Gascon: BH Council Vote 'Flies In The Face Of Rational Thought'

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Los Angeles County District Attorney Gascon had strong words for the Beverly Hills City Council, which voted last week 3-2 to approve a Vote of No Confidence against his leadership. In an interview with the Beverly Hills Courier conducted before the resolution was passed, Gascon called the resolution “really unfortunate” and said that it “flies in the face of rational thought.”

Gascon, who passed a series of directives that some in the Council argued would increase crime, defended each of these directives, arguing that data shows that they would increase fairness and equity, not crime. Gascon also said that Mayor Lester Friedman is either “lying” or “terribly uninformed” on the subject of misdemeanor arrests, and claimed that BHPD Chief Dominick Rivetti never provided his office with crime data it had asked for, and refused requests to work together.

The Council passed a vote of no confidence on March 16, arguing that three directives Gascon issued in December - which would eliminate cash bail for misdemeanors and non-violent felonies; decline or dismiss prosecuting several misdemeanor charges; and eliminate sentencing enhancements - represented an overturning of democratically passed laws, and would make Beverly Hills less safe. Councilmember Lili Bosse, who co-sponsored the resolution along with Mayor Friedman, even went as far as to say that if the Council “doesn’t act now, we could be part of the reason that Beverly Hills could fail.”

Vice Mayor Robert Wunderlich and Councilmember John Mirisch voted against the resolution. Wunderlich said that the vote should be against the policies, rather than the individual, while Mirisch said that the combative vote would unnecessarily politicize the Council, and more data was needed on the directives’ effect on crime. 116 people wrote in in support of the vote, while just 19 urged against it.

Gascon claimed that crime increased under his predecessor Jackie Lacey by 25%. According to data analyzed by the Los Angeles Times in February 2020, violent crime rose 31% countywide from 2011 to 2018, and 44% in the city of Los Angeles since 2012, reports that Lacey has disputed. Gascon wondered aloud why the Beverly Hills City Council never took a vote of no confidence against her.

He said that linking rising crime to his directives “flies in the face of rational thought.”

“I can’t help but think that this is really driven by the tough on crime philosophy from the 80s and 90s that is still something that people in our community believe in, and obviously at least three members of the Council believe in,” Gascon told The Courier. “But it’s completely divorced from any connection to true safety in the community.”

Gascon defended his directive eliminating cash bail, which allows suspects to leave jail until trial if they can pay a hefty fee, sometimes millions of dollars. This means that wealthier individuals can pay their way out of jail temporarily, while poorer people must remain. “The concept that somehow money bail protects the community is a false concept, but it does a lot for inequality and creates a loss of credibility in the system,” he told The Courier.

Gascon also defended his directive to end most sentencing enhancements for certain crimes. The directive ended laws that added time to sentences if defendants had violated their bail, had a firearm allegation against them, or were repeat offenders. He said that data shows that 95 percent of people in prison will come out, and lengthier prison stays increase the likelihood that they will return to prison. He also said that helping people who commit low-level misdemeanors, who often have substance abuse and mental health problems, are more likely to be helped by treatment than incarceration.

Gascon took particular issue with Friedman’s claim that someone could shoplift $949 worth of merchandise - over $950 and it becomes a felony - and get away with it under new directives. He said that even under the new rules, someone could still go to jail for up to six months for misdemeanor-level shoplifting. He also said that the increase in what constitutes a shoplifting felony came from Proposition 47, a 2014 measure hoping to keep up with inflation. Gascon claimed that since Proposition 47 passed, property crime, racial disparity, and recidivism have all gone down, claims supported by a June study from the Public Policy Institute of California.

“I have to say that the mayor is either terribly uninformed, and I would worry if I were a voter in Beverly Hills, or he’s lying, and I would worry about that as well,” Gascon told The Courier.

Gascon also hit back against Council claims that his meetings with Chief Dominick Rivetti were “unproductive,” and said it was “disingenuous” Rivetti to make this claim. Gascon said members of his staff thought the meeting was “very productive,” but Rivetti did not take advantage of his offers to collaborate.

“I said, ‘Why don’t we work together? Let’s identify the pattern crimes on violence, so that we can pay particular attention [to those cases.]’ And I asked him, ‘Could you put the data together?’ He said that they would. We haven’t heard back,” Gascon claimed.

“Concerning property crime, I mentioned to him how the county and the office of Alternatives to Incarceration are helping us to identify resources. I said that we have some resources in the county, and again, if you can identify patterns, we can work together, and they agreed to do so. Not only did they never [do that], but then within two or three days I got bombarded with over 100 emails from Beverly Hills, clearly cut and paste emails, saying the same things [Rivetti had said about rises in crime.]”

The Beverly Hills Police Department has not yet responded to Patch’s request for a response to Gascon’s account, but an earlier statement from BHPD spokesperson Lt. Subin said that Chief Rivetti agrees that the meeting was unproductive.

“We did meet with DA Gascon on February 11, 2021,” Subin wrote in an email. “Generally, the Chief does agree with the characterization of the meeting as unproductive. During this meeting with DA Gascon and his staff, we all agreed that we would meet again in six months to speak about his office's Special Directives and data from Beverly Hills.”

Gascon isn’t just taking heat from Beverly Hills. He’s facing a recall vote from voters that is supported by Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva. Gascon told the Courier that he was elected “by a large margin” (he got 236,000 more votes than Lacey), but he is taking the recall seriously and called it “unfortunate.”

“It’s an indicator of the disconnect that some people our community have with reality and with a system that hasn’t worked very well for most of our community,” he said.

In December, the union representing LA County deputy district attorneys sued Gascon, alleging that his directives defy state law and force them to violate their oaths of office. Attorneys have also said that they are being reprimanded for noting in court records their opposition to these policies.

While Gascon has been criticized as soft on crime, Beverly Hills has also come under fire for being too harsh. On March 19, a superior court judge ruled that the city cannot use an emergency ordinance barring large protests and demonstrations at night to prosecute protesters from earlier this year.

“Beverly Hills cannot prohibit legitimately targeted disturbances with a measure that equally prohibits innocent protected expression,” L.A. Superior Court Judge Mark Windham wrote.

The city is also targeted in a February lawsuit alleging that the city and the BHPD, along with Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and several others in Los Angeles County, violated protesters' constitutional and civil rights through curfews, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Read the full Courier interview here.