Los Angeles County district attorney George Gascón is sitting on a backlog of 10,000 cases because his woke ideology and "toxic" management style have pushed many in his office to leave, sources who have worked for him told the New York Post.
The sources said Gascón is an "authoritarian" who fights with anyone that disagrees with his leftist politics, the Post reported. As a result, Los Angeles prosecutors face an enormous backlog of cases. More than 120 prosecutors have left since Gascón took office, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Gascón took office in Los Angeles in 2020 after years as the district attorney in San Francisco, where businesses have been fleeing amid rising crime. He has faced several recall attempts. Gascón is one of the several progressive prosecutors funded by liberal billionaire George Soros. Elected on a promise to reduce "mass incarceration," the embattled district attorney has overseen an increase in crimes as prosecutions have fallen.
"In my career as a prosecutor, I’ve never had victims’ families actually hate us until I came into this office," a former deputy district attorney under Gascón said. The source added that families' anger comes from "lack of prosecution" and "low sentences because of his policies."
The source said Gascón's obsession with lenient punishments for minority offenders is hypocritical.
"Gascón is so focused on justice for black and brown defendants, but the victims and their families are also black and brown," the former deputy district attorney said. "Where is the justice for them? We are making them victims of the criminal justice system yet again."
The comments comes after members of Gascón's office alleged that he ignores how his policies let cases surrounding child sex crimes, domestic violence, and sexual assault double during his tenure. Valerie Cole, a prosecutor under Gascón, said in a 2022 internal memo obtained by the Washington Free Beacon that the office was fielding "more than twice as many" such cases than normal with fewer staff members. Cole said the office would continue to suffer a "loss of reputation" if the trend continues.
Soros-backed prosecutors across the country are facing scrutiny. Kim Gardner, the former top prosecutor in St. Louis, quit her job earlier this month amid a legal battle with Missouri’s attorney general Andrew Bailey, who sought to remove her for neglecting her duties.
Chesa Boudin, the former prosecutor in San Francisco, was removed in a June 2022 recall election amid soaring crime in the city. House Republicans are also investigating Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, who they claim is politically prosecuting former president Donald Trump and ignoring rising crime.
A U.S. attorney backed by Soros resigned last week right before a Department of Justice investigation revealed she violated campaign finance laws and lied under oath.