The general public in Los Angeles County made a "commendable effort" to recall District Attorney George Gascon, even if the move failed to proceed because there were not enough valid signatures, former New York City Commissioner Brian Andersson, who served under Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg, said on Newsmax Tuesday.
The California recall organizers needed almost 570,000 valid petition signatures to schedule an election to remove Gascon, but county officials found that only about 520,000 of the signatures were valid after 200,000 were disqualified.
Andersson pointed out on Newsmax's "National Report" that New York City is "notorious" for such petition challenges, and the people involved in Los Angeles will have about three weeks to appeal the ruling.
However, he said he doesn't know how likely it is that they'll succeed.
"They're just fed up there," he said. "They're tired of being soft on crime. I understand a number of his prosecutors are on board with this."
Gascon, commenting on the failed petition drive, said that his primary focus has always been on keeping the community safe while creating a "more equitable justice system," but Andersson said that he believes that means the DA will prosecute people "based on race."
"They're deciding not to pursue certain crimes," he said. "We're seeing it here in New York, and what's the uptake of all of it? Crime is going up. We see no end to this, and we've seen that part and parcel of the problem."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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