A PAC funded by George Soros that devoted millions to electing liberal district attorneys in California has yet to spend any money this election cycle, even as some of Soros-backed prosecutors face uncertain futures.
California Justice & Public Safety PAC spent well over $5 million between 2018 and 2020 to elect Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon and Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, campaign finance records show. With these prosecutors now facing tough elections that could boot them from office, however, Soros’ PAC has ceased its spending with $0 in expenditures recorded from 2023 to the present.
Soros provided the majority of California Justice & Public Safety PAC’s funding, pouring over $6 million into the committee between 2018 and 2021, according to campaign finance records. Gascon was the most recent beneficiary of the Soros-backed PAC, receiving over $4.5 million in support for his 2020 campaign.
Gascon, who won his election with 53.7% of the vote, announced shortly after that his office would no longer be prosecuting select crimes, including trespassing, disturbing the peace, driving without a license or a suspended license, making criminal threats, drug possession, drinking in public, loitering to commit prostitution and resisting arrest, according to a ABC 7, a local affiliate. Crime soared during Gascon’s first year in office, with homicide increasing by 11.8% in areas patrolled by the Los Angeles Police Department between 2020 and 2021, according to CBS News.
Gascon faced two recall attempts during his first term. Both the 2021 and 2022 efforts failed after falling short in terms of valid signatures.
The DA survived an open primary in May, during which he was up against 11 challengers, and garnered 25.2% of the vote, The New York Times reported.
Gascon is set to run against former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman in the November general election.
Gascon initially ran on a platform of reducing the number of people in jail by eliminating cash bail, increasing oversight on police officers and protecting people from immigration authorities, according to an archived copy of Gascon’s website.
Price, who received roughly $700,000 in support from the California Justice & Public Safety PAC for her unsuccessful2018 campaign, is also traversing rough waters as she faces a strong recall effort and mounting controversies.
She ultimately won her 2022 election and took office on January 2, 2023. Violent crime increased by 21% in Oakland, the largest city in Alameda County, during Price’s first ten months in office, according to police data.
Local activists seeking to remove Price from office collected enough signatures to hold a recall election, according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters. Organizers claim Price’s policies contributed to rising crime in the county by prioritizing the interests of offenders over victims.
Alameda County Prosecutors’ Association, a union representing some of her employees, voted “overwhelmingly” to support the recall effort. The association claimed that Price had created “hostile work conditions” for employees of the district attorney’s office.
Patti Lee, formerly a spokesperson for the Alameda County district attorney’s office, sued Price in June, alleging that she had made racist remarks towards Asians and that she had chosen “to hide, delete and change” public records to avoid complying with lawful requests.
Price ran for office on a platform of reducing the number of people in prison, bringing down sentences for offenders under the age of 25 and cracking down on purported police abuses, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Gascon and Price collectively preside over more than 11 million people across their jurisdictions, according to Census Bureau estimates.
Whitney Tymas, the director of California Justice & Public Safety PAC, did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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