LA DA's Race 2020

Thursday Night’s Informative & Take-No-Prisoners Debate Between Jackie Lacey & George Gascón as They Battle to See Who Will Be LA’s Next District Attorney

Celeste Fremon
Written by Celeste Fremon

At 6:30 p.m. on Thursday October 8, an important debate took place between two term Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey, the first woman and first African-American to hold the office, and challenger former San Francisco DA, longtime cop, and nationally known progressive justice reformer, George Gascón.

Theirs is a match up that has produced one of the most closely watched local races in the nation.

If you don’t know whom you’re voting for in the DA race, or even if you do, we suggest you watch Thursday’s virtual debate, sponsored by the LA Times & KPCC radio, if you didn’t already.

The debate was moderated by Frank Stoltze, KPCC/LAist Public Safety Correspondent, and James Queally, L.A. Times Criminal Justice Reporter, both of whom were excellent and extremely well-informed interrogators who took no sides, and neither did they take prisoners.

Yet, Stolze and Queally’s depth of knowledge and command of facts, allowed them to push both candidates hard, and fairly.

So, if you didn’t watch the debate in real time, watch it now.  You will come away feeling more in command of the facts yourself, and thus more able to make informed choices.

And, in case you want more after watching Thursday’s event,  there are two other debates have already taken place this month. And, happily,  both are  archived online.

October 3, 2020 LA DA candidate debate, sponsored by Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State LA, the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles City & County, and Univision.

The first of the earlier debates took place on Saturday Oct 3, and was sponsored by the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State LA, the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles City & County, and Univision.

It was moderated by ABC 7’s Marc Brown, who was joined by Eyewitness News reporter Adrienne Alpert, and Univision’s KMEX-Los Angeles anchor Leon Krauze.

ABC7 has archived the debate here.

Debate number two, which took place on October 6, was hosted by the Beverly Hills Bar Association (BHBA).

The BHBA event, which was co-sponsored by a long list of local lawyers’ associations,  featured attorney/moderators UCLA law professor, Beth Colgan, and Adam Siegler, president of the Beverly Hills Bar Association.

The fact that this debate was a case of lawyers asking questions of lawyers, gave it a different flavor, which is worth your time to check out.

You can watch that ZOOM conversation here.

Jackie Lacey and George Gascón at October 8, 2020 virtual debate, with Frank Stoltze and James Queally moderating.

Which brings us back to Thursday’s debate, sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, and 89.3 KPCC.

If you watch no other LA DA debate, we recommend you tune into this one since, as we mentioned above, KPCC’s Frank Stoltze and the LAT’s James Queally are more than up to the task of asking insightful, fact-driven, probing questions.

In any case, click here, and enjoy.

But watch one of the debates.

And then vote.

Democracy is a participatory sport.

10 Comments

  • No need to watch the debate, the fact George Soros donated to one of the candidates, their campaign is funded by Bay Area Donors (all of which was surprisingly reported by LA Times) and the sad state of affairs in the city they last held office in (homelessness, crime, quality of life or lack thereof) are enough for me to say NO ON SOROS…OOPS….I meant GASCON!

  • If everyone has to pass a purity test to gain the support of the extreme liberal left! Be advised Gascon was an Assistant Chief under Bill Bratton. Bill was and continues to be a very strong proponent of Community Policing, Comstat and most importantly the Broken Windows Theory. This concept pushed Law Enforcement to enforce minor infractions in an effort to reduce overall crime. The far left has widely rejected this, without any real evidence mind you, as effective.

    Gascon was the man who pushed this concept for Bratton who became the Police Chief in Los Angeles. So is Gascon just another Villanueva. Trading on his Latino heritage and his new found progressive credentials.

    As for Gascon’s conflict with Joe Arpaio when both were law enforcement officers in Arizona, just about everyone is left of the Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio. No real profile in courage there.

  • A great tv commercial was made about Gascon, “The con is on with George Gascon” can be easily found on you tube.

    Funny thing about Gascon, looking at interviews he did 10 years ago, his Cuban accent seems to have gotten more pronounced over the years. He’s lived in the US since he was 12, looks like he’s laying that accent on pretty thick, guessing he’s hoping people will overlook his conquistador features and see him as a person of color.

    I hope the liberal white lady vote doesn’t put him in office, listening to this fool lecturing everyone about how racist they are for the next 4 years would be annoying as hell. I have hope though, LA isn’t as whitey white liberal as San Francisco, hopefully they’ll sending this phony packing. Let him be the DA in someplace that deserves him, like Portland or Seattle.

  • Editor’s note,

    Dear Abort,

    That’s correct. No you cannot.

    I believe I went back and deleted one or two of your other comments, now that you’re on our radar.

    Have a good Friday night.

    C.

    PS: Your newest nom de guerre isn’t doing you any favors either, regarding not getting your comments deleted.

  • San Francisco has become unlivable for the average person. The City and County of San Francisco’ failure to prosecute offenders is a big part of the problem. Gascon will bring this failed thinking to Los Angeles. If Mayor Garcetti wants his City to join San Francisco circling down the drain great but we as citizens must reject this foolishness. Look at the great job the City and County have done with measure H funds for the homeless. They failed. Do you really trust them.

    Accountability with treatment is the answer. Lacey is working to balance both and truly answers to the residents. She speaks for the victims. Gascon speaks for Soros and will answer to Soros.

  • Good, bad or indifferent, Villanueva played the Latino card to capture the title as Sheriff. The kicker was
    Villanueva’s campaign ads depicting Trump, Jeff Sessions and Jim McDonnell.

    Dirty politics but it worked and I wouldn’t be surprised if Gascon pulls it off with the same guerrilla tactics.

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