LOS ANGELES – Today, Team Gascón released a new ad narrated by John Legend that will air during the presidential debate and that will continue to air during the coming weeks. In the ad, EGOT winner John Legend says:
“The problem is right in front of our eyes. Our District Attorney has done nothing about police brutality. And the police unions are thanking her by spending millions to keep her in office. It’s time to wake up Los Angeles. George Gascón is the candidate we can trust.”
The 30-second spot titled, “Wake Up,” is a call to action that highlights Jackie Lacey’s failure to hold police accountable while benefiting from over $3 million dollars in police union contributions. The six-figure ad buy will run on NBC and CBS during tonight’s presidential debate, and again on NBC during the vice presidential debate featuring early Gascón endorser, Vice Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris.
The ad comes on the heels of today’s endorsement from the Los Angeles Times and Gascón’s pledge yesterday to reopen several fatal officer-involved-shootings if elected. As the LA Times noted today, Lacey’s, “dearth of prosecutions [of police] is noteworthy, especially in egregious cases.” Gascón pointed to a number of such egregious cases yesterday, including multiple cases where public documents show Lacey categorically ignored basic and elemental physical evidence that directly contradicts the statements from police upon which she relied in declining to prosecute.
To view “Wake Up,” click here.
Script:
“The problem is right in front of our eyes.
Our District Attorney has done nothing about police brutality.
And the police unions are thanking her by spending millions to keep her in office.
It’s time to wake up Los Angeles.
George Gascón is the candidate we can trust.
He grew up in LA.
And he’s prosecuted officers for excessive force and misconduct.
And he’s not taking any money from the police union.
We’ve been calling for change.
And with George as DA, we can make it happen.”
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George Gascón is the Democratic Party’s nominee. He is endorsed by the LA Times and the LA Daily News, Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris, U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Governor Gavin Newsom, Black Lives Matter cofounder Patrisse Cullors, labor leader and civil rights icon Dolores Huerta, and former Chief of the LAPD Charlie Beck. Click here for a full list of his supporters.
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.