By Randy DeSoto, Western Journal – Republished with permission
Originally published May 24, 2018 at 12:20 pm
Soros. Photo from ff.org
Billionaire George Soros is backing an admitted plagiarist in a district attorney’s race in northern California, funding campaign literature that describes her as a candidate of “integrity.” Hers is just one of multiple DA races in which Soros is trying influence the election’s outcome.
The Los Angeles Times reported Soros has dropped over $2.7 million in California DA races this election cycle, and since 2014 has spent more than $16 million in 17 county races in other states. His chosen candidates have won 13 of them.
“Wealthy donors are spending millions of dollars to back would-be prosecutors who want to reduce incarceration, crack down on police misconduct and revamp a bail system they contend unfairly imprisons poor people before trial,” according to The Times.
Soros has waded into the Contra Costa County DA’s race to the tune of $275,000 backing interim Democrat DA Diana Becton.
In addition to supporting Becton, the self-described philanthropist has intervened in the DA contests in San Diego County spending $1.5 million, according to San Diego Tribune, and Sacramento County with another $375,000, The Sacramento Bee is reporting.
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Becton, 66, was chosen as Contra Costa County’s interim DA last September among five applicants to the position, in a narrow 3-2 vote by the county’s board of supervisors.
The choice by the board of supervisors came despite the revelation that the former judge plagiarized significant portions of her application and unlike other candidates, including Contra Costa County District Attorneys’ Association endorsed Paul Graves, has no prosecutorial experience.
Becton is the county’s first female and African American district attorney, which Soros made a top selling point in a recent mailer sent to voters throughout the county ahead of the June 5 election to decide who will take up the seat for a full term.
The piece describes Becton as someone with “experience, integrity, and progressive values.”
The East Bay Times reported in Becton’s plagiarized application to become interim DA that she “took more than 100 words from a widely publicized letter written by U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, regarding criminal justice reform.”
She also cut and pasted portions from neighboring Alameda County’s District Attorney’s website regarding the issue of community development.
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Other text came word-for-word from a March 1994 issue of Harvard Business Review. Even a direct quote from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” Speech made it into her application, which read, “When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was an heir.”
In all, at least seven portions of her application were plagiarized from others’ words, which were chronicled in an anonymous letter sent to multiple media outlets.
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Last September, Becton described her actions to the board of supervisors as a “mistake,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
“I drew liberally from all kinds of sources because I wanted to lift certain issues up,” she said. “I recognize that I should have used quotation marks when I used words of other people, and I didn’t do that. I own the mistake.”
“That is the same kind of leadership and transparency and accountability that I will bring to the district attorney’s office,” Becton added.
The editorial board for the East Bay Times backed Graves over Becton earlier this month, citing her plagiarism, in part.
“It’s the sort of plagiarism that’s unacceptable from a high school student, much less the county’s most powerful law enforcement official. But, to this day, Becton still doesn’t fully comprehend what she did wrong,” the editors wrote.
Her “mistake” is surprising, given her experience as a judge, and being a law school and college gradate. The proper citation of sources is central to the legal craft.
Aron DeFerrari — president of Contra Costa County District Attorneys’ Association — told The Western Journal he thought Becton would no longer be under consideration for the position after admitting to plagiarism.
“There is no way they can appoint somebody who plagiarized her application,” he recalled thinking at the time.
His group had endorsed Graves for the appointment and is supporting his candidacy in the election.
Graves, a Republican, is a current Contra Costa County prosecutor, who oversaw the Homicide Unit and now oversees the Family Violence Unit.
“The biggest compliment you can pay a prosecutor is to call him a grinder,” said Deferrari, who serves with Graves in the DA’s office. “Paul is a straight up grinder. There is a reason for that. This job is important. This job takes a lot of time and effort. You don’t do this job well between 8:30 to five, four or five days a week.”
“Paul Graves has demonstrated that commitment to victims of crime and he’s done so for the last 22 years,” DeFerrari added. “He is the only candidate in this election that has done that. It’s how he has earned the respect and support of every law enforcement agency in this County.”
According to his website, Graves is endorsed by over a dozen police officers’ organizations, as well as a plethora of local officials, from city council members to multiple judges.
Paul Graves Speaks Out Against George Soros Trying to Buy Contra Costa District Attorney’s Race http://eastcountytoday.net/paul-graves-speaks-out-against-george-soros-trying-to-buy-contra-costa-district-attorneys-race/ …
— eastcountytoday.net (@eastcountytoday) 11:22 AM – May 9, 2018
Becton puts Sen. Harris at the top of her endorsements list followed by various Democratic members of Congress, mayors, government and non-government labor unions, and city council members, but support from the law enforcement community is all but absent.
DeFerrari told The Journal there is a reason law enforcement groups are backing Graves over Becton.
“Her actions and her lack of commitment to this job, from the moment she submitted her application to the place we are standing today, have not earned our respect as criminal prosecutors,” said DeFarrari. “This job requires absolute commitment to fighting for victims of crime each and every day and not just Monday through Friday.”
A review of Becton’s calendar obtained by a public records request by a Graves supporter shows the interim DA spent a substantial amount of time away from the office during her first six months in office, particularly for someone with no prosecutorial experience.
Just weeks after being sworn in as DA in late September, Becton traveled to Atlanta for a National Association of Women Judges convention, missing three work days.
She then traveled from there to Virginia for the Women in Power and Politics event the following week. In late October, the former judge went to an event at Stanford University. In November, Becton was out of the office for two days to participate in a “Fair and Just Prosecution” event focused on rolling back the “tough on crime” approach to law enforcement.
In a statement endorsing Becton, the Soros aligned Real Justice PAC indicated this will be top priority of the candidate.
“If elected she will make history as the prosecutor who took on mass incarceration by pushing through much needed bail reform, restorative justice programs, and an end to racial disparities in charging and sentencing,” said the group’s co-founder Shaun King.
The DA took vacation from Nov. 23 – 30, as well as Dec. 26 and Dec. 29 to Jan. 2, 2018, missing another six work days.
A review of the key card access to the Contra Costa Country DA office, also obtained through a public records request, showed that Becton did not come to her office a single weekend during her first six months in office from Oct. 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018.
However, Graves was in the office over a dozen weekend days. Paul Thompson, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County, noted it is common for prosecutors to work weekends in the lead up to a trial.
“If we’re in trial, which happens for the typical trial attorney 6-15 weeks out of the year…weekly work hours double, meaning that we’re working nights and weekends,” he said.
Scott Alonso, the Public Information Officer for the Contra Costa County DA’s office told The Western Journal just because Becton is not physically in the office, it does not mean she is not working.
“She works long hours inside the office and outside the office,” he said. “With this type of work, she’s on call 24-7. She’s in constant daily communication with her attorneys and with members of her leadership team.”
DeFerrari fears Becton is more interested in the position than the work it entails.
“You want somebody who wants to do the job,” he said, “not just somebody who wants to have the job.”
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This charge being pushed – that originated from the Paul Graves for DA campaign – that current DA Diana Becton is an “admitted plagiarist” is just a lot of nonsense, a complete exaggeration of what happened. Becton, when she turned in her application for appointment for DA, forgot to include a bibliography on some written material she included in her application for the DA job. That’s all that happened. It is not, in fact, the custom to include a bibliography’s with a job application – so this was rather an understandable mistake. The Paul Graves campaign people – who are running this awful smear campaign against Becton – are going all over the county screaming she’s a “plagiarist” – it’s been pretty sickening to watch them do this. Becton is Contra Costa’s first women DA, she was appointed to the job a year ago and she has done just an outstanding job reorganizing what had been a dysfunctional DA’s office, it’s been a new day at the DA’s office since Becton took over
. Becton’s back round for the DA job is impressive, which is why the Board of Supervisors appointed her. She is a former civil attorney and business owner, Becton served as a Superior Court Judge in Contra Costa for 22 years, doing outstanding work as both a civil and criminal court judge. Her judge peers thought so highly over her they made her the presiding court judge. Becton has also been recognized nationally for her legal and judicial skills, culminating with her election as President of The National Womens’ Judges Association.
This barfo smear campaign Paul Graves is running – who was an also ran in the competition to get the appointment for DA, has just been the worst. Graves is angry he didn’t get the appointment, he’s also appalled a women is running the DA’s office – they hadn’t had a women run the DA’s office ever. He and his supporters are also up in arms an African American women is the DA now too – so Graves has engaged in this vicious smear campaign to try and oust Becton.
In his campaign Graves is continually trying to hide from voters that he was a key member of ex disgraced DA’s Mark Peters’s leadership. Peterson, in fact, was Graves mentor – everybody knows it. He also has tried to hide from voters the fact that he is seriously under qualified for the DA’s job, Graves has no civil experience, no experience running a business, no back round in administration, and no budgeting experience either. Graves lacks the basic skills needed to perform the top DA job, which is a key reason the Board of Supervisors didn’t appoint him, Graves is wet behind the ears, just not ready to take on the top job at the DA’s office.
It’s no accident Contra Costa’s best politicians – respected leaders like Superintendent Tom Torlakson, Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, Rep. Eric Swalwell, former Rep George Miller and Supervisor Federal Glover are backing Diana Becton to the hilt – they know Diana Becton, they trust her, and they have seen the great job she has done at the DA’s office. They believe – as I do – Diana Becton deserves to retained in her job.
I hope voters are not fooled by phony newspaper articles such as the one printed above, these stories are being pushed by Paul Graves and a few disgruntled people police officer associations – they are angry we have our first women DA, and they can’t seem to handle the fact Becton is African American either.
LA,
When you use the words of others and don’t give them credit, appearing to portray them as your own, that’s plagiarism by definition. Plagiarize (Merriam-Webster) – to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own : use (another’s production) without crediting the source. Or – : to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source. – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plagiarizing
You can try to excuse what Becton did all you want. But, in any other position you’d get fired for what she did. It goes to integrity and she showed a serious lack thereof.
Allen Payton, Publisher
Allen, you are exaggerating what happened. Becton was applying for a job, county officials asked her to amplify some the things she believes in, she quoted Martin Luther King and Kamala Harris in her application for the job, but neglected to put quotation remarks around the material. That was just a mistake, not an intentional effort to deceive anybody. What you had was a minor gaffe, nothing more than that. Allen, as you know, DA Becton is the first women to hold the DA’s job, and the first African American. The Contra Costa DA’s office was run by WASP men for 166 years. More recently it was run by this old boy network – they were all golfers that belonged to Pleasant Hill Country Club – when a DA retired they would pass the job to the second in command – always a pal, always a white guy, always a golfer that belonged to PH Country club. The top DA job was “owned” by a group of WASP men golfers, all pals – I mean you simply are not telling your readers the truth about what has gone on at the DA’s office in the past. DA Becton’s appointment was a real historic appointment, a breakthrough appointment. Why? Because the Contra Costa DA’s office belongs to the “people” – the people running the office should come from the community – not from the country club. The office for many years was run by this clubby group of insiders – a club that didn’t include women, Hispanics, Asians, African Americans, Muslim Americans etc., I am talking about the top leadership roles in the DA’s office, it was a WASP men’s club. Paul Graves backers in this campaign is the old boys network, ex-DA’s Bill O’Malley, Gary Yancey, Bob Kochly – Graves is the candidate of the old boys network, The old boys network is engaging in a whispering campaign, they are saying we can’t have a women running the DA’s office, we can’t have an African American running it either, they are saying she can’t handle this job, only white guys can. In fact, Becton has done a fine job running the DA’s office. I lived in this County for 68 years, I have seen DA’s come and go – Becton’s is doing as good a job – if not better – than any of them. Paul Graves entire campaign is an effort to step back into the past – back to the days when only guys got to run the DA’s office. You – as the editor of this paper – are being used by the old boys club – they are using your paper as a mouth piece to roll back progress – to defeat diversity. Allen, when we open up opportunities for leadership in public institutions to ALL, to women, to African American’s, to Hispanics, to LGBT people, to Asian people, etc, this legitimizes the institutions because our community is made up of all these diverse groups. When a public institution, like the DA’s office, puts up this artificial wall that blocks the advancement of women, or African Americans, or Hispanics. or Asians, or LGBT people to senior manager positions – which is what the DA’s office has done historically, then the office doesn’t reflect the community, it’s not a legitimate PUBLIC institution, it a private club. WE in the community – the voters – get to decide what goes on at our public institutions, most voters want to see diversity at all our government agencies, at schools, and in the business community as well
LA,
I guess the Times is exaggerating, as well when they wrote their editorial endorsing Graves and condemning Becton’s plagiarism in much harsher terms.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/04/11/editorial-pick-the-prosecutor-not-the-plagiarist-for-district-attorney-2/
You can attempt to excuse what she did all you want. But the fact remains, she did something that would get other people fired from their jobs and shows a serious lack of integrity at a time we need to improve that in the District Attorney’s office.
Allen Payton, Publisher & Editor
Maybe it would get her fired or maybe she mite become president? See that’s what the good ol boy. WASP network does. It rewards its members which seems to be the case here. I do not think for one minute, Becton thought she could quote King and get away with it. Was she sloppy, yes did she plagiarize..self admitted. Does that mean she can’t be an affective DA? Not hardly…shiw me a pattern if behaviors …lime the Goid ol boy network employed for the past 166 years at the DA’s office. That’s just as disconcerting as the plagiarism charge.