Steve Cooley
Stephen "Steve" Lawrence Cooley (born May 1, 1947, in Los Angeles, California) was a Republican Los Angeles County District Attorney for three terms. He launched his candidacy with the formation of an exploratory committee in January 2010 seeking the statewide office of attorney general, the seat vacated by Democrat Jerry Brown, who ran for governor, in the 2010 election.[1] He won the Republican nomination on Tuesday, June 8, 2010, with forty-seven percent of the vote.
Education
- Bachelor's degree, California State University - Los Angeles (1970)
- Juris Doctorate degree, University of Southern California (1973)
Elections
2010
| 2010 Race for Attorney General - Republican Primary[2] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote Percentage | |
| Republican Party | Steve Cooley | 47.3% | |
| Republican Party | John Eastman | 34.2% | |
| Republican Party | Tom Harman | 18.5% | |
| Total Votes | 1,555,709 | ||
| 2010 Race for Attorney General - General Election[3] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote Percentage | |
| Democratic Party | Kamala Harris | 46.0% | |
| Republican Party | Steve Cooley | 45.5% | |
| Green Party | Peter Allen | 2.7% | |
| Libertarian Party | Timothy Hannan | 2.5% | |
| American Independent Party | Diane Templin | 1,7% | |
| Peace and Freedom Party | Robert J. Evans | 1.6% | |
| Total Votes | 9,544,403 | ||
2008
| 2004 Race for Los Angeles County District Attorney - Primary Election[4] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
 Steve Cooley
|
64.9% | |||
| Albert Robles | 19.6% | |||
| Steve Ipsen | 15.5% | |||
| Total votes | 616,921 | |||
- 2008 Race for Los Angeles County District Attorney - General Election
- Steve Cooley ran unopposed in this contest
2004
| 2004 Race for Los Angeles County District Attorney - Primary Election[5] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
| Steve Cooley
|
59.2% | |||
| Nick Pacheco | 15.0% | |||
| Denise B. Moehlman | 9.1% | |||
| Tom Higgins | 7.1% | |||
| Roger Carrick | 6.8% | |||
| Anthony G. Patchett | 2.9% | |||
| Total votes | 1,008,610 | |||
- 2004 Race for Los Angeles County District Attorney - General Election
- Steve Cooley ran unopposed in this contest
2000
| 2000 Race for Los Angeles County District Attorney - Primary Election[6] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
| Steve Cooley
|
38.3% | |||
| Gil Garcetti | 37.3% | |||
| Barry Groveman | 24.4% | |||
| Total votes | 1,496,204 | |||
| 2000 Race for Los Angeles County District Attorney - General Election[7] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
| Steve Cooley
|
63.8% | |||
| Gil Garcetti | 36.2% | |||
| Total votes | 2,271,264 | |||
Campaign finance summary
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Noteworthy events
Deborah Peagler
Cooley was involved in the parole case of Deborah Peagler, a woman who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 1983. While she admitted to arranging the murder of Oliver Wilson, a man who she said abused her, forced her into prostitution and molested her daughters, Peagler sought an overturning of her conviction based on a coerced guilty plea and a battered victim defense. Cooley opposed the use of the defense and her release from prison in 2009.
Gladwin Gill contribution
In late-August 2010, Kamala Harris' campaign manager, Brian Brokaw, said that Cooley selectively prosecuted "conduit contributors," wealthy individuals who reimburse various family members, friends, or associates for their campaign contributions as a way to skirt campaign contribution limits. In 2003, Cooley targeted Alan Casden, a real estate developer and a high-profile Democratic campaign contributor, and John Archibald, an executive at Casden's company, "for reimbursing friends and associates for donations to city politicians."[8] Brokaw pointed out that Cooley did not pursue legal action against Gladwin Gill, a Pakistani immigrant who has twice been convicted of the exact same scheme. Gill and several of his straw contributors donated to Cooley's re-election campaign in 2003 and 2004, each one making the maximum $1,000 contribution.[9] Cooley called Brokaw's comments a "petty political attack."[10]
Jessica's law
In 2006, Cooley opposed California Proposition 83, a ballot measure that, among other things, forced formerly imprisoned sex offenders to live at least two thousand feet from public parks and schools. Cooley said that the measure "does not spell out who is responsible for enforcing residency restrictions for ex-parolees; nor does it penalize those who violate the rules."[11] He believed the courts would have to resolve problems associated with the law. He said, “It's a hard way to do business. We'd prefer to do a better job at the front end.”[12]
Sex offender deal
In 2006, Cooley made stipulations to the implementation of Jessica's Law and another piece of legislation that became an issue of contention prior to the 2008 election. Jessica's Law and Senate Bill 1128 included language that lengthened hospital commitments for convicted sex offenders from two years to an indefinite period of time. Cooley's stipulation delayed the implementation of the extension for "all currently pending initial commitment petitions."[13]
Political opponents argued that the agreement undermined the will of the people. Election opponent Deputy District Attorney Steve Ipsen said, "It's a slap in the face to voters. If you're a sexual predator, would you rather have one shot at getting out or two?"[14]
Cooley and his supporters argued that the agreement would have had unfair, retroactive implications. Chief deputy for the L.A. County public defender's office called criticism of the agreement a "cheap shot." "The D.A. did the right thing," he said, "and they ought not to be penalized."[15]
State public employee pension
CalWatchDog, a conservative political news blog associated with the Pacific Research Institute, published a story in late-May 2010 highlighting the increasing burden state taxpayers have had to endure in light of the cost of state public employee pension liabilities, which top off at half a trillion dollars. Among those the site focused on was former Los Angeles County District Attorney and former candidate for California state attorney general Steve Cooley, who, if elected, would have been able "to collect more than $400,000 in combined salary and retirement benefits" annually.[16]
Cooley has been criticized for relying too much on state taxpayers to pick up the tab for his retirement fund and possibly "double-dipping" from his district attorney pension and attorney general salary. Cooley said that, if elected, he would collect on both incomes.[16] "I earned it," he said. "I definitely earned whatever pension rights I have and I will certainly rely upon that to supplement the very low, incredibly low, salary that’s paid to the state attorney general.”[17]
Three strikes law
Cooley sought to reform the three strikes law in California. In 2005, Cooley's office reviewed a series of cases, searching for inmates whose crimes under the three-strikes law were not violent or excessive crimes. Cooley said he wanted the law to have a "good sense of proportionality," rather than sending criminals to prison for long sentences for minor felonies.[18] In 2010, Cooley was an advocate of Proposition 36, which required the third strike in the three strikes law to be a serious or violent felony.[19] Cooley said, "There would be proportionate justice evenly applied while still preserving the essence of a very powerful sentencing tool."[20]
Bill Jones, a Republican and legislative author of the original law, said that Cooley wanted to circumvent the law as written and "ignore the will of the state's voters."[18] "It's only a matter of time," he said, "before one of these violent career criminals who could have been removed from our neighborhoods for a nonviolent felony will be released to rape, rob, molest or murder innocent Californians."[21]
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Cooley resides in Toluca Lake, California, where he has lived with his wife, Jana, for over thirty years. The couple has had two children together - Michael and Shannon.
Awards
- Prosecutor of the Year Award (2001) from the Century City Bar Association
- Crime Victims Star of the Year Award from Justice for Homicide Victims
- Champion of the People Award from the National Black Prosecutors Association
- Leaders in Public Service Award from the Encino Chamber of Commerce
- Community Justice Award from the California NAACP
See also
External links
- Stipulation to sex offender law
- Official Los Angeles County District Attorney website
- Steve Cooley & Associates website
- Stevecooley.com 2010 Campaign website
The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine was used to recall this version of the website from November 1, 2010.
Footnotes
- ↑ Sacramento Bee, "Steve Cooley forms committee to explore AG run" 11 Jan. 2010
- ↑ California Secretary of State - 2010 Statewide Primary Election Results
- ↑ California Secretary of State - 2010 General Election Results
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs named2008pe - ↑ County of Los Angeles Department of Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk - 2004 Official Primary Election Results
- ↑ County of Los Angeles Department of Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk - 2000 Official Primary Election Results
- ↑ County of Los Angeles Department of Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk - 2000 Official General Election Results
- ↑ Los Angeles Weekly, "Cooley's Blind Eye" 26 Aug. 2010
- ↑ San Francisco Weekly, "Steve Cooley's Potential Finance Scandal Ignites Kamala Harris Press Storm" 26 Aug. 2010
- ↑ Metropolitan News-Enterprise, "Harris camp blasts Cooley over campaign donations," August 27, 2010
- ↑ San Diego Union Tribune, "Law creates homeless parolees, report says" 22 Feb. 2008
- ↑ San Diego Union Tribune, "Law creates homeless parolees, report says" 22 Feb. 2008
- ↑ "Stipulation to implementing of 'Jessica's Law' or legislation," accessed October 27, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Sex offender deal an issue in campaign" 31 May, 2008
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Sex offender deal an issue in campaign" 31 May, 2008
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Metropolitan News-Enterprise, "Eastman Blasts Campaign Rival Cooley Over Pension ‘Double Dipping’" 27 May, 2010
- ↑ Metropolitan News-Enterprise, "Philibosian Says Cooley Was Victim of ‘Democratic Tsunami,’" November 26, 2010
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Metropolitan News-Enterprise, "Steve Cooley. County’s second-longest serving D.A. takes pride in record, looks to future," January 14, 2010
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Steve Cooley's three-strikes views get coverage in New York Times Magazine" 21 May, 2010
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Three-strikes shouldn't be about small-time crime," October 22, 2012
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Author of 3-Strikes Law Attacks Cooley," November 30, 2000
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