LOS ANGELES – Today, the Gascón campaign filed a complaint with the Office of Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey demanding an investigation into her misuse of public resources. On at least three occasions Jackie Lacey has violated state laws she’s designated by statute to prosecute, having used public resources to aid her campaign. Due to the inherent conflict of interest associated with the District Attorney investigating herself, however, the Gascón campaign has requested the California Attorney General’s office take over the investigation.
“You can’t use taxpayer resources to buoy your political activities,” said campaign spokesperson Max Szabo. “It’s not just unethical, it’s an offense subject to prosecution by the District Attorney or the Attorney General. Jackie Lacey has lied under oath, so her willful ignorance of the laws she’s supposed to prosecute isn’t so shocking. What’s alarming is since she clearly can’t investigate herself, both members of the Lacey family will be under investigation by the Attorney General at the same time.”
The complaint stems from a pattern of violations of California Government Code § 8314, which explicitly prohibits elected officials from using public resources for campaign activities. On multiple occasions LA’s top law enforcement official has campaigned from the District Attorney’s Office, therefore illegally using public resources. Additionally, her flaunting the official LA County Seal in the background while campaigning violates–at minimum–the spirit of a 1994 law enacted prior to widespread use of the internet, California Elections Code § 18304. That law makes it a misdemeanor to use the seal of a county or agency in a campaign communication.
Troublingly, in one such instance in which Jackie Lacey campaigned from the District Attorney’s office with the validation of the official county seal displayed in the background, she references “investigations” into her political opponent. That the chief law enforcement official in the county is engaging in a blatant political attack referencing “investigations” into her political opponent–from a public building with the validation of a taxpayer funded law enforcement seal behind her–is extremely problematic, let alone illegal, as it implies an official investigation to the unsuspecting viewer. At a time when President Donald Trump has normalized the politicization of the justice department to investigate his political opponents, the import of these laws is more evident than ever, and they must be upheld to safeguard the integrity of our elections.
Click here to read the full complaint, and click on the hyperlinked screen shots below to see LA’s top law enforcement official, Jackie Lacey, misuse public resources and violate the laws she is sworn to uphold.
(at 9:00 in the video above)
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George Gascón is the Democratic Party’s nominee. He is endorsed by the LA Times, the LA Daily News, U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders, Kamal
Mr. Gascón grew up in Los Angeles after his family immigrated from Cuba. An army veteran, Gascón served as a Los Angeles Police Department Officer for 30 years, rising to the rank of Assistant Chief of Operations. In 2006 he became Chief of Police in Mesa, Arizona, where he stood up to the hateful and anti-immigrant policies of then Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. In 2009, then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Gascón Chief of Police. Newsom turned to Gascón again in 2011 when he tapped him to be District Attorney to fill the seat vacated by an outgoing Kamala Harris who had been elected Attorney General. During his tenure Gascón implemented reforms that are being duplicated across the country while overseeing violent crime and homicides drop to rates not seen in 50 years. After being elected to two terms, Gascón returned to Los Angeles to care for his elderly mother and to be closer to his two daughters and grandchildren in Long Beach. Gascón is married to Fabiola Kramsky, a three-time Emmy Award winning journalist and recipient of the “Premio Nacional de Periodismo,” the highest recognition given to journalists in Mexico.
For more information about George Gascón go to www.GeorgeGascon.org [http: