Brooke Jenkins is on a mission to make San Francisco a city that is safe for all of us. Support her efforts by pitching in today >> Thank you, Team Jenkins

The whole "let's decriminalize drugs" push has massively failed, as well. Look what has happened in San Francisco, where drug dealers and low-level criminals daily deal and dose drugs in the street! This is beyond madness. How could any progressive really believe that this was the smart way to deal with drug addiction?!

Brooke Jenkins recognizes (to an extent) that drug deals cannot get away with this madness anymore if San Francisco is going to have any semblance as a safe city once again.

Lock up criminals, don't coddle them. Someone needs to tell Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon the same thing!

Recall Gascon Campaign: It's Not Over

 Yes, I know that there is a great degree of outrage and upset across Los Angeles County at this time.

NEW: The campaign to recall LA DA @GeorgeGascon issues a statement in response to failure to qualify the recall on the ballot. They will review the nearly 200k rejected signatures.

“The removal of George Gascon from office has never been a matter of if, but when.” @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/rs7kLIAHj2

— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) August 15, 2022

Agreed.

It's not over.

We the voters may have to wait until 2024, though. That is an unfortunate proposition, but if that's what it takes for the remaining Gascon supporters to wake up and realize how terrible he is, then so be it. 

Recall DA George Gascon Collects 400,000 Signatures!

 

FRIENDS, We’re pleased to announce that our campaign to recall LA District Attorney George Gascon has reached 400,000 signatures as of May 1. We’ve also eclipsed the $6M fundraising mark. We must collect 566,857 signatures by July 6 to get the recall on the November ballot. With your help, we will save LA and recall the failed DA. To read the press release, click here. NEWS FLASH FOX News: Los Angeles DA George Gascon Recall Group Has 400K Signatures; Starting to See ‘Real Light’ at End of Tunnel HELP SPREAD THE WORD: FORWARD THIS EMAIL TO FAMILY & FRIENDS!

"Recall Gascon Now" is LEGIT! Now Let's Make Gascon Gas-GONE!

The recall movement against corrupt LA County DA George Gascon has grown so strong, that there are now two groups/PACs fighting to recall this pro-criminal District Attorney:

"Recall George Gascon"

"Recall Gascon Now"

LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is not working with either PAC directly. He just wants Gascon out! LA County Supervisor Mike Antonovich (ret.) has attended a few press conferences with the Recall George Gascon PAC, but he has also met with and talked with members of the Recall Gascon Now PAC, too.

Clearly, there is no intended favorite or preferred PAC to work with. At the end of the day, we need to ensure that everyone collects enough signed petitions, gets them sent into their respective headquarters, and we make sure that Gascon becomes Gas-GONE!

However, there has been a rumor that emerged in Northern California on the blog "Right on Daily", which claims that "Recall Gascon Now" is a bad PAC, a fraudulent movement, and/or an incompetent group that has no business collecting signatures.

That is not true.

As someone who has received a great deal of resources to help this petition process, I can attest that the Recall Gascon Now PAC and the movement connected with it is legitimate, well-planned, professional, and properly coordinated. I cannot make it more plain: "Recall Gascon Now" is L-E-G-I-T. I cannot say it any other way!

Why do I say this? Volunteers for "Recall Gascon Now" have answered my calls. They planned a protest outside of George Gascon's home on May 29th, which I attended. I met some of the victims of gang violence at that protest, who came to speak out against Gascon and his ruinous, dangerous, and illegal policies.

These events were put together by volunteers for "Recall Gascon Now". They are doing stuff! They are reaching out to people in the community. In fact, they are working directly with volunteers in the South Bay section of Los Angeles County, where I live. These same volunteers have been dutifully meeting at the corner of Hawthorne and Sepulveda Blvds. in Torrance, CA every Saturday from 10am to 3pm. I was there. I collected signatures with those volunteers, and those same volunteers are transferring petitions to "Recall Gascon Now" leaders. It's all legit, it's all good, and it's working out very well!

So, what is going on? Why are there two different PACs to take out Gascon?

It all comes down to differences of strategy and outreach, nothing more. These kinds of disagreements can happen. People want to achieve the same goals, but if one person will not let others help, or let others lead, then potential volunteers can get frustrated. That is precisely what happened with the "Recall George Gascon" PAC, and volunteers decided to start "Recall Gascon Now".

I spoke with David Hernandez, Chairman of the Los Angeles Hispanic Republican Club. He also knows what is going on in LA City politics in connection with many political movements, Democratic and Republican. He told me that the two groups split because of differences over strategy and outreach. Frankly, I don't see why anyone should care beyond that. He doesn't care, either, and in fact he is not even working on the Recall Gascon movement in the first place!

So, where did this rumor come from, that "Recall Gascon Now" is no good?

It's all in a blogpost from an "intrepid blogger" (who is a friend of mine and helped my campaign for State Assembly by posting a great blog post in my favor--see here).

He wrote the following:

Why are they telling people to send petitions to the wrong address?

The address that I blacked out goes to Gary Crummitt – an LA based political treasurer who was not aware his address is on this email until he got called by some interested parties.

All of this is nonsense. The address which "Recall Gascon Now" is sending out is fully correct and legitimate. Mr. Crummitt is a well-established professional treasurer located in the city of Long Beach. His office and the building where his office is located are secure yet also easy to travel to.

And I have the receipts that he is the accountant for the Recall Gascon Now PAC. Here's one email that he sent out to one of the volunteer staffers:

Crummitt knows what is going on. There are no surprises, no problems, no confusion.

Crummitt is taking in money to help with this recall effort, and he is tallying petitions that he is receiving from the public. The names of the people who have donated will be a matter of public record shortly, so there is no betrayal of privacy or trust in sharing this information with the general public.

The "intrepid blogger" then adds:

Karen Roseberry and Craig Kleffman run this bogus committee. They are not affiliated with the official recall of George Gascon and are not authorized or legally able to accept petitions according to my understanding of how these things work. I know Karen and I understand some stuff in the background, but I don’t understand why she’d engage in such a public way to disrupt the effort.

This is the strangest statement yet. There is nothing bogus about what they are all doing. Karen Roseberry drove all the way down from Antelope Valley to Naples, where I was protesting George Gascon, to provide me petitions, signs, and excellent talking points on postcards so that I could summarize to unsure LA County voters why they need to sign the petition to recall George Gascon! Helping get a guy recalled is not "bogus."

I have spoken with the volunteers for Recall Gascon Now--and they are not getting paid! I am not getting paid, either, but I am so committed to getting rid of this wicked, pro-criminal DA, that I will do what I can to get him RECALLED!

The blog continues:

The proponents of this effort literally need 580,000 +/- Valid Signatures [sic] to put George Gascon on the ballot and they only have 145ish days left to do it! Why is this other group out there complicating the effort? The one accurate representation from the email is that LA County demands all signatures to be delivered at once, further protecting corrupt incumbents and complicating efforts. This puts an exclamation point on the fact they are telling people to send their stuff to another address.

This is also a nonsense argument. During the Recall Newsom movement, there were other PACs and groups that were collecting signatures. All the signatures follow the same ultimate process to be collected, reported, and recorded--and in two months' time, there will be an en masse vote to Recall Newsom! The same process is at work with the different PACs working in Los Angeles County to get rid of Gascon. There is no conflict, there is no clash, there is no frustration. The same petition will work toward getting rid of Gascon for good.

I am choosing to work with Recall Gascon Now because ... they are working! I have nothing against the "Recall George Gascon" PAC. It makes little difference to me, other than seeing hardworking people getting vilified in anyway -- that really bothers me. 

The blogpost then adds:

I’ve been told that these folks have actually made off with boxes of signed petitions after events. So, at least they are not trying to go Lincoln Project and grift cash right? Visit their website and a big fat Donate Link is on the homepage.

Regarding "made off with boxes" after signed events, this statement is so vacuous as to be meaningless. If they were collecting signatures at the even, then of course they would make off with the boxes. "I've been told" does not add any credibility to this statement, either. No matter who sets up a table wherever to collect signatures, these volunteers are clearly instructed on who to deliver the petitions to. No one with any common sense can believe the statement above.

Regarding "donations", both websites have donation links. Why is anyone surprised? The Recall Gavin Newsom efforts had donation links, as well. Volunteers should receive some financial help (cost of gas, printing, etc.) Is that really something to get upset about?

Now, let's cut to the chase. What is going on with the blog that attacked "Recall Gascon Now"?

Political squabbles are nothing new to grassroots efforts. It is unfortunate, though, when a cause too important to fail suffers from this kind of partisanship. Why is this happening? A small set of individuals working for the "Recall George Gascon" camp is in pursuit of a paycheck. Regrettably, this all came to a head with that blog post, written by the usually trusted "intrepid blogger" from northern California (now residing in Nevada).

Just looking at the blog alone, one can see that it has merely put together purely unsubstantiated and uncited rumors he’d (probably?) heard about. Check that against what I am writing, and you can see that I have done my research, and I am naming names, and I even include proof that Mr. Crummitt is the well-established treasurer for Recall Gascon Now.

If anyone wants to start criticizing a grassroots efforts, they need to get their facts straight. They also should not let their commentary be based on Quid Pro Quo (Clarisse!). The "intrepid blogger", according to the sources I have spoken with, is looking to work with an upcoming US Senate race in Nevada. This offer comes form the same consultant -- Jeff Corless -- connected to the "Recall George Gascon" PAC. And there you have it. The "intrepid blogger" wrote the blog for money, nothing more.

Here is more information about the two groups most actively involved in the effort:

"Recall George Gascon" (aka the PAC Victims of Violent Crime for the Recall of District Attorney Gascon) is run unilaterally by one individual: Heather Carbone. Some volunteers have shared with me  that that one individual has alienated and expelled potential volunteers who have offered aid, assistance, and contributions to the Recall Gascon effort.

"Recall Gascon Now (aka Stop the Madness: Support Recalling District Attorney Gascon Now) is run by a committee of individuals, a couple of whom I know and have worked with in the
past. One is named in the “intrepid bloggers” post. Another is Marc Ang, who has helped me and others fight other important fights in the state of California. In fact, Ang was instrumental in killing Prop 16 last year, and I am grateful for his service!  Harriette Reid of Long Beach is also helping the "Recall Gascon Now" PAC, and I was privileged to work with her in the fight against Critical Race Theory in the Los Alamitos Unified School District.

Reminder: having a physical mailing address allows for options in getting the petitions safely and securely delivered and stored. Having multiple teams circulating and collecting signatures actually inspires healthy competition in a good capitalist mindset. Having choices regarding which PAC to work with allows for personality conflicts to be resolved without frustration or capitulation.

However, any group that spends more time undermining the efforts of another legitimate group is  missing the mark and letting their pride get in the way. This recall does not belong to one PAC, and it is not authorized soley by one PAC.

#ThisIsEverybodysRecall

Let’s just focus on the one getting Gascon gone. The 47 proponents who signed the
Notice of Intent, which they served to Gascon don’t care which PAC collects signatures and will authorize all signatures collected to be submitted on their behalf. 

Let’s go get 580,000 qualified signatures and get them all turned in together on October 27th.

#RecallGasconNow

#RecallGeorgeGascon 

#RecallGascon

For the sake of simplicity, I am inviting people to work with the "Recall Gascon Now" PAC. They answer people's calls, they will get in touch with you right away, and they do not spend time with partisan zealotry or bigotry. They insist on making this recall effort a completely non-partisan effort, as it should be. I have already met with registered Democrats, Republicans, and Independents who are helping with this effort. Their strategy of direct and engaging outreach with necessary confrontation and media connections is paying off, and more people will find a welcome community of volunteers who will help them get to work!

So let me end this report with one simple statement:

You can visit their website here: 

https://recallgasconnow.com/