Fox News reported last November that a number of big-city district attorneys had won their elections thanks to the hefty financial support of progressive billionaire donor George Soros.
One such official is Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon — and now, according to the Washington Examiner, Gascon is taking heat after being busted hiring someone for a top position in his office who is said to have little experience and a history of making highly controversial remarks about the police.
The Examiner cited a series of tweets from investigative reporter Bill Melugin of Fox 11 Los Angeles that indicated the new district attorney “has hired public defender Tiffiny Blacknell to his administration as a Grade 4 prosecutor.”
According to Melugin, “Blacknell served on Gascon’s policy committee during his campaign. She has called LAPD ‘barbarians’ and says prisons should be abolished,” he added.
“An occupying army”
Melugin attached to his tweets a series of images, including a photograph of Blacknell posing in a blue t-shirt with a slogan that read: “The police are trained to kill us.”
Also shown was a screenshot of a tweet from the newly hired prosecutor that read: “Prison is obsolete. We need to reimagine America without it. Angela Davis said it years ago. Prisons disappear problems[,] they don’t solve them. We’ve been warehousing our people for a generation[,] it’s time to free America.”
In yet another tweet, Blacknell reportedly called for the abolition of the Los Angeles police department and characterized its officers as “an occupying army.”
A lack of experience?
Melugin also noted in his reporting that Blacknell appears to lack the experience required for her new position, prompting some to suggest she may have been hired for political reasons.
“As a Grade 4, Blacknell will be making up to $15,000 per month,” the journalist said, as the Examiner reported. “According to department policy, the job requires 2 years of experience as a grade 3 prosecutor, which Blacknell does not have. Prosecutors in the office are criticizing this hire as ‘blatant cronyism.'”
Blacknell’s hiring has also generated criticism among law enforcement, according to Melugin. “The union representing LAPD rank and file is also blasting Gascon’s hire,” the reporter revealed.
Cindy Wallace, a prosecutor who has worked for over a decade in the DA’s office, told Fox 11 that the choice to hire Blacknell is both “unfortunate” and “unfair,” given the circumstances.
“She’s put some really negative, toxic things out about the law enforcement community, and these are people that as a prosecutor, you work directly with,” Wallace charged. “Nothing she has tweeted has shown she has any respect for law enforcement or even prosecutors, and it’s just amazing and mind-blowing she would now want to come to our office.”
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