Friday, February 5, 2010
Page 3
ADDA Endorses Cooley Rival Eastman for AG Nomination
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Conservative legal scholar John Eastman has secured the Association of Deputy District Attorneys endorsement for the Republican nomination for attorney general.
Eastman, who stepped down as dean of Chapman University School of Law Feb. 1 and remains a professor at the school, said he was “extremely honored to have the support of frontline prosecutors in Los Angeles.” The prosecutors here “know me and share my conservative approach to law and order.”
ADDA board member John Harrold said in a statement that the group was “supporting candidates for attorney general who demonstrate a clear commitment to upholding the voters’ will and vigorously enforcing the Three Strikes Law.”
Eastman campaign strategist Jeff Flint emphasized that the ADDA had selected Eastman over their own supervisor, District Attorney Steve Cooley, who is also seeking the Republican nod. Eastman told the MetNews it was possible that the third candidate in the GOP race, state Sen. Tom Harman, R-Costa Mesa, would also get an ADDA endorsement.
Harman, who had been the only announced GOP hopeful for months, with Cooley and Eastman joining the race only recently, has already secured an endorsement from the Association of Orange County Deputy District Attorneys, as well as those of Orange District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, Three-Strikes Law co-author Mike Reynolds, the legislative sponsor of that law, former Secretary of State Bill Jones, and a majority of GOP legislators.
The ADDA and Cooley have a contentious history, most recently involving the union’s unfair labor practice claims against Cooley now pending before the county Employee Relations Commission. ADDA President Steve Ipsen also made an unsuccessful run for district attorney against Cooley in 2008.
Democrats seeking the attorney general’s post, which Jerry Brown is vacating to run for governor, include former Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, former Facebook executive Chris Kelly, and Assembly members Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, Albert Torrico, D-Newark, and Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara.
The formal filing period runs from Feb. 16 through March 17.
Copyright 2010, Metropolitan News Company