L.A. County’s former prime prosecutor, Jackie Lacey, introduced her help Monday for Nathan Hochman within the 2024 district legal professional’s race, telling voters it was time to oust the person who booted her from workplace 4 years in the past, George Gascón.
Standing subsequent to Hochman on her mom’s garden on the fringe of the Crenshaw district, Lacey mentioned it was time to “excuse the present district legal professional and elect somebody with a conscience.”
“Criminals are extra brazen as a result of they know they’ve allies in that workplace … it’s time to elect any individual who might be pro-active in making us safer,” she mentioned. “I’ve watched as the present administration harmed our neighborhood by rolling out ill-conceived, poorly carried out, ham-fisted insurance policies.”
Lacey was each the county’s first feminine and first Black district legal professional, serving two phrases in workplace from 2012 to 2020 after working for many years as a county prosecutor. However her pursuit of a 3rd time period fell quick when her historical past of declining to prosecute cops in extreme drive instances ran up in opposition to Gascón’s legal justice reform agenda in the summertime of 2020, after the homicide of George Floyd in Minneapolis and different killings sparked nationwide protests in opposition to police brutality.
For Hochman — a veteran legal professional and former federal prosecutor who ran as a Republican in a failed bid for state legal professional basic in 2022 — the endorsement of a lifelong Democrat could possibly be an vital defend in opposition to criticisms that he’s too conservative for L.A. County. Hochman is operating as an impartial and has described his insurance policies as “the arduous center,” however he’s additionally obtained important contributions from Republican fundraisers and labored with a Republican agency that organized fundraisers for then-President Donald Trump in 2020. Hochman has mentioned repeatedly he doesn’t help Trump.
Lacey, nevertheless, urged voters to ignore political affiliations and deal with public security issues. She argued that Gascón has deserted crime victims and instituted insurance policies which have contributed to an air of lawlessness in L.A.
“I’m talking out as a result of I do know that job, I did it for eight years and I can spot malfeasance and incompetence,” she mentioned.
Lacey additionally pointed to the prosecution of high-level Gascón advisor Diana Teran as a failure in her successor’s determination making.
“The error was made in not having the knowledge to place the correct particular person in energy within the first place,” Lacey mentioned.
Jamarah Hayner, Gascón’s chief political strategist, mentioned the endorsement is an indication that Hochman will restore tough-on-crime insurance policies that California legislators have been attempting to steer away from.
“Mr. Hochman continues to battle with attracting related help, as a substitute counting on names like [former L.A. County Dist. Atty.] Steve Cooley and Jackie Lacey, whose political opinions voters have persistently rejected,” Hayner mentioned.
Gascón has been endorsed by the L.A. County Democratic Social gathering, the highly effective county Federation of Labor and a lot of well-known native politicians together with U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Lengthy Seaside) and L.A. County supervisors Lindsay Horvath, Hilda Solis and Holly Mitchell.
Since March, Hochman has been endorsed by two of his former major opponents, Deputy Dist. Attys. John McKinney and Maria Ramirez.
