Los Angeles DA Q&A, Part Three: On Management and Politics

This is part three of a continuing series of questions and answers with the candidates for Los Angeles District Attorney.

Besides presiding over a cratering sense of public safety, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon cannot, it seems, even run an office.

His own deputy district attorneys have sued him multiple times for retaliation and literally breaking the law himself, his former chief of staff skated on a drunk in public charge, his current chief of staff is an avowed cop hater, and morale is lower than a Gascon misdemeanor sentence – i.e., zero.

This chaos is not just because Gascon is incompetent, but it is also related to his “justice reform” ideology. The office has lost hundreds of prosecutors due to Gascon’s overt politicization of criminal justice.

Let’s get to today’s questions:

How does one best manage an office of professionals that both acknowledges individual expertise and experience while also ensuring continuity and overall adherence to the mission of the office?

DANIEL KAPELOVITZ

I will assign high positions to the best veteran deputy district attorneys, including a couple of my opponents. They have a wealth of institutional knowledge that I would be a fool to ignore. I’ll also hire people who have unique perspectives. We will make the best decisions possible based on everyone’s input.

Morale is down. Prosecutors are overworked. I will hire people to fill the hundreds of vacancies. 

Unlike Gascón, I will immediately meet with my line deputies to outline my plan to truly seek justice. Even as a defense attorney, I probably speak to more deputies each day than Gascón. I am in courthouses all over the County working with prosecutors trying to resolve cases. I’d be surprised if Gascón has even stepped foot in many of them. How can you relate to your line deputies if you’ve never tried a case and rarely, if ever, enter a courtroom?

MARIA RAMIREZ

Leadership that respects and relies on the knowledge and contributions of each and every member of the organization is key to managing the District Attorney’s Office. In the end we all share a desire to do the right thing. Recognizing that this is not a dictatorship, but a welcoming environment of a healthy exchange of ideas and information is what has been lacking in the last three years. The ultimate responsibility to adhere to the mission of the office lies with the elected District Attorney who must inspire her workforce to want to follow. To accomplish this, I will treat the workforce with

professionalism and respect.

DAVID MILTON

I held three executive management positions in the past managing attorneys. Deputy-In-Charge,

Chief Assistant Prosecutor and Assistant Chief Trial Counsel. My management style has been very effective because I believe that trained experienced professionals such as lawyers should be given as much autonomy as possible depending on their commitment to achieving the desired results.

NATHAN HOCHMAN

My management style is best described by this famous quote: “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.” The greatest asset of the D.A.’s Office is the collective thousands of years of experience and judgment the approximately 900+ prosecutors bring to their work. I will empower them, learn from them, and make decisions based on that collective wisdom to promote public safety, allowing the evidence and the law to dictate the result, not a political ideology. Together with the talented prosecutors at the D.A.’s Office, we will restore safety in our community, and the public will be the beneficiaries.

DEBRA ARCHULETA

The mission of the Office is to ensure public safety. The management of its professionals needs to be done to best serve the needs of the community by staffing the individualized units and offices with the best and most experienced personnel to serve the public. Deputy District Attorneys with specialized training and experience will be placed where they will provide maximum utility to the Office and the public. At a high level, I also intend to restore the Office to its previous staffing levels since approximately 20% of the attorneys have left during Gascón’s administration. The currently reduced workforce denies LA County residents the opportunity to fully pursue justice, including those impacted by the growing 14,000+ case backlog.

Do you believe the District Attorney’s office should be apolitical or should what could be described as an ideology be allowed to impact the actions of the office?  In other words, what philosophical construct will inform your term?

DANIEL KAPELOVITZ

Of course, the District Attorney’s office should be apolitical. That is why it is a nonpartisan position. The office’s decisions should never be based on politics. Everyone, of course, has his or her own philosophy regarding the best way to seek justice. I believe in mine — preventing crime in the first place by addressing the root causes of crime. We know that throwing people in prison for as long as possible does not reduce crime. Let’s truly try something different. Gascón has failed to implement many of his reforms because he has no control of his line deputies. They disregard almost all of his directives. And now he is reversing course on some his policies for political reasons.

MARIA RAMIREZ

Until recently, the District Attorney’s Office has largely remained apolitical, focusing on applying the law to the evidence. However, today the District Attorney’s role has expanded into the larger landscape of the political and social issues that intersect with criminal justice. While the District Attorney must be a part of the conversation as we address improvements to public safety today, the District Attorney must never be guided by ideology alone. Ideology can certainly guide or inform your approach to the job, but the District Attorney must prioritize the fair and just implementation of the law above all else.

DAVID MILTON

I do not believe politics should play a role in administration of the office unless one’s political philosophy interferes in his or her ability to carry out the office’s core mission of public safety.

DEBRA ARCHULETA

The District Attorney’s Office must be apolitical. Crime is a non-partisan issue, as are the solutions to crime. The DA’s office is entrusted to seek justice for all regardless of political affiliation, and it must be flexible enough to adapt to the needs of different communities throughout Los Angeles County without regard for partisan politics. At the same time, the DA must be compassionate when administering criminal justice initiatives that places public safety at the forefront.

NATHAN HOCHMAN

Yes, the District Attorney’s office should be completely independent. I will be an independent voice in the DA’s office, always putting public safety and the rule of law over politics and personal agendas. Gascon has failed egregiously in this regard. My administration will instead focus on the “hard middle,” of the pendulum, which requires an individualized analysis of the defendant, the crime committed, and the impact on the victim to determine who are the true threats to our safety and need to be incarcerated and those who aren’t and can pay their debt to society by community service or a diversion program.  As the only candidate running as an Independent (no party preference), I believe that my core belief in a DA being fiercely independent starts with my party registration.

The following candidates did not participate:  Eric Siddall, John McKinney, Jon Hatami, Jeff Chemerinsky, and Craig Mitchell.

As to George Gascon, he was asked different but related questions:  

Your management style has come under withering attack from both inside and outside the DA’s office.  Do you believe there is any credence to the accusations, how did the situation develop, and how do you plan to address the clear and obvious problem?

Do you believe the District Attorney’s office should be apolitical or should what could be described as an ideology be allowed to impact the actions of the office?  In other words, will the same philosophical construct you have followed in the first term be followed in the second?

Again, he did not reply to the request.