CHALLENGER SAYS COOLEY LENIENT CAMPAIGN: IPSEN SAYS D.A. MADE DEAL TO NOT APPLY JESSICA'S LAW RETROACTIVELY.

Byline: Troy Anderson

Staff Writer

The relatively quiet race for the Los Angeles County district attorney's seat took an unexpected turn Friday when prosecutors union President Steve Ipsen accused District Attorney Steve Cooley of not applying tough provisions of Jessica's Law retroactively to sexually violent predators.

Ipsen, a 22-year criminal prosecutor and president of the 1,000-member Association of Deputy District Attorneys, alleged that Cooley's office entered into an agreement to not seek indeterminate commitments of the worst offenders if their cases were already in the legal system before the law passed.

Based on a copy of an October 2006 stipulation between the District Attorney's Office, Public Defender's Office and Los Angeles Superior Court, Ipsen alleged that Cooley agreed instead to two-year maximum sentences -- allowed before the law passed.

Ipsen said the deal was the result of campaign contributions Cooley has received from criminal-defense attorneys.

Cooley has raised more than $900,000 in his bid for a third term; Ipsen has raised about $60,000.

"I've refused to take money from numerous criminal-defense lawyers on ethical grounds while Cooley has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from the criminal-defense bar and he's been swayed by their influence," Ipsen said. "His position on Jessica's Law is evidence of that."

District Attorney's Office officials said Cooley had laryngitis and could not speak Friday. But Richard Doyle, director of special prosecutions in the District Attorney's Office, denied Ipsen's allegations.

"Last-minute allegations by a weak candidate for district attorney are untrue and are intended to mislead voters," Doyle wrote in a prepared statement. "Under the stipulation entered into by the District Attorney's Office, the Public Defender's Office, and the Los Angeles Superior Court, not one sexually violent predator has been, or will be, released early.

"In fact, the stipulation was created in part to prevent the early release of any (sexually violent predator) who was awaiting a trial at the time Jessica's Law was passed."

The exchange comes just days before voters head to the polls and political analysts say Cooley's challengers -- Ipsen, 47, and Los Angeles constitutional attorney Albert Robles, 39 -- face an uphill battle. Robles said he's raised less than $1,000 in in-kind contributions from friends and relatives.

"I think Mr. Cooley won't have to wait much beyond 8p.m. on election night to declare victory," political consultant Rich Lichtenstein said.

"I think there is strong support in the county for the district attorney and there has not been a significant effort to challenge him. The resources have been rather minimal for both Mr. Ipsen and Mr. Robles. It's very expensive to run a campaign for any county seat."

In an interview earlier in the week, Cooley, 61, of Toluca Lake said Ipsen and Robles are "not in my league."

"(Ipsen) is not qualified," said Cooley, who started working in the District Attorney's Office as a senior law clerk in 1973 after graduating from the University of Southern California Law Center.

"He obviously has zero following, in terms of money raised and endorsements. He's a nonstarter and that's the way it should be."

Cooley said Robles appears to be "nothing more than a spite candidate." Robles, a resident of Carson and a board member of the Water Replenishment District of Southern California, was charged in November 2007 with three election-law misdemeanor charges for allegedly sending out two different campaign mailers without an address and paying cash and not reporting it, District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Jane Robison said.

Robles has pleaded not guilty and vowed to fight the charges to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary. Aware of a 1996 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in which the distribution of anonymous campaign mailers was upheld as constitutional, Robles said he sent out anonymous campaign mailers on behalf of a friend running for a water district.

He said the mailers were supportive of his friend.

"Steve Cooley, for the first time ever in the county, is charging an individual with sending out an anonymous campaign mailer that is positive," Robles said. "In the past, the D.A.'s Office has charged individuals for sending out anonymous mailers that attack incumbents or challengers. That makes sense. But my piece was not negative."

In his campaign, Robles has vowed not to accept the $55,471 increase in the district attorney's salary the Board of Supervisors approved in January.

If re-elected, Cooley will become the county's highest-paid elected official Dec. 1 when the raise goes into effect, boosting his annual salary to $292,300.

Ipsen, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles Law School, has also accused Cooley of not aggressively seeking to deport undocumented criminal gang members and other felons.

"In his eight years in office, he has allowed a network of foreign gang members to infiltrate Los Angeles and wander the streets with impunity with very few deportations," Ipsen said.

But Cooley said Ipsen "doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Our office was the leader in establishing a program to prosecute those gang members who feloniously re-enter the country," Cooley said.

"I have cross-designated two deputy district attorneys who are doing nothing but prosecuting gang members referred to us by law enforcement for felonious re-entry."

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

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