'Progressive DAs' add to Dems' Biden woes

 Sarah Westwood:

A national reckoning over the consequences of liberal criminal justice reforms has forced current and prospective Democratic governors to walk a fine line when it comes to championing the progressive prosecutors in their states.

Liberal district attorneys have seen dramatic increases in violence on their watch in many of the country’s most populous cities, where Democratic voters gambled on candidates who promised to put racial equity at the center of their decision-making.

Now, some Democratic governors are caught between courting the activist Left and the realities facing city-dwellers in their states.

That tension was on display earlier this month, when California Gov. Gavin Newsom was asked about the controversial district attorney in Los Angeles, George Gascon.

"I don't know enough about the job he's done,” Newsom said in response to a question about Gascon’s performance. “I'm deeply concerned about the criticism” Gascon has received, Newsom added.

But he said he would leave “objective analysis” of Gascon’s performance “to locals” rather than weigh in himself.

Newsom’s comments came roughly two years after he endorsed Gascon in the 2020 district attorney race.

That endorsement came years after Newsom had, as the mayor of San Francisco, appointed Gascon to multiple high-level jobs, including a position as that city’s district attorney.

Critics questioned how Newsom could deny familiarity with Gascon’s work given their yearslong relationship, as well as the high-profile effort underway in California’s largest city to recall Gascon from office.

Homicides in Los Angeles jumped by 53% last year over 2019, the year before Gascon took office.

Newsom’s careful answer about Gascon reflects the tightrope Democratic governors must walk when it comes to district attorneys who still retain support in progressive circles.

For New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is hoping to get elected to her post for the first time in November after ascending to the governorship via an appointment, that balancing act was made more difficult this month by a specific case that became symbolic of the criticisms facing Manhattan’s district attorney.

District Attorney Alvin Bragg came under enormous fire in early July when he charged a 61-year-old bodega worker, Jose Alba, with murder after Alba defended himself against an assailant who had physically attacked him behind his store counter.

The case attracted nationwide attention, with critics claiming it revealed Bragg’s indifference to the victims of crimes that his own policies seemingly allowed.

Hochul’s Republican opponent, Rep. Lee Zeldin, called on her to remove Bragg over the case and vowed to remove Bragg himself if elected this fall.

But Hochul avoided wading into the controversy.
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Most of these "progressive" DAs have been backed by Soros money and they have been a disaster for their communities as crime has dramatically increased because of their lenient policies.  The Democrats-controlled states have also passed laws that turn arrested perps loose with no bail allowing them to continue their crime sprees.  Americans living in Democrat-controlled states and cities are less safe while the crooks are more safe.  What should be clear is that Democrat crime policies are an utter failure.