Cooley: the law-and-order guy!

Steven Greenhut: The Covina mayor is introducing Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley as a tough drug warrior, pro-law-enforcement guy who will be the rare career prosecutor as attorney general — this is red meat for a law-and-order crowd. Cooley blasts the career politicians who use the office as a stepping stone for something else, which is true, although it’s always a mixed bag to have career prosecutors as the top cop in the state. Career prosecutors see the world only from one place — from the view of the government and they rarely care much about civil liberties. Cooley has made a name for himself clamping down on medical marijuana clinics.

However, Cooley is right in his attacks on AG Jerry Brown, who uses the office to clamp down on private businesses and relies on press conferences to advance his political career. And he is right to depict his opponent at a left-winger who will embrace odd causes and will focus more on attacking business violations than in focusing on criminals. Cooley notes that his opponent Kamala Harris is against the death penalty. He says she is beyond liberal. Cooley brags that Los Angeles County had more death penalties than the state of Texas. He blasts Harris for her view on sanctuary cities. “Last time I looked cities don’t get to engage in foreign policy,” he said.

“She is a tremendous threat to public safety. If that’s not bad enough, watch out business community,” he said. She will go after businesses “because she doesn’t value you.”

This is one of those bad choices: a Democrat who is a big-government leftist who will use the office to persecute businesses for technical violations of regs and a big-government prosecutor who will clamp down on minor violations of law and order and who won’t exactly be a huge advocate for civil liberties.

Such is life in California these days!