As District Attorneys, we are driven by evidence, justice and the need to protect the public. When we look at who is best qualified to protect the people of California as our Attorney General, the evidence is clear: Steve Cooley is the right choice.
His opponents? According to their filings with the Secretary of State, one says he is qualified to be Attorney General because he filed a brief on kosher foods in South Dakota prisons and the other because he was part of a program where he observed some cases as a courtroom volunteer – a program he did not complete.
During his 10 years as District Attorney of Los Angeles County, Steve Cooley has overseen a staff of over 1,000 attorneys that have handled more than 500,000 felony cases. He has fought for the rights of victims, locked up thousands of dangerous criminals and been a leader in aggressively prosecuting public corruption.
As Governors Wilson and Dukemejian have noted, Steve Cooley has one of the highest three strikes conviction rates in the state. Almost a third of the Three Strikers in state prison have been sent there by Steve Cooley’s office. That’s over 2,600 of the most dangerous criminals who pose the greatest threat to our families and communities locked up.
Steve Cooley has been committed to appropriately using the death penalty against the most heinous of criminals. While the national trend has been a decline in death sentences, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has actually fueled an increase in California’s number of death penalty convictions.
In fact, District Attorney Cooley’s office leads most of the nation in death penalty convictions and last year earned more death penalty convictions than the entire State of Texas!
Steve Cooley has also been a national leader in expanding the use of DNA and forensic science to solve difficult cases. Crime victims who would never have received justice before are now seeing their attackers put behind bars – where they can’t hurt any other innocent victims.
It is a record to be proud of and we are proud to call him our colleague.
It’s no wonder that Steve Cooley has swept the law enforcement endorsements for Attorney General. Numerous prominent organizations, including the California Police Chiefs Association, the California Narcotic Officers’ Association, the California Peace Officers’ Association, the California Fraternal Order of Police and the Southern California Alliance of Law Enforcement have all come out strongly for Steve Cooley.
The role of Attorney General is not a job for the critic with no practical experience. Lives are at stake, the safety of our homes and our communities are at stake. It is a job that requires experience, judgment and wisdom.
Steve Cooley is a career prosecutor of 37 years and a former LAPD reserve police officer for 6 years. He is a true law enforcement professional, not another ambitious politician, and he is running for Attorney General to actually do the job and not use it as a political stepping-stone.
Steve Cooley has the experience, the record of significant accomplishment and personal character necessary to be California’s chief law enforcement officer. He’s done so for the past ten years as the leader of the largest District Attorney’s office in the state and he will do so as our Attorney General. That is why we support Steve Cooley and hope the people of California will too.