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The second effort to recall embattled Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon was officially approved by the Los Angeles County Registrar on Thursday.
Gascon has faced criticism from conservatives and victims’ advocates over his liberal justice policies that they say put criminals first and have led to high crime rates.
Now that the petition has been approved, organizers will have to get 566,857 signatures – about 10% of registered voters in the county – by July 6.
Organizers had vowed to retry after an initial recall effort last fall failed to meet the required number of signatures by Oct. 26.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon is facing a second recall attempt as criticism over his progressive policies intensifies. On Wednesday, he defended his policies while speaking with reporters.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
If the petition gets the required number of signatures Gascon will face a recall election in the county similar to the one Gov. Gavin Newsom had last September. The governor was able to easily fend off several challengers to maintain his office.
“We are sick and tired of living in the pro-criminal paradise Gascon has created,” Desiree Andrade and Tania Owen, co-chairs of the Recall DA George Gascon campaign, said in a release. “Gascon turned his back on us, and now his policies are destroying Los Angeles County right before our eyes and needlessly creating more innocent victims.”
They continued, “This is our chance to put an end to all of it, but it is massive undertaking that will require an all-in approach from the entire community. We need all Angelenos to join us in this effort to restore public safety and end the chaos in our streets. We all deserve to live without fear of criminals running amok, and to have a District Attorney who actually does his job.”
Some of his orders include the elimination of sentence enhancement charges, zero-bail policies and not prosecuting juveniles as adults for many crimes.
Gascon’s recall effort was also spurred on by several smash and grab and follow-home robberies over the last few months and a number of high-profile murders, including 81-year-old Jacqueline Avant who was killed in her Beverly Hills home and Brianna Kupfer, 24, who was brutally murdered while working at a furniture store.
Flowers are placed outside Croft House furniture store in memory of graduate student Brianna Kupfer. Kupfer was stabbed to death by an unknown assailant while working in the store on Thursday January 13th in Los Angeles.
(Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
Gascon’s policies have also been condemned by prosecutors in the district attorney’s office.
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Eric Siddall, a prosecutor who also serves as the vice president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys of Los Angeles County, said Gascon has tied the hands of his prosecutors by not allowing them to properly fight for crime victims.
“It would be like someone said ‘You have a (Apple) MacBook, but I want you to use an abacus to solve this mathematical problem,’” Siddall told Fox News. “The district attorney is not always on the side of victims of crime.”
Fox News’ Emma Colton and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
