Recall Gascón effort submits over 700,000 petition signatures
A large-scale effort to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón submitted roughly 717,000 petition signatures to election officials Wednesday in hopes of putting the fate of the county's top law enforcement officer in the hands of voters.
After announcing their initial plans to recall the D.A. back in late January, organizers are prepared to deliver a literal truckload's worth of signatures to election officials at the county's Registrar Office at around 2 p.m.
In all, the petition only needs 566,857 valid signatures -- or 10% of the county's registered voters.
An initial effort to recall Gascón was initially launched back in 2021, though they were unable to reach the correct number of signatures.
The second effort, which began in January, was reportedly better funded and more organized, as organizers looked to officially initiate a recall.
As for Gascon, he has repeatedly been under fire in recent months, especially after 'I blame Gascón for all this,' says mother of slain El Monte officer of the criminal case of the man who went on to fatally shoot a pair of El Monte police officers in June. The man, Justin Flores, was provided with a plea deal in 2021 that allowed him to avoid jail time, despite a history of arrests.
He has since gone on to rebut that criticism, saying at the time of the plea it was a logical and appropriate decision under the circumstances.
Again in February he made headlines after admitting that the sentence handed down to convicted sex abuser Hannah Tubbs was not adequate.
He has consistently denounced the recall effort, calling it a "partisan power grab," and that he has maintained that his stance, which critics refer to as soft on crime, has not changed since he was elected in 2019.
In all, 37 different cities across the Southland have issued "no-confidence" votes in Gascón's policies, which include a rule against the death penalty, a ban on transferring juvenile defendants to adult court and prohibitions on filing sentencing-enhancements in most cases.
In early January, the Beverly Hills City Council voted unanimously to join the recall effort, while former LAPD chief Charlie Beck rescinded former support he had endorsed back in 2020.
The recall campaign, Recall DA George Gascón, issued a statement on the effort, which read:
"The sheer magnitude of this effort, and time and investment required to get to this point, show how strong the public desire is to remove George Gascón from office. From day one, this recall has been led by the very victims who Gascón has abandoned, ignored and dismissed. When the recall qualifies, he will not be able to ignore them any longer."
He recently shifted on some stances, taking a slightly tougher approach, especially noted in charges he announced on Tuesday in the murder of two women -- Christy Giles and Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola in November 2021.