{"id":106392,"date":"2022-01-27T09:13:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T17:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=106392"},"modified":"2022-01-27T09:13:52","modified_gmt":"2022-01-27T17:13:52","slug":"op-ed-the-lemon-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2022\/01\/27\/op-ed-the-lemon-lawyer\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-ed: The Lemon Lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Ryan Erlich<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

If you buy a new car in California and it doesn\u2019t work, the state\u2019s Lemon Law compels the carmaker to fix it, replace it, or buy it back.<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be great if we had something like that for local politicians?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why I ask…<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been a deputy district attorney for almost ten years. And in that time, I\u2019ve talked with a lot of people about what I do.<\/p>\n

Most of them don\u2019t work in the criminal justice system. They\u2019re artists, waiters, teachers, writers, nurses, librarians, barbers, pastors, and moms and dads with other things on their minds. They all ask questions, mostly about the cases we handle in court. I blame this on true crime podcasts and TV shows.<\/p>\n

Until this year, those questions usually began with \u201cwho\u201d or \u201cwhat\u201d or \u201cwhen\u201d or \u201chow,\u201d like \u201cwhat was your craziest case?\u201d or \u201chow was it solved?<\/p>\n

But since George Gasc\u00f3n<\/strong> became Los Angeles County\u2019s District Attorney, more are asking questions that begin with \u201cwhy.\u201d And I don\u2019t mean \u201cwhy does crime happen?\u201d or \u201cwhy do we need prisons?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, they\u2019re asking \u201cwhy are things so much worse now than they were a year ago?\u201d \u201cWhy did I vote for this guy?\u201d \u201cWhy do I still live in Los Angeles?\u201d<\/p>\n

The people asking these questions are frustrated, mad, and afraid. They also regret not paying more attention to the 2020 District Attorney\u2019s race when they had the chance.<\/p>\n

And despite what Gasc\u00f3n and his political team say, these folks are not right-wingers or reactionary Republicans. Most of them are politically left-of-center. Some are proud, self-described progressives. All care deeply about social justice and racial equity.<\/p>\n

Their anger is not irrational.<\/p>\n

Many of them \u2014 including many of my friends \u2014 voted for Gasc\u00f3n because they believed, in the post-George Floyd \/ Black Lives Matter era, that he would prosecute \u201ckiller cops\u201d who unlawfully used force against people of color.<\/p>\n

And they felt good about casting that vote. Because, in their minds, a vote for Gasc\u00f3n and the brand of criminal justice reform he claimed to represent was an easy way \u2014 the easiest, in fact \u2014 for well-intentioned moderate and left-of-center voters like them to demonstrate allyship and continued political support for a nationwide movement that, at its core, stands for equal justice and righting past wrongs.<\/p>\n

What they didn\u2019t know was that Gasc\u00f3n hardly ever did that when he was San Francisco\u2019s District Attorney. (See Mario Woods & Luis Gongora Pat<\/em>.) In fact, his failure to do it made him so politically unpopular that he couldn\u2019t run for reelection in 2019. His political toxicity was also one of the reasons he stepped down (read: quit) before his term ended.<\/p>\n

They also didn\u2019t know that Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s claim that he \u201creduced violent crime in every leadership position [he\u2019d] held\u201d was false. Under Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s \u201cleadership,\u201d overall reported crime in San Francisco increased 43% (32% per capita), property crime increased by 48% (37% per capita), violent crime by 11% (3.5% per capita), and arsons by almost 70% (57% per capita). When Gasc\u00f3n took office in January 2011, San Francisco\u2019s per capita crime rate was 60% higher than the statewide rate; by 2019, it was 130% higher. Just last month, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors declared the city\u2019s Tenderloin district to be a disaster area, thanks to policies Gasc\u00f3n championed as DA, including Proposition 47. And in his first full year as Los Angeles\u2019 District Attorney, Gasc\u00f3n hasn\u2019t lived up to his campaign promise to \u201cmake our neighborhoods safer.\u201d In the City of Los Angeles, homicides are at a 15-year high. In Sheriff-policed areas, they\u2019re up 47%. Violent crime has increased in both jurisdictions.<\/p>\n

What they also didn\u2019t know was that in his first five minutes as Los Angeles County\u2019s District Attorney, Gasc\u00f3n would issue a series of blanket, quasi-illegal directives that would disproportionately harm the same communities that they sought to support with their votes. And they certainly didn\u2019t seek out or sign up for the increase in crime that has inevitably followed.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s this disconnect between what Gasc\u00f3n promised (prosecuting \u201ckiller cops\u201d) and what he has delivered (lawlessness and disorder) that has left so many people feeling like they\u2019ve been taken for a ride. Because they have.<\/p>\n

And now they aren\u2019t just asking \u201cwhy.\u201d They are screaming it.<\/p>\n

Why do we feel unsafe in our homes, our neighborhoods, and our cities?<\/p>\n

Why has the violence become so random, so vicious, so pervasive, and so widespread?<\/p>\n

Why has George Gasc\u00f3n refused to accept responsibility for any of it?<\/p>\n

Why won\u2019t he use every law and tool at his disposal to tame gun and gang violence?<\/p>\n

Why hasn\u2019t he fought or lobbied to make more resources available for those suffering from mental illness?<\/p>\n

Why doesn\u2019t he do more to help recently released prisoners successfully adapt to the most stressful and psychologically disorienting era in recent memory?<\/p>\n

Why does he send weekly fundraising emails to political supporters, but won\u2019t roll out a plan \u2014 any plan \u2014 to crack down on illegal firearms?<\/p>\n

And why, despite all evidence to the contrary, does he believe that his first year as District Attorney was a success?<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also starting to ask another question: \u201cWhat can we do about it?\u201d<\/p>\n

And that brings us back to California\u2019s Lemon Law.<\/p>\n

In November 2020, many Angelenos bought \u2014 with their votes \u2014 a very expensive \u201ccar\u201d that just won\u2019t work, doesn\u2019t work, hasn\u2019t worked, and maybe never will work. It\u2019s sitting in the District Attorney\u2019s office and earning an annual salary of $372,000 plus benefits.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re tired of making the payments, no matter their politics or party.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re begging for repairs, asking for a refund, and searching for a replacement.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re all sick of this Lemon Lawyer.<\/p>\n

So, again, wouldn\u2019t it be great if we had something like the Lemon Law for local politicians?<\/p>\n

About the author<\/span>: Ryan Erlich is a Deputy District Attorney and a Director of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys, the collective bargaining agent representing nearly 1,000 Deputy District Attorneys who work for the County of Los Angeles.<\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ryan Erlich If you buy a new car in California and it doesn\u2019t work, the state\u2019s Lemon Law compels the carmaker to fix it, replace it, or buy it back. Wouldn\u2019t it be great if we had something like that for local politicians? Here\u2019s why I ask… I\u2019ve been a deputy district attorney for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":106393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1480],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106392"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106395,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106392\/revisions\/106395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}