On Wednesday, the recall campaign submitted all the signatures it gathered in an effort to recall disgraced Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon. The campaign needed to collect 566,857 signatures to get the recall officially on the ballot.
The campaign announced that it gathered 717,000 signatures, well above the signatures needed; however, in order for the recall to be on the ballot, 566,857 of those signatures must be validated.
They wanted to get those extra signatures to make sure they would have enough, no matter what, to get the recall on the ballot. Granted, a number of those signatures will be deemed invalid for various reasons. Still, the recall Gascon campaign is confident they will have enough valid signatures.
Despite the crime wave that has taken place in Los Angeles County since Gascon took office, there are still supporters of his radical policies. They spoke with The Santa Clarita Valley Signal:
“This will likely take several weeks … In the meantime, we remain focused on the work of keeping communities safe and creating a more equitable justice system, as we have been since day one.” said Elise Moore, a spokeswoman for the pro-Gascón campaign.
This recall effort exceeded the signatures needed to get on the ballot because people feel unsafe. FOXLA, KTLA, and other local outlets have reported on Gascon’s pro-crime policies, due to rising violent crime in the county.
Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami, a leading voice to recall Gascon, told The Signal Wednesday:
“This has been a long 18-month journey. Thirty-seven cities, 98% of the (deputy district attorneys, or) DDAs and now 717,000 Angelenos have now said, ‘Enough is enough. George, it’s time for you to go.’”
“We all came together to fight for public safety and victims’ rights. Today, we are a little closer to taking our city and county back.”
If Gascon is successfully recalled, a likely candidate for LA County DA is Deputy DA John McKinney. Gascon is currently McKinney’s boss, but similar to Hatami, he hasn’t hesitated to speak out against Gascon’s policies that have made Los Angeles an unsafe environment.
#NEW Deputy DA @johnmckinney_ unequivocally announces, if the recall of his boss, DA George Gascon, is successful, he intends to run for L.A. County D.A.
“I do intend to run a vigorous hard fought campaign to restore public safety to Los Angeles”@FOXLA pic.twitter.com/R2jB9xgIag
— MarlaTellez (@MarlaTellez) July 6, 2022
A spokesman for the recall campaign, Tim Lineberger, told The Signal:
“We believe that George Gascón’s policies and refusal to enforce the law has cost the residents of Los Angeles an extraordinary amount, not just financially and in terms of quality of life … but also with the cost of human life, which you really can’t put a dollar on … For the sheer sake of public safety alone, this is not only a worthwhile effort, but it’s a necessary one.”
Following the recall of San Francsico DA Chesa Boudin, the recall Gascon campaign felt more confident than ever that they would get enough signatures to put the recall on the ballot.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva did not mince words at his primary election night watch party. After he announced to his supporters that Boudin had officially been recalled, he said: “George Gascon, you’re next.”
“George Gascón, you’re next,” Sheriff Alex Villanueva said while referencing the recall election of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin. For more click here: https://t.co/vLhBTTarut pic.twitter.com/glGrGDfCM0
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) June 8, 2022
The police officers and law enforcement are figuratively handcuffed due to Gascon’s policies, but voters in Los Angeles County are fed up. If these signatures are validated, people will turn out in big numbers to send a message to the leftist “activists” — that safety in a community and County should come first.
If the signatures are validated, government officials will determine when the Gascon recall will appear on the ballot. It could be done as a special election or during the 2022 General Election in November.
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