D.A. Candidate Jackson to Speak at State GOP Gathering

Thursday, February 16, 2012

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D.A. Candidate Jackson to Speak at State GOP Gathering

By a MetNews Staff Writer

Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson will speak at the California Republican Party’s upcoming convention, the party announced yesterday.

A GOP spokesperson said Jackson will speak at the convention’s Feb. 25 banquet, along with former Minnesota governor and national Mitt Romney campaign co-chair Tim Pawlenty, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Preibus, and 24-year-old Placentia Mayor Jeremy Yamaguchi. The event is being held at the Hyatt San Francisco.

CRP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro said in a statement that Yamaguchi and Jackson represent “the next generation of rising stars in California” for Republicans. “Whether it’s the youngest elected Mayor in California, or a rising star among the law and order community, we have a glimpse of the impressive leaders of tomorrow.”

Figures recently released by the secretary of state put GOP registration at a little over 30 percent, its lowest level in decades. The figure in Los Angeles County is less than 23 percent.

Jackson spokesman John Thomas told the MetNews that while Jackson accepted the party’s invitation to speak, the candidate is seeking support from all sectors in the officially nonpartisan race.

The unsolicited invitation, Thomas said, reflects the fact that Jackson “is a rising star, based on his record as a prosecutor, and he’s making waves throughout California.” But Jackson has always viewed the prosecutor’s role as apart from politics, he added.

“He doesn’t check voter registration cards when he decides who to prosecute,” the spokesman commented. While Jackson is the only registered Republican in the race—Deputy District Attorney Steve Ipsen and Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich have left the GOP in recent years, he said—“we have support from Republicans, Democrats, and decline-to-states across the county.”

Also seeking the post are Chief Deputy District Attorney Jacquelyn Lacey and Deputy District Attorneys Bobby Grace, Mario Trujillo, and Danette Meyers. But Thomas said that the contest was “becoming a two-person race” between Jackson and Trutanich, whose campaigns have exchanged barbs in recent days following the disclosure that the city attorney’s operatives had announced endorsements he didn’t have.

In other news, Trujillo’s campaign announced that he had received the endorsement of Rep. Linda Sanchez, a Democrat whose district runs through Artesia, Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens, Lakewood, La Mirada, Whittier, Florence, Long Beach, Lynwood, Paramount, South Gate, Watts, and Willowbrook.

Also announcing endorsements was Trutanich, who won the backing of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, Laborers Local 300, and International Longshore Workers Union Local 63.