Prosecutor Elections Now a Front Line in the Justice Wars
In most district attorney elections, the campaign playbook is clear: Win over the local cops and talk tough on crime.
But in California this year, the strategy is being turned on its head.
Wealthy donors are spending millions of dollars to back would-be prosecutors who want to reduce incarceration, crack down on police misconduct and revamp a bail system they contend unfairly imprisons poor people before trial.
The effort is part of a years-long campaign by liberal groups to reshape the nation’s criminal justice system. New York billionaire George Soros headlines a consortium of private funders, the ACLU and other social justice groups and Democratic activists targeting four of the 56 district attorney positions up for election on June 5. Another six California candidates are receiving lesser support.
The cash infusion turns underdog challengers into contenders for one of the most powerful positions in local justice systems, roiling conventional law-and-order politics.
The challengers have matched or surpassed the millions of dollars, largely from police, prosecutors and local business, flowing to incumbents unaccustomed to such organized liberal opposition.
“For decades, the only real question about prosecutor elections was: Are they pernicious or are they just irrelevant?” said Stanford Law Professor David Sklansky, a former federal prosecutor. "For years, the races tended to focus on character issues rather than policies....
