Look around: Progressive prosecutors like Julie Gunnigle have brought chaos

This November, public safety in Maricopa County is on the ballot.

Homicides in Los Angeles during the first half of 2022 spiked to their highest level in 15 years. Thirty people were shot during a single weekend in Chicago in early October.

Repeatedly victimized by vandalism and smash-and-grab thefts, a San Francisco retailer closed down and declared in a viral post that “one of the most beautiful and amazing cities in the world is now a place where many no longer feel safe visiting or living.”

Open-air drug markets flourish in New York City, Portland, Baltimore and elsewhere.

These data points are all connected. In each community, a progressive district attorney or prosecutor sold local voters on “criminal justice reform” and police accountability.

Instead, what they delivered is chaos and disorder.

Julie Gunnigle offers a radical agenda

Now, a candidate of this same extremist mold is running for Maricopa County attorney. Radical progressive Julie Gunnigle opposes mandatory-minimum and truth-in-sentencing guidelines, and promises to eliminate cash-bail – turning dangerous offenders loose on the community while they await trial.

She calls the death penalty an “abject failure,” and pledges to cut the county’s contribution to the prison population by 25%. Gunnigle even endorsed the controversial Defund the Police campaign when she supported stripping $25 million from Phoenix Police, and opposes the use of School Resource Officers to help protect students in our schools.

Chesa Boudin campaigned on many of these same failed policies when the progressive Democrat was elected San Francisco district attorney in 2019. During his brief tenure, the rate of petty theft cases prosecuted by his office fell by nearly half relative to his predecessor. Even as a soaring fentanyl epidemic claimed nearly 500 lives across San Francisco in 2021, Boudin failed to secure a single conviction that year against fentanyl dealers. Not one.

San Francisco residents finally got wise, voting to recall Boudin earlier this year. But the damage from his tenure will not be easily undone.

Rachel Mitchell has a record of pursuing justice

We have a better option with 30-year prosecutor Rachel Mitchell as Maricopa County attorney.

A native Arizonan, Mitchell has devoted her life to protecting this community. She spent more than two decades fighting for women and children by getting sexual predators off the streets, and never – not for one moment – forgets the crime victims for whom she is pursuing justice. That’s why law enforcement groups like the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police, Arizona State Troopers Association, Arizona Conference of Police & Sheriffs and more have endorsed her campaign.

Gunnigle? She calls it a “day one priority” to form a special unit assigned to investigate and prosecute police.

Mitchell believes in police accountability in cases of misconduct or excessive use of force. But she also knows the overwhelming majority of cops are good people doing an incredibly difficult and dangerous job. The public depends on prosecutors and law enforcement working together.

We’ve seen what happens in jurisdictions where there is dysfunction between the prosecutor and police. Crime goes unpunished, offenders get a free pass and the law-abiding public suffers. It’s a recipe for mayhem, and communities of color pay a disproportionate price.

The Maricopa County attorney oversees more than 1,000 employees as part of the third-largest public prosecutorial office in the nation. It’s a big job with staggering responsibilities.

Julie Gunnigle, with her fringe politics and left-wing policies, fails the judgment test. We need a seasoned prosecutor who knows keeping Maricopa County families safe is Job One.

That’s why we are proud to support Rachel Mitchell for Maricopa County attorney. We hope you will, too.

Mary Roberts is a retired assistant chief with Phoenix Police and served 35 years in local law enforcement. John Gillis is a retired officer with the LA Police Department and former victims advocate with the U.S. Department of Justice and Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Reach them at maryretpd@gmail.com and jwgillis@aol.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Julie Gunnigle, like other progressives, would bring chaos