DISTRICT ATTORNEY IN FOR FIGHT TWO CHALLENGERS SET SIGHTS ON GARCETTI.Byline: Greg Gittrich Staff Writer District Attorney Gil Garcetti Gilbert "Gil" Garcetti (b. August 5, 1941) served as Los Angeles County's 39th District Attorney for two terms, from 1992 until November 7, 2000. Background Gil Garcetti received a bachelor's degree in Management from the University of Southern California and a Juris has two competitors gunning for his job as he attempts to secure a third term as the county's top prosecutor. Former county prosecutor Barry Groveman, an environmental lawyer, and Head Deputy District Attorney Steve Cooley Stephen Lawrence ("Steve") Cooley (born May 1, 1947 in Los Angeles, California) is a veteran prosecutor who was elected as Los Angeles County's 36th District Attorney on November 7, 2000. He was sworn in for his second term on December 6, 2004. both believe Garcetti can be toppled in the upcoming March 7 primary, and they often point to his incredibly narrow victory at the polls in 1996 as proof. Since announcing their candidacies, Groveman and Cooley have painted Garcetti as a member of the city's power elite who won't tackle public corruption. They say he puts politics ahead of pursuing potentially risky, but viable cases. Garcetti has vigorously defended his record. He points to his department's prosecution of domestic violence, juvenile crime and gang violence, as well as ongoing crime-prevention initiatives and a new division he established to thwart ``cyber-crimes.'' As the LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. Rampart scandal continues to expand, it has become a central topic in the race. Groveman and Cooley intensified their attacks on Garcetti last week, saying his office should have spotted the bogus criminal cases before they were prosecuted. Garcetti has countered by arguing his staff was ethical and relied on the evidence and testimony provided by police. He argues there ``has never been a more important case in his 31 years'' as prosecutor than Rampart. Yet, he notes his office ``didn't create this mess.'' Groveman, 46, is best known for leading a special investigative team that uncovered toxic hazards at Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Unified school sites, including the ill-fated Belmont Learning Center This Belmont Learning Center contains information about a building currently under construction. It may contain information of a speculative nature, and the content may change dramatically as construction progresses and new information becomes available. . A private attorney, he has been employed by the school district as an outside legal adviser and trial lawyer for about 10 years. His input led to the school board's ousting oust tr.v. oust·ed, oust·ing, ousts 1. To eject from a position or place; force out: "the American Revolution, which ousted the English" Virginia S. Eifert. of Superintendent Ruben Zacarias last October. A Long Island, N.Y., native, Groveman moved to Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, more than 27 years ago. Unlike Cooley and Garcetti, he is not a career law enforcement man. A graduate from Southwestern law school Southwestern Law School (formerly known as Southwestern University School of Law) is a private ABA-accredited law school located in Los Angeles, California, with about 1,000 students on a campus that includes the Bullocks Wilshire building, an admired art deco landmark. , Groveman was a prosecutor for the City Attorney's Office from 1979 to 1984, and then led the district attorney's environmental crimes division from 1984 to 1986. Since entering the private sector in 1986, he has concentrated primarily on environmental cases. ``I have never lost the desire, the zeal to be a prosecutor,'' Groveman said in a recent interview. ``Garcetti has a legacy of failure and neglect in which many of the failures have been spectacles eroding public confidence in the District Attorney's Office.'' GARCETTI UNDER FIRE Groveman believes his experience as a prosecutor combined with the skills he used to build a multimillion dollar private practice in Century City will allow him to effectively restructure and lead the District Attorney's Office. In recent weeks, Groveman has attacked Garcetti over his office's prosecution of child abuse cases and criticized him for failing to meet with the Los Angeles Board of Education on school safety issues. He also lambasted Garcetti for not taking swift action on alleged crimes during the construction of Belmont, which sits abandoned atop an oil field downtown. ``It's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a for the public as a client to have a top-rate lawyer in that office,'' Groveman said. ``I have the experience of having been an insider within the DA's Office, and bring perspective and vision from outside.'' Cooley, 52, a Los Angeles native, is a graduate of the USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. Law School. During his 26 years in the District Attorney's Office, he has led the San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. and Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley branches and founded the office's major narcotics narcotics n. 1) techinically, drugs which dull the senses. 2) a popular generic term for drugs which cannot be legally possessed, sold, or transported except for medicinal uses for which a physician or dentist's prescription is required. division. ``I am the candidate with the prosecutorial pros·e·cu·to·ri·al adj. Of, relating to, or concerned with prosecution: "a huge investigative and prosecutorial effort" Lucian K. Truscott IV. experience,'' Cooley said. ``I have proven experience, 26 years in the office. That certainly shows I can accomplish what has to be done.'' A head deputy district attorney for 15 years, Cooley oversees the office's Welfare Fraud Division, which has made unprecedented strides in uncovering abuses by social service recipients. He is generally more conservative than Groveman and Garcetti in his law enforcement policies and has been vocal about perceived abuses of ethics and power by local politicians. LOCKHEED CONNECTION He has attacked Garcetti for taking campaign contributions last year from Lockheed Martin For the former company, see . Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. , a month before the District Attorney's Office gave the firm $2.5 million to run the county's child support computer system. He also faults Garcetti for backing the parole of an infamous convicted murderer who is the son of a prominent Calabasas attorney, despite opposition from the prosecutor in charge of parole, the governor and the state parole board pa`role´ board` n. 1. A group of individuals with authority to determine whether a prisoner will be granted parole from a particular prison. . Garcetti has stood by the decision. Cooley claims Garcetti is an ``elitist e·lit·ism or é·lit·ism n. 1. The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources. DA who caters to the rich and powerful.'' In a recent sitdown with the Daily News, Garcetti adamantly disagreed with Cooley's characterization. ``You show me some evidence of a crime, any crime, and we will move forward,'' he said. Garcetti dismisses his opponents with the same unwavering confidence he displays when defending his record in office. He described Cooley as ``an arch-conservative'' and a ``disgruntled dis·grun·tle tr.v. dis·grun·tled, dis·grun·tling, dis·grun·tles To make discontented. [dis- + gruntle, to grumble (from Middle English gruntelen; see employee.'' He brushed off Groveman as ``an environmental lawyer'' who is unqualified to be district attorney. A few years ago, Garcetti's negative opinion of Groveman helped put the kibosh ki·bosh n. Informal A checking or restraining element: had to put the kibosh on a poorly conceived plan. [Origin unknown. on the private lawyer's bid to become U.S. attorney. PASSION, PERSEVERANCE Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, Garcetti, 58, graduated from UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX Law School. He has worked in the District Attorney's Office for more than 31 years and first rose to prominence as head of the special investigations unit. Under his leadership, the conviction rate of county prosecutors is at about 93 percent. He also established the department's Hate Crime Unit and spearheaded jury reforms. ``I (first) ran for DA because I thought we could do much more than we were doing both in terms of prosecuting and in terms of preventing crime. The two I think go together and that's what I've been trying to do,'' Garcetti said. ``I still have the passion and I still have the perseverance.'' Garcetti's campaign also has a money advantage, but not as a big as the advantage he enjoyed four years ago. As of Jan. 22, the last campaign contribution reporting deadline, Garcetti had raised nearly $885,000 and had $676,085 in spendable cash on hand. Groveman had raised $477,708 with $260,982 available, and Cooley had taken in $258,308 with $82,929 on hand. By comparison, Garcetti had about 10 times as much money as his opponent John Lynch For other persons named John Lynch, see John Lynch (disambiguation). John H. Lynch (born November 25 1952, Waltham, Massachusetts) is the current Governor of New Hampshire. in 1996. He used the funds to unleash a $1 million media blitz just before the November election. More than 2 million ballots were cast, and Garcetti won by only 4,700 votes. INCUMBENT NOT WORRIED Many political observers blamed Lynch's lack of sufficient funds for his loss. Relatively unknown before the contest, Lynch spent about $80,000 on sporadic TV advertisements and focused mostly on the O.J. Simpson trial. Local campaign contribution laws have made it harder to raise money by placing a $1,000 limit on the amount any one person can give to a candidate. With the March primary less than three weeks away, Groveman and Cooley insist their polls show Garcetti will fail to win 50 percent of the vote and will be forced into a November runoff. Nevertheless, Garcetti said he is not overly concerned. In fact, he conceded, his campaign workers haven't even conducted a poll to see where he stands. Further, the district attorney also refused to debate Cooley and Groveman, despite their repeated verbal salvos. Garcetti maintains such public contests prior to primaries too often turn into personal attacks and ``waste time.'' ``If I'm in a runoff,'' he said, ``I will glady debate my single opponent and take a look at his credentials to be district attorney.'' LOS ANGELES COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY GIL GARCETTI Age: 58 Occupation: District Attorney Residence: Brentwood Web site: www.garcetti2000.org Money raised: $884,910.97 BARRY GROVEMAN Age: 46 Occupation: Private attorney Residence: Calabasas Web site: (no website) email: bgroveman@email.msn.com Money raised: $447,708.92 STEVE COOLEY Age: 52 Occupation: Head Deputy District Attorney Residence: Toluca Lake Web site: www.cooley4da.org Money raised: $258,308.90 CAPTION(S): 3 photos, Box Photo: (1) Gil Garcetti (2) Steve Cooley (3) Barry Groveman Box: LOS ANGELES COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY (See text) |
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