Steve Cooley
On June 8th 2010, Los Angeles County’s three-term District Attorney Steve Cooley, won the Republican nomination for the office of California Attorney General. Cooley won with 47% of the vote and carried 47 out of California’s 58 counties.
A Southern California native and the son of an FBI agent, Cooley is a career prosecutor who joined the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office in 1973 as a law clerk. He rose through the ranks and currently leads the largest public law office in the nation, overseeing an annual operating budget of more than $330 million while directing over 1,000 attorneys, nearly 300 investigators as well as hundreds of clerical and support personnel, who prosecute 60,000 felonies and 130,000 misdemeanors annually.
Transparency and trust in government is a top priority for Steve Cooley. As LA County’s Chief Prosecutor, he created the Public Integrity Division to prosecute crimes committed by politicians, government officials and dishonest lawyers. His office has received numerous awards and commendations for their work to keep government open and accountable to the media and public at large. As Attorney General, Cooley will take that same model to the state level.
After the murder of Deputy Sheriff David March, Steve Cooley spent five years leading the international effort to bring justice to the families of murder victims whose killers fled to Mexico. He and his staff worked to change state, federal and international policy in order to reverse a 2001 Mexican Supreme Court decision that barred the extradition of killers facing life sentences in the United States. The Mexican Supreme Court ultimately overturned the previous decision and allowed criminals facing life terms to be extradited. Scores of killers have been returned to the United States since and the killer of Deputy March is serving life without the possibility of parole in a California prison.
Cooley has been a national leader in expanding the use of DNA and forensic science to solve difficult and “cold” cases. With an overall conviction rate of over 95%, his office is a leader in the state for Three Strikes and death penalty convictions as well as for prosecuting gang-related crimes.
With California’s current unemployment crisis and the exodus of businesses from the state, Cooley believes in making job creation a top priority by reducing unreasonably burdensome regulations while prosecuting those who prey on consumers, endanger the public’s health and damage our environment.
Cooley’s commitments to public integrity and public safety are well documented and have been hallmarks of his career. He is eminently qualified to be California’s ‘top-cop’ and lead the office of Attorney General.
Steve Cooley obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Los Angeles and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Southern California Law Center. He and his wife Jana have been married for over 35 years and have two adult children.
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