Candidates focus on Becerra’s lawsuits during debate

DOWNEY — In their second debate leading up to the June 5 primary, candidates for California attorney general called incumbent Xavier Becerra obsessed with Washington, needlessly litigious and an absentee in the state he was appointed to serve.

Steven Bailey, a Republican and a retired El Dorado County Superior Court judge, said that if Becerra were a private attorney, the courts would deem him a vexatious litigant.

Eric Early, managing partner of Early Sullivan Wright Gizer & McRae LLP, also a Republican, called Becerra’s lawsuits “outrageous” and said it is not the role of the attorney general to “sue every five minutes.”

Fellow Democrat Dave Jones, currently the state insurance commissioner, said that while he agreed with Becerra that the state needed to fight President Donald Trump’s policies, the attorney general needs to be more present in-state.

“I agree that we need to do everything we can to resist the Trump administration’s attacks on California, but there’s more to being the attorney general than suing Trump,” Jones said.

Becerra’s office has filed 32 legal actions against the U.S. government.

In response to the criticism, Becerra touted his offices’ achievements such as the prosecution of gangs and sex traffickers, and taking guns out of the hands of 3,700 owners with mental health issues or disqualifying criminal records.

He also brought up California’s position as the fifth largest economy in the world and said that his lawsuits against the federal government are intended to protect the state’s status.

Early accused Becerra of protecting felons from deportation with sanctuary city laws and criticized his support for laws that prevent ICE agents from demanding information on suspected illegal immigrants from businesses without a warrant.

“Everyone’s entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts,” Becerra retorted, saying that such laws protected state resources from federal overreach and safeguarded privacy.

Early, a self-described businessman and political outsider, clashed with Becerra and Jones directly multiple times during the forum while Bailey stuck to policy criticism in the larger picture along party lines.

Jones painted himself as a public servant beholden to no outside influence who would shift focus back to California while maintaining Becerra’s suits against the White House without politicizing the office.

Early accused Jones of politicizing his current position by encouraging insurance companies to divest from the coal industry, which Jones defended by calling coal a depreciating asset that insurance companies were objectively wise to avoid.

Each candidate described public safety as a focus of their platform, and cooperation with law enforcement as key to success.

Jones raised the issue of 10,000 guns in California possessed by people on a list of disqualified gun owners, and Becerra’s failure to reduce the number further than the 3,700 he touts. Becerra said Jones was purposefully leaving out that the list used to be 20,000 names long, and called it a low blow against law enforcement officers.

“That’s not a low blow against law enforcement officers, it’s a direct blow against your office,” Early interceded during a discussion on concealed carrying of guns. Both he and Bailey said California’s gun laws are too restrictive, while Jones and Becerra stood by current regulations.

The candidates agreed that legalized marijuana is here to stay, and needs proper regulation and taxation. Early specifically mentioned a need for a test to ensure drivers are not intoxicated. They also agreed on a need for a crackdown on the enduring black market for the drug, which is still federally prohibited.

Bailey, however, said legalization was “not necessarily a good policy” and said it led to increased criminality in the state.

Another marijuana point covered was the difficulty in handling finances. Due to federal compliance requirements, banks cannot handle income from cannabis businesses.

Becerra once again floated the idea of a state-chartered bank that could handle the money without the need for federal backing or compliance.

Jones countered by saying credit unions and small banks are already working with marijuana businesses, and that federal enforcement is moving in a friendlier direction already.

Both Bailey and Early called the mass amounts of cash resulting from the unbanked industry a problem. Early said he wants it regulated, banked, and taxed with revenues tracked toward law enforcement efforts against the illegal market.

When the debate turned to homelessness and drug abuse, housing and mental illness treatment arose as a common solution. Bailey said that such treatment would be best left to the criminal justice system and insisted that addicts would not pursue treatment independently.

Unless one candidate takes more than 50 percent of the vote on June 5, the top two candidates will go on to the general election in November.