DA’s Union Alleges Gascón Appoints Unqualified Outside Candidates

The union representing Los Angeles County deputy district attorneys has filed a legal action to prevent what they maintain is the hiring of unqualified people — including some from the Public Defender’s Office — by District Attorney George Gascón to fill open positions for which veteran prosecutors are more qualified.

The Association of Deputy District Attorneys brought the petition Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court against Gascón and the District Attorney’s Office, asking a judge to order the defendants to refrain from hiring public defenders or other candidates deemed unqualified under civil service rules for the deputy district attorney grade positions of 2 through 5.

The union also asks that Gascón and his office not take any actions to invalidate any candidate eligibility lists while the current petition is pending and while appeals are being heard to contest Gascón’s hiring earlier this year of former longtime Deputy Public Defenders Alisa Blair, Tiffiny Blacknell and Shelan Joseph.

A representative for the District Attorney’s Office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Blacknell and Joseph were hired for grade 4 positions and Blair to a grade 3 slot although none took and passed competitive exams as required by Civil Service rules and the County Charter, the petition states.

“In hiring Blair, Blacknell and Joseph, Gascón violated numerous Civil Service rules which implement the County Charter’s mandate of merit system of employment, designed to create a productive, efficient, stable and representative county workforce that is free of political patronage, influence or reward,” the petition states.

The ADDA has filed about 11 appeals with the Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission on behalf of its members who were on valid promotion eligibility lists and who were passed over for promotions for which they were qualified by Gascón’s “unlawful appointment of the unqualified Blair, Blacknell and Joseph to those positions,” the petition states.

The union believes that Gascón intends to appoint additional deputy public defenders and members of the Alternate Public Defender’s office to positions in the next few weeks and one of the deputy public defenders Gascón intends to name to a grade 3 position financially contributed to his election campaign, the petition states.