Monday, December 28, 2020

Debra and the new LA DA


 George Gascon is the new Los Angeles District Attorney and Debra Tate does not like him.  Gascon comes to Los Angeles via San Francisco where he first served as Chief of Police.  Later, when Kamala Harris who was SF's district attorney ran for Attorney General of the State of California and won, Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Gascon to be SF's district attorney.  Gascon held the job from 2011 until 2018 when he announced he was leaving to go to LA to care for his aging mother.

George Gascon was born in pre-communist Havana, Cuba in 1954.  He immigrated to the US with his family in 1967.  The family settled in Bell, a suburb of Los Angeles.  In 1978 he joined the Los Angeles Police Department as a patrol officer.  He left LAPD after three years to go into business management.  While working as a civilian he continued working for the police as a reserve officer in the Hollenbeck Division of the LAPD.

In 1987 Gascon returned to LAPD as a fulltime officer working his way up the ranks becoming Assistant Chief of Police under Chief William Bratton.  During this time he went to Western State College of Law earning his J.D. degree in 1996.

In 2006 Gascon left LAPD for Mesa Arizona becoming the Chief of Police.  He had frequent clashes with Mariposa County Sheriff Arpaio over Arpaio's treatment of Latinos.  It was in 2009 that Gascon was hired to be the Chief of Police in San Francisco.

Gascon announced his candidacy for the LA DA's position in 2019 and won the office November 6 2020 beating incumbent Jackie Lacey who had held the office for eight years.  Gascon is considered a criminal justice reformist and that is the platform he ran on.  He is against the death penalty and charging juveniles as adults, furthermore vowed to re-open officer involved shootings from the previous eight years.  He will also re-evaluate any prison sentences where the prisoners has served 20 years.  Once elected he announced his office would not seek cash bail for certain offences and would release those currently awaiting such bail.  His actions have created outrage from some victims and their families as well as some of his own prosecutors.

To be fair, Governor Newsom has also suggested a no cash bail system to the counties in California during the pandemic to lessen the jail and prison population where the virus is running rampant.

All of George Gascon's bio aside, Debra's outrage is probably misplaced because it is the Governor who has the final say as to whether or not a prisoner is released.  Bruce Davis, Leslie Van Houten and Bobby Beausoleil have all been granted parole under former District Attorney Jackie Lacey's tenure, only to have that parole reversed by the Governor.

The following is an interview with Debra Tate by Orange County radio host John Phillips regarding George Gascon.




5 comments:

Fayez Abedaziz said...

Coming now, to say this or that and considering that I was a 'new left' fella in the 60's, which was, at the time, the progression or change from the old left, well then, here I am in agreement with John Phillips.
What they, John and Debra said was not simply the old 'law and order' toughness some politicians talked about during protests of the 60's-70's that was often just mean and often against students and others right to free speech and demonstrations.
They talked about today's realities and I agree with 'em.
So far, this is all I know about this gentleman, but I like him so far from this particular program we just listened to.
Debra Tate (shouldn't that be Deborah) sounded like a realistic lady on the subjects discussed and she has a really nice laugh too.
Though she and some other fine California citizens know where I stand on Leslie and Susan Sadie's situations: shoulda been freed after no more than 30 years.
At the same time, those of us at the basic beginning of having student offices for this or that group (see the 'free speech movement at Berkeley and guys like Tom Hayden. He was married to Jane Fonda) and for freedom to say what you want, unfettered, are somewhat dismayed that, these days, it's the 'liberals' and 'progressives' that are now the new 'dictating' what we can discuss and say?
And, it's all about social issues, that's it? Identity politics?

On a lighter note or two or three:
oh, ha ha. what was the second half of the program about? Sex vids? come on now...
I listened to some of it and I laughed and said, ' ah, C, L, J and (another) C, ladies, that are in Southern Calif, please show those polaroids from '69 and 70 to no one please. I would be highly embarrassed.
All four ladies are married and of course older now, so still, we all can still laugh, life is lousy enough anyway with this stupid 2020 year.
I hope you all have a nice New Year, at least with some nice coffee or tea.
Some Cognac or Scotch would be nice too.
Moderately of course.

DebS said...

Nope, Debra spells her name DEBRA, not the biblical version like mine!

Name: Debra Ann Tate
Date of Birth: 6 Nov 1952
Gender: Female
Birth County: El Paso
Father's Name: Paul James Tate
Mother's Name: Doris Gwendolyn Willett

Gorodish said...

Doris' maiden name was Willett.....oo-ee-oo I see a connection here...
:-)

Fayez Abedaziz said...

DebS,
how you? Good,well then what's in a name?
Let's ask Paul (the best composer along with The Beatles and Jeff Lynne, of all music, of all time, except for Classical) as he sang with the The Beatles:

'her name was Magil and she called herself Lil but everyone knew her as Nancy'
Nancy! ha

not Pelosi mind you, but Nancy! In the song Rocky Racoon-the album?
the double one called the 'White Album!'
Coincidence? I don't think so.
Debra Tate's dad's name is Paul?
Hmm...lemme see, where have I heard that name befor...aha- sweet,full haired, Susan Sadie's baby boy! Exactly who adopted the cute little boy? Eh?
Coincidence? I doubt it.
Tate? What kinda simple name is that? Oh yeah, from the junky, failing nation they call Britain. Which, by the way is an Italian word, from when the Romans came over there!
Look at the names Deborah, or Debra ( I like Debbie the best, the name of a girl in my fifth grade class in Detroit, the first girl I fell in love with.) Don't y'all see the links, for crying out loud!
Ah, but there's more.
The names Debra, Ann, Catherine, Teresa, Karen and Diane, oh and especially Susan, are what makes me think as being the names of European Princesses!
How do you like that!
Did you know, like I know, that Debra Tate, as a teenager, then in her early twenties, had one of the cutest, most alluring (and to me, erotic) of a girls face, especially her eyes, wow?
At the same time, Sharon Tate had big beautiful eyes and Barbra Parkins, well, beautiful brown eyes, I tell ya, like Leslie and Susan and...let's see...oh,
since we're kinda near the subject, it's time for the draconian punishment of Leslie Van Houten to stop. They let hundreds of ugly (mentally and physically) criminals out just cause of the damn virus.
Let her out,do I have to go over there?

orwhut said...

Blogger Gorodish said...
Doris' maiden name was Willett.....oo-ee-oo I see a connection here...
:-)

I think it's probably a coincidence but still an oo-ee-oo worthy occurrence.