Los Angeles DA Gascon Sued – Again – By His Staff

by Thomas Buckley at californiaglobe.com

The Los Angeles Association of Deputy District Attorneys (“ADDA”), the union representing nearly 800 line prosecutors in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, has filed an unfair labor practice charge against their boss – current DA George Gascón – for false, anti-union statements he made in an interview with a newspaper group.

At issue are Gascon’s statements published last week in the papers owned by the Southern California News Group (basically all of the remaining dailies in and around LA that aren’t called the Times.)

The article, by editorial board member Larry Wilson, is an endorsement of Gascon and contains the usual “he just needs to communicate better” and “everyone else is wrong about Gascon” claptrap.

But it is one specific passage that has the ADDA so irked up that they are taking Gascon to task:

“In their work against me, the union had to raise their dues twice and now a third time — they spend it on the campaign against me, on recalls, on lawsuits. But … we are seeing cracks” in the internal opposition. “We gave tests for DA 4,” a step up for junior prosecutors. “and the union told people not to take the exam, and over 300 people took the exam. The union refused my offer to give raises to many of our attorneys,” because they didn’t want him to have that victory.

The union states, point blank, that none of that is true and by lying about the union Gascon has violated at least a pair of state labor laws, including  the Employee Relations Ordinance, Section 5.040.20 (a) and (b), and the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act.

The union is asking for a cease and desist order to keep Gascon from repeating the claims.