It is the most powerful job in Los Angeles County's criminal justice system, a position that oversees the prosecution of 60,000 felons each year and can provide a steppingstone to higher office.
Six candidates are vying to become district attorney in next week's election, hoping to succeed Steve Cooley, who is retiring after three terms.
June 5 marks the first district attorney's election without an incumbent since 1964. Back then, voters had a choice of three white men. Today's group of candidates illustrates the changes that have taken place in the county's legal community in the last half century.
Three African Americans — Bobby Grace, Jackie Lacey and Danette Meyers — are hoping to make history in a county that has never elected a black district attorney, with two of them also aiming to become the first woman to hold the post.
To win outright, a candidate must garner more than 50% of the vote. Otherwise, the two top vote-getters will face each other in a November runoff.
Whoever wins the nonpartisan race will face daunting challenges in running the largest local prosecutorial agency in the nation. California's justice system is undergoing its most radical overhaul in more than three decades. The state, under a court order to reduce its prison population, is shifting the burden of housing and monitoring thousands of inmates to local counties, which are also struggling with overcrowded jails and underfunded budgets.
source: latimes.com
