Maybe there’s a good reason Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon has never (as an attorney) set foot in a courtroom – it could be because he always loses.
Last week, the LA County Board of Supervisors decided to pay someone Gascon charged and then quickly uncharged $5 million to settle an only four-month old lawsuit.
Considering how long these things typically take, the idea that the settlement was reached to get it out of the way before the March primary cannot be dismissed entirely.
But this is not the first time Gascon’s improper, unethical, or just plain stupid actions have cost the county.
The taxpayers have already had to pay $2.3 million to a pair of deputy district attorneys – Shawn Randolph and Richard Doyle (who was ordered to drop charges against a trio of defendants who attempted to derail a train – really – during an anti-police protest) for Gascon’s on the job retaliation.
Gascon has also lost in court for improperly imposing blanket policy “directives” involving strikes and enhancements and such on the office.
Beyond losing lawsuits, Gascon has also failed to get available funds. Filled out the paperwork and just didn’t get approved for the $2.7 million in anti-smash-and-grab robbery and other grants? Nah – Gascon’s office simply missed the filing deadlines.
“Gascon squandered an amount sufficient to provide a full scholarship for about 75 students to attend UCLA for four years including tuition, food, books, housing, and fees,” said John McKinney, a current deputy district attorney who is running to unseat Gascon in March.
As to last week’s settlement, it involved Eugene Yu and his election software company Konnech.
In October 2022, Gascon’s office charged Yu with stealing personal identifiable election worker information and storing it offshore in China – here’s Gascon’s original press release.
About six weeks later, the charges were dropped and the lead deputy district attorney on the case, Eric Neff, was placed on leave.
The initial charges seemed wildly out of character as Gascon politically aligns with the segment of the population that screams “Election Denier!!” at anyone who ever asks a question about election security.
Reportedly, the DA’s office was in contact with a group called True the Vote, a conservative organization that says it is dedicated to preserving electoral integrity. True the Vote did not respond to a request for comment.
At the Supervisors meeting last week, Neff (speaking as a private citizen) asks the board to not approve the settlement.
“Lawyers who work for you and lawyers who’s budget you approve are trying to get you to approve a payout of County funds that may be a waste of money,” said Neff, who told the Board he was appearing in his personal capacity, not as a County employee.
He suggested the county had not fully investigated the circumstances of the alleged evidence against Yu and Konnech, and that it could have pursued other avenues to try to get the lawsuit dismissed without a payout.
“Have all the investigations into this matter been completed?,” Neff asked. “If so, have you read them in their entirety, has County Counsel? Are you aware of their findings? And if all internal investigations have not been completed, why is this agreement being proposed to you now? Does it have to do with George Gascón’s re-election campaign calendar?”
The DA’s office declined to comment on the matter while the Gascon campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Yu was reportedly pleased with the settlement, with his attorney saying “Mr. Yu is extremely pleased that his innocence has now been publicly confirmed, and he and Konnech look forward to start to recover from the significant losses which they suffered.”
DA candidate Daniel Kapelovitz is not surprised by the Konnech situation.
“I get many cases filed by Gascón where my clients are factually innocent, so I’m not surprised that L.A. County had to pay out $5 million for Gascón prosecuting an innocent person,” Kapelovitz said.
A number of people familiar with the Konnech case do find the affair odd and wonder if there is anything to it beyond a possible contractual issue between Konnech and the county’s Registrar of Voters as, according to the contract, no information was to be stored offshore.
“Gascon is not only the most sued District Attorney by his own prosecutors, but now the County has had to pay out $5 million because Gascon is more interested in headlines than the evidence,” said DA candidate Nathan Hochman. “I will ground my decisions in the evidence and the law, not a political agenda, and protect public safety and taxpayer dollars with which the public has entrusted me.”
Either way – incompetence or something really really weird – the Konnech case brings the total lost by Gascon – not including the money paid to outside lawyers to defend his office (figure unavailable, but expect it be very high; the lawyers he is reportedly using are some of the most expensive in the city and that’s saying something) – to about $10 million.
“It’s malfeasance,” said DA candidate Judge Debra Archuleta. “It’s $10 million now with much much more to come.”
What Archuleta is referring to are the 20 or so other pending lawsuits, many brought by other deputy district attorneys, against Gascon.
“There are so many lawsuits that, after he loses, they’re going to have build Gascon his own courthouse to handle them,” said DA candidate and current deputy district attorney Eric Siddall.
Deputy District Attorney and candidate Maria Ramirez pointed the finger directly at Gascon and his atrocious management.
“The Konnech lawsuit and settlement is just one example of the incompetence of Gascon’s management and leadership. His inability to make thoughtful and smart prosecution decisions not only affects the District Attorney’s reputation as an honorable office, but it is now impacting taxpayer dollars,” Ramirez said. “This is only the tip of the iceberg as more than 20 lawsuits against Gascon make their way through the system. Taxpayers should be very concerned.”
While Kapelovitz sees the settlement as an unsurprising, considering Gascon’s record, problem, he is a little less sure of the probity raft of deputy district attorney lawsuits:
“When deputy district attorneys sue Gascón, where do they think the money for payments and to defend these suits comes from? It doesn’t come out of Gascón’s pocket. So basically, these DDAs want us taxpayers hand them our hard-earned money. This money could have been used for programs that could have prevented crime.
Most of my opponents have never had a job where they didn’t have civil servant protections. They went directly from college to law school and then became a prosecutor. They have no real-life experiences and can’t relate to average person.
When I was an editor at Hustler, just imagine if Larry Flynt asked me to write an editorial supporting the First Amendment, and I said, “No. I’m going to write a pro-censorship piece.” Or if I told the federal judge I worked for that I was going to dismiss a case against his wishes. I’d be fired immediately.”
The primary vote is in March.
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It's interesting that DA candidate Daniel Kapelovitz was an editor at Hustler magazine? His suggestion that the $5 million payout using taxpayer funds could have been used to "prevent crime" but it could have also been used to lock up hardened criminals who are preying on innocent victims?