Nathan Hochman is running for Los Angeles County District Attorney.
“Who?” you probably asked.
Fair enough.
Hochman recently ran for California attorney general as a Republican against incumbent Rob Bonta. At the time, he was described by the editorial board of this newspaper as “something of a train wreck.”
My strongest memory from last interviewing him was his dedication to defending the abhorrent practice of civil asset forfeiture. It was excruciating. Pro tip: if you can’t figure out that civil asset forfeiture needs to be abolished or at the bare minimum significantly curtailed, you don’t belong in public office.
He also opposed Senate Bill 2, which will establish a decertification process for abusive cops. As the editorial board of this paper noted in support of the law, “There’s no reason that misbehaving officers, who enjoy robust due-process rules including a Peace Officers Bill of Rights, should patrol our communities. Leaving a few bad apples in policing endangers the public, erodes support for police and leaves taxpayers vulnerable to lawsuits.”
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And, naturally, he’s a critic of Proposition 47, particularly the $950 threshold for felony theft charges. Folks like Hochman love to be hysterical about this, ignoring the fact that the vast majority of states have raised their felony theft thresholds and California’s is pretty conservative by comparison. And, at the end of the day, opponents of Prop. 47 have to answer this: should people be jailed and hit with a felony that will haunt them the rest of their lives for low-level theft? Yes or no?
Anyway, all of this said, Hochman flopped as an attorney general candidate, getting about 43% of the vote.
So now he’s back and running as an independent for Los Angeles County District Attorney. Yes, an independent who totally wasn’t just a Republican. That’ll shield him from the (yes, lazy) partisan attacks. That worked so well for Rick Caruso.
Hochman is backed by Steve Cooley, former three-term LA DA, so that’s something. He’s also backed by former Drug Enforcement Administration guy Robert Bonner, who as a DEA administrator supported keeping marijuana a Schedule I drug. So, yeah, if you love the drug war, that’s a point in Hochman’s favor. If you’re even vaguely sane, though, that’s a horrible endorsement to tout, especially in Los Angeles.
I mean, maybe Hochman will come around and develop some better ideas than he had as a statewide candidate. Probably won’t, though.
Sal Rodriguez can be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com