Tipsheet

Soros-Backed DA's Own Office Union Just Sued Him

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  September 23, 2024 3:45 PM

Slapped with yet another lawsuit, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is in hot water again. This time, the embattled Soros-backed prosecutor's own office is accusing him of withholding critical information — in violation of the state's open records law — about a senior Gascón aide facing felony charges. The union representing the largest local prosecutorial office in the country alleges that Gascón is protecting his ethics chief currently charged with a slew of felonies.

The lawsuit filed September 11 is the latest in a series of legal battles between the Association of Deputy District Attorneys (ADDA), which is comprised of hundreds of prosecutors in the L.A. DA's office, and their boss.

According to the 199-page court filing, the ADDA claims that Gascón violated the California Public Records Act (CPRA) by refusing to release records related to ex-Assistant DA Diana Teran, a high-ranking Gascón official who was indicted on 11 felonies in April for allegedly stealing police files from her prior employment with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. The data contained confidential personnel information about local law enforcement officers, per the criminal complaint charging Teran.

At the time of the alleged offenses, Teran was part of Gascón's leadership team and appointed by Gascón to lead the office's Ethics and Integrity Operations.

The suit says that the ADDA repeatedly requested records and emails detailing Teran's employment status within the DA's office, what privileged and private data she still had access to while awaiting trial, and whether Los Angeles County taxpayers were footing the bill for her legal defense. However, in "numerous instances," Gascón's office only returned incomplete responses or "completely ignored" aspects of the record requests.

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According to the ADDA, Teran remained on the public payroll, earning $320,000 annually plus benefits, after the indictment. Since she was charged, Teran continued to occupy a key position in Gascón's administration, collecting at least $60,000 in pay and "flex earnings," the ADDA says.

"The California Public Records Act clearly mandates that public agencies must promptly provide access to public records without unnecessary delays. Yet, George Gascón has consistently violated the law by unlawfully delaying and obstructing the process,” ADDA Vice President Ryan Erlich said in a press release.

"It's deeply troubling that we are once again forced to take legal action simply to obtain public documents that should be readily available," remarked ADDA President Michele Hanisee.

Neama Rahmani, a Los Angeles-based former federal prosecutor, told Fox News Digital that the ADDA has the right to access that information, noting that the DA may be trying to delay damaging information from reaching the public ahead of Election Day.

"These are public records, and the union and other members of the public have a right to this information," Rahmani commented. "Of course, Teran is a high-ranking deputy DA and a close ally of Gascón, who is facing a tough challenger in November, and the union has sued Gascón before during his tumultuous first term."

The ADDA's current lawsuit aims to compel Gascón's office to release the requested records in full and cover any attorney fees incurred by the union in the legal matter.

Gascón was elected in 2020 with the help of Democrat mega-donor George Soros, who had poured millions into Gascón's campaign via the California branch of the Justice & Public Safety PAC, according to campaign finance data reported by the California Secretary of State's office. Through this super PAC, The Los Angeles Times calculates that Soros spent a total of $2.25 million funding Gascón's victory.

According to The California Globe, the soft-on-crime DA has been separately sued by individual deputy district attorneys 25 times since he assumed office. Adding in the four filed by the ADDA, that averages out to a lawsuit about every seven weeks since Gascón entered office in December 2020.