California: Petitions taken out against Contra Costa District Attorney

The recall effort against Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton is moving forward, with petitions set to be filed this week. Petitioners seem to need somewhere in the neighborhood of 72,000 signatures in 160 days. 

Becton appears to be part of the progressive prosecutor movement, and is facing similar complaints to DAs in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Alameda about a perception of a failure to prosecute different cases. We discuss the pushback here. Interestingly, Becton was listed as one of the opponents of Prop 36, which increased sentencing for drug and theft crimes and passed overwhelming. 

Becton has also been accused of demoting her last two opponent after her election and there was apparently a $2.2 million discrimination settlement against the DA's office (which her opponent was part of -- the alleged discrimination was against women). 

Here's some local reports on KRON4 and ABC7 where I am on discussing the recall effort.