Democratic megadonor George Soros has enjoyed great success in electing left-tilting district attorneys, but keeping them in office is proving more difficult.
More than a dozen prosecutors linked to Soros-funded campaign committees or organizations have left office after resigning, losing reelection or being removed, according to the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund map.
They include embattled St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, who resigned in May; Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren, who was removed last year by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who lost her 2022 primary after being hit with a federal indictment.
“You are seeing these left-leaning prosecutors, these rogue prosecutors, in many jurisdictions either resigning in lieu of being forced out, or the voters themselves forcing these individuals out of office,” said Zack Smith, a Heritage Foundation legal fellow.
“That’s what happened in Baltimore in Marilyn Mosby, and that’s what happened with Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, as well,” said Mr. Smith, who wrote “Rogue Prosecutors: How Radical Soros Lawyers Are Destroying America’s Communities” with Heritage senior legal fellow Charles Stimson.
He noted that Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who famously dropped the charges against accused hate-crime hoaxer Jussie Smollett, announced in April that she will not seek reelection in November 2024 amid outrage over the crime surge in Chicago.
The latest to announce his departure is Mark Gonzalez of Nueces County, Texas, who confirmed Tuesday that he has stepped down ahead of a trial later this month on a citizen-led petition for removal accusing him of mismanagement and failing to pursue indictments.
Colby Wiltse, Citizens Defending Freedom’s Texas state director, called Mr. Gonzalez’s resignation “a great day for justice in Nueces County.”
“Mark Gonzalez, like many of the Soros-aligned district attorneys across the country, redefined the role of the district attorney in the name of social justice, often at the cost of public safety in the communities they swear an oath to protect,” said Mr. Wiltse, who filed the petition.
Mr. Gonzalez has denied the allegations. Elected in 2016 and narrowly reelected in 2020, Mr. Gonzalez did not receive campaign contributions from Soros-backed committees, but he’s affiliated with Fair and Just Prosecution, a network of left-wing prosecutors funded by the Soros-supported Tides Foundation.
Mr. Gonzalez isn’t slinking away: He plans to join the race for the Democratic Senate nomination to challenge Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, although he acknowledged that the citizen petition played a role in his decision.
“The petition impacted me, you know, in a way where it made me angry, and I was kind of done with politics,” Mr. Gonzalez told 3News in Corpus Christi. “I had just lost my taste with it, but it ignited something in me where I wanted to continue to serve, and maybe at a higher level, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
The billionaire Soros has spent at least $40 million to elect left-tilting, defendant-friendly district attorneys in the last decade, with a 90% success rate, Matt Palumbo, author of “The Man Behind the Curtain,” told Fox News.
An estimated 70 Soros-linked prosecutors are currently serving in office, according to the LELDF, but concerns about rising crime and their more lenient approaches to offenders have some of them on the ropes.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner was impeached last year by the Pennsylvania House, but the state Senate postponed the trial indefinitely in January.
An effort to recall Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon failed last year to qualify for the ballot. Mr. Boudin wasn’t as lucky: He was recalled in June 2022 in a campaign that centered on concerns over surging crime and his decision to increase the number of cases sent to pretrial diversion.
Mr. Boudin did not receive campaign funds from Soros-affiliated campaign groups, but was also involved with Fair and Just Prosecution.
“The point is that even in liberal left-leaning San Francisco, Chesa’s policies were too much for the people of San Francisco to bear,” Mr. Smith said.
Fighting his removal is Mr. Warren, who was suspended indefinitely by Mr. DeSantis for signing a pledge refusing to enforce state bans on abortion and medical gender procedures for minors. The Florida Supreme Court dismissed his lawsuit in June.
Those leaving under a cloud include Rachael Rollins, who was elected Suffolk County district attorney in 2018 and elevated to U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts in a December 2021 Senate vote that required Vice President Kamala Harris to break the tie.
Eighteen months later, she resigned following an Office of Special Counsel report that found she committed multiple violations of the Hatch Act by engaging in political activity, described as “among the most egregious transgressions of the Act that OSC has ever investigated.”
More than a dozen red states have reacted to the wave of progressive prosecutors by pushing for laws making it easier to boot district attorneys for cause. In May, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed a law creating a commission empowered to discipline and remove prosecutors.
“I am not going to stand idly by as rogue or incompetent prosecutors refuse to uphold the law,” Mr. Kemp said at the signing. “Today we are sending a message that we will not forfeit public safety for prosecutors to let criminals off the hook.”
Four elected prosecutors filed a lawsuit last month to overturn the law, saying it interfered with prosecutorial discretion and independence.
“I am suing to protect the voices of voters in our circuit. I am suing to ensure prosecutors can do their jobs without fear of reprisal from those with political agendas,” said Augusta District Attorney Jared Williams in an Aug. 2 statement. “I am suing because I swore to uphold the constitution, and this law violates it.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.