Gascon didn’t do this

Regarding the Oct. 29 article, "Gascon aims to make LA DA race about over incarceration" -- a couple of things I know with certainty: One, at least during the time the felon is incarcerated, he or she isn't victimizing decent law-abiding citizens. Incarceration works. It's punishment for a crime. "Punishment" is not a bad word. The system isn't broken. Incarceration may be expensive, but what you never hear from people like Gascon is how much these criminals who are decarcerated are costing the community in terms of their recidivism.

Gascon implemented his own version of Proposition 47 in San Francisco before he tried to sell it to the entire state. He saw property crime go up significantly. That didn't stop him. He still hawked his nonsense to the people. He became the principal proponent of Prop. 47, the "Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act." Guess what? It wasn't about safe neighborhoods or schools. That title was a complete lie. It was about reducing punishment and letting criminals out of jail. Exactly what he wants to do more of in Los Angeles. That title was the equivalent of labeling a bottle of arsenic as a health supplement. We now know that San Francisco, thanks to Gascon, is the property crime capital of the United States, thanks primarily to his policies.

Violent crime is down everywhere, but Gascon didn't have anything to do with that. Instead, Gascon doesn't seem to think property crimes hurt decent people. He could care less. Some, whose cars are stolen or damaged, depend on those cars to get to work, and they can't just run out and buy new ones. Guess who Gascon cares more about? Not victims. He loves the justice-involved incarcerateds. We don't have to guess what will happen if you vote for this man. We used to call these panderers: "Snake Oil Salesmen." They would bilk one city and leave it hollow and then move on with their sham to the next one. You want to destroy L.A., vote for the guy who destroyed San Francisco.

-- Marc Debbaudt

Deputy District Attorney

President Emeritus Association of Deputy District Attorneys

This opinion is my personal opinion and not the opinion of this office as far as I know, though it should be.