Hope for Los Angeles County: Hochman Declares Victory

 

Hochman for DA Campaign Update November 6, 2024 Dear Friend: Thanks to your support, our campaign was a success, and I will become the next Los Angeles County District Attorney. I couldn’t have done it without you. Whether you made a financial contribution, attended a fundraiser or meet-and-greet, volunteered, placed a campaign sign at your home or simply encouraged friends and family to vote for me, you made a difference. I can’t wait to get to work. I pledge to work every day to make Los Angeles County a safer place to live by restoring balance in the criminal justice system, starting with eliminating the blanket policies that prohibited prosecutors from enforcing the law. Rest assured, when I take office on December 2, Los Angeles County will once again have a District Attorney dedicated to justice, fairness, and standing up for victims of crime. The good news is that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has hundreds of the finest prosecutors in the United States. I will restore their ability to make prosecution decisions based on the facts, the law, the impact on victims, and the defendant’s background. Many of these prosecutors have been demoralized for years. It will be my job to give them the resources they need to do their jobs, standing up for justice, advocating for crime victims and helping make all of Los Angeles County a better place to live. Together, we will once again make the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office the finest local prosecuting agency in the country.  Again, thank you! With appreciation, To learn more about Nathan, visit: www.nathanhochman.com.

BREAKING: A vote for Bridget Lewis, Jeremy Gerson is a Vote for George Gascon

 I just found this political flyer yesterday morning in West Torrance:

Yes, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party is taking the time to tell voters how to destroy their county even more.

The LA County Democratic Party has been taken over by wild socialists and communists, creepy SJWs more intent on destroying the last remnants of this once great country, state, and country.

And they really think voters are lining up to hurt themselves more.

But who is the LA County Democratic Party endorsing in Torrance elections for this year's primary?

Of course they are endorsing Janice Hahn and Al Muratsuchi. They have been in perfect lock-step for the regressive leftist agenda throughout the county, the same regressive, leftist agenda which gives more rights to criminals and privileges to the homeless at the expense of the law-abiding taxpayers.

But I was surprised, dismayed, and quite disappointed with the other two endorsements.

Jeremy Gerson was a Republican when he was elected to the Torrance school board in 2018. He even met with me directly when I was complaining about the Black Lives Matter propaganda at Madrona     Middle School four years ago.

And now he's a registered Democrat? This is really disturbing.

And then there's Bridget Lewis.

I had high hopes for her. She answered a number of my email correspondence last year, and she greeted me warmly when I went to the city council meeting in early February 2023.

But now this? She's endorsed by the LA Democratic Party? She flip-flopped, too. She was a registered Republican when she was appointed in 2022. She sold out so she could get more money to run for city council. Haven't they learned from the failures of Torrance Democratic Club president Jimmy Gow? He has run openly as a partisan Democrat in two city council elections, with all the backing of the LA Democratic establishment ... and he still loses!

Torrance voters want principles and results, not all of this political pandering. This is really outrageous. I am so disgusted, especially by the complicit double-dealing of these two, having registered as one party then moving to the opposite extreme. There is no integrity here, not commitment to any value consensus.

But that's not the worst of it.

Look at the other list of endorsements on the same exact flyer:

This is beyond insane. This is just evil. What political party in its right mind would still support pro-criminal, pro-lawlessness, anti-law enforcement LA County District Attorney George Gascon?

Even progressives are turning on Gascon, since they had voted for a reform-minded DA, not a regressive who would destroy the county, make the streets less safe, and even endanger the so-called targeted groups like "people of color." What they got is a great breakdown in law and order. Of course, law enforcement should uphold and the rights and safety of all LA County residents, but you get the point.

If you vote the LA County Dem ticket, you are voting for George Gascon.

Torrance residents, if you vote for Bridget Lewis and Jeremy Gerson, you are voting for George Gascon. You are validating the same corrupt political machine that puts woke political posturing ahead of the people. It's your choice, but I hope that Torrance is better than that.

I recognize that there are registered Democrats who are not crazy. They want a secure border, they want proper law enforcement. There are even registered Democratic lawmakers across the country who oppose abortion and the sex mutilation of minors.

But those Democrats do not exist in the LA County Democratic Party. The whole hateful ensemble is controlled by spoiled brat college students who want to ignore public safety and push their demand for a socialist dystopia at all costs. Common-sense voters are no longer welcome. By the way, the Democratic Socialists of America, who now run the LA County Democrats, are going bankrupt, so there's that.

If you want George Gascon as your DA, you will vote for Bridget Lewis and Jeremy Gerson. They have no problem identifying with the same corrupt, destructive political enterprise that is undermining Los Angeles County. A vote for Bridget and Jeremy is a vote for George Gascon.

I want law and order, safe streets, better governance, efficiency, and a real attention to the needs of Torrance residents. I don't trust either of these two Torrance City Council candidates to get the job done. The Torrance City Council already issued a Resolution of No Confidence in George Gascon three years ago. We should have no confidence that Gerson and Lewis will do what is best for the city of Torrance.

Judge David Milton for LA County District Attorney

 

          

JUDGE DAVID S. MILTON Candidate for Los Angeles County D.A. “FAIR-MINDED, LAW & ORDER” “ JUSTISE FOR ALL!” www.miltonforda.com Judge David Milton for Los Angeles County D.A. Judge David Milton was born in Pasadena, California. After graduating high school, he was immediately summoned into active duty for the US Army Reserve where he reached the rank of Specialist 5th Class. After active duty, David was employed by Eli Lily and began his college studies at night. He attended Pasadena City College and then California State University where he studied pre-law, business, and psychology and then was admitted into Indiana University's, McKinney School of law. Upon completion of his Jurisprudence Degree, David returned to California to successfully complete the CA Bar Exam, and shortly thereafter, began his career in public service as a Deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles County in 1978. After 9 years, David was appointed Judge of the Los Angeles Municipal Court. In 1994 he was then appointed Assistant Chief Trial Counsel for the state Bar of California, & in 1995 he was appointed Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court. In that position, Judge Milton handled unlimited criminal and civil cases, involving multiple murders, kidnapping, rape, robbery and the exploitation & attempted selling of children. After 36 years in public service, David entered private practice as a judge, where he handles arbitrations, mediations & complex discovery matters. Judge Milton, if elected, will oversee nearly 1,000 deputy attorneys, 800 clerical workers and nearly 300 DA investigator/officers covering L.A. county's 88 cities.

 

              

Recall George Gascon Update: Court Hearing December 6th, 2022

 

Arthur, On Tuesday, December 6, we will be in Los Angeles Superior Court for a preliminary injunction hearing against the Los Angeles County Registrar. Judge James Chalfant will determine if the Registrar is unreasonably restricting our lawful review of the 195,783 rejected signatures to recall District Attorney George Gascon. If the court rules in our favor, we will be able to more speedily determine just how many of the rejected signatures were wrongly disqualified. Even with the constraints the Registrar has placed on our review — including no more than three days per week to examine the rejected signatures — in the first month alone we found that at least 39% of the signatures we reviewed were wrongly rejected.

While we continue to fight for our beloved Los Angeles, every day that Gascon remains in office, criminals are empowered, and Angelenos are endangered. Last week, a homeless man grabbed a 9-inch butcher knife off the shelf, and attacked Target customers. He approached a 9-year-old boy and told him he was going to “stab and kill him.” When the boy tried to run away from him, he stabbed the child in the back. The man then stabbed a 25-year-old woman in the chest, before a security guard fatally shot him. Why must these types of horrific stories become a regular item in the news? We’ll never accept it, and neither should any Angeleno. That’s why we will keep fighting until every valid signature is counted.

PAID FOR BY THE COMMITTEE TO SUPPORT THE RECALL OF DISTRICT ATTORNEY GEORGE GASCON Committee Major Funding from: Geoff Palmer Gerald J. Marcil Ioaban LLC and affiliated entities

Copyright © 2022 , All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 500 W. Colorado, C - 455 Glendale, CA 91204 Committee ID: 1440808

Recall Gascon Update: We're Going to Court!

  

Arthur, We’ll see the LA County Registrar in court. On Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant granted our request for an expedited hearing on issuing a preliminary injunction against the Registrar. An injunction would compel the Registrar to fully cooperate with our team that’s reviewing every one of the 195,783 signatures the Registrar deemed invalid. Already, and with the Registrar placing absurd restrictions on our review process, we’ve identified clear, obvious, and legitimate challenges for about 39% of the invalidated signatures that we’ve reviewed so far. Our fight against George Gascon is not over, far from it.

While our fight moves to the courtroom, Angelenos are fighting for their safety every day. This week, Marissa Young came forward with her chilling story. On July 31, she was brutally beaten and raped at night in a Torrance park, by Darrell Dean Waters, a homeless man who was arrested the prior night for possession of a dagger, but released after just a few hours. “If he had been kept in jail, what happened to me wouldn’t have happened,” said Young. “I could have been murdered.” Last week, a homeless man in North Hollywood stabbed 24-year-old Kyli Watts in the back of her head with a pair of gardening shears. Watts had moved to LA only two weeks earlier. She immediately went into surgery and faces a difficult recovery. And did you see the deeply disturbing video of a 27-year-old criminal abducting a 14-year-old girl? He proceeded to force her into a bathroom and rape her. These stories are a regular occurrence under George Gascon. That’s why we’re fighting so hard to get rid of him, and why we won’t rest until every valid signature is counted.

PAID FOR BY THE COMMITTEE TO SUPPORT THE RECALL OF DISTRICT ATTORNEY GEORGE GASCON Committee Major Funding from: Geoff Palmer Gerald J. Marcil Ioaban LLC and affiliated entities

Copyright © 2022 , All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 500 W. Colorado, C - 455 Glendale, CA 91204 Committee ID: 1440808

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.

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 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.

Update on Recall DA George Gascon Campaign

 

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Arthur, Based on all available evidence, the LA County Registrar is not following applicable California signature verification laws in counting the 715,833 signatures we submitted to recall George Gascon. You read that right. In 2020, California implemented uniform guidelines for signature verification to ensure every vote is counted. These guidelines were made permanent by state law in 2022, and apply to this recall process. According to the Registrar’s own words, they are using a process that is outdated, incorrect, and does not comply with current law. Under current law, signature verification analysis begins with a basic presumption that the signature is in fact the voter’s signature. If the initial reviewer believes a signature is not a match, the signature can only be rejected if two separate elections officials find beyond a reasonable doubt that the signature differs in multiple, significant, and obvious respects from all signatures in the voter’s registration record. The Registrar’s office is not following these guidelines. Instead, the Registrar’s materials call for a reviewer to reject a signature if there are “repeated small differences”, even if there are a “great number of general similarities”. This is a violation of current law. On Monday, we alerted the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors of our concerns. You can read the letter here. Our election processes, including recall petitions, should be done transparently and in accordance with the law. Anything less is an infringement on our democratic voting process. We remain confident that with a fair, transparent, and accurate signature verification process, our recall will qualify.

PAID FOR BY THE COMMITTEE TO SUPPORT THE RECALL OF DISTRICT ATTORNEY GEORGE GASCON Committee Major Funding from: Geoff Palmer Gerald J. Marcil Ioaban LLC and affiliated entities  Copyright © 2022 , All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 500 W. Colorado, C - 455 Glendale, CA 91204 Committee ID: 1440808  Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.