LA County District Attorney George Gascón has gained a reputation for being a manager with an "authoritarian" and "toxic" approach, and also having an 'ultra-woke' agenda. The combination of that approach seems to have driven some of his most talented employees to quit, and resulted in a backlog of 10,000 cases.

"In my career as a prosecutor, I’ve never had victims’ families actually hate us until I came into this office," a former deputy DA told The New York Post.

Former Employees Say Gascón Has Soft on Crime and Time Served Mentality

The former employee said the public's trust has been seriously damaged because Gascón has repeatedly offered generous plea deals in which criminals have been able to escape the penalty of hard time in jail or prison, or in some cases, even being prosecuted for a crime at all.

"We are hated by all the victims because of lack of prosecution and low sentences because of his policies.

"Gascón is so focused on justice for black and brown defendants, but the victims and their families are also black and brown. Where is the justice for them? We are making them victims of the criminal justice system yet again," the former deputy DA said.

Reputation of the Office Being Destroyed

Vice president of the LA County Association of Deputy District Attorneys said that "The reputation of the office has been destroyed and people know he's hostile to his employees."

He added that Gascón "engages in retaliatory acts against employees who don't share his ideology," and that Gascón has an "an authoritarian management style."

Ugly Exit Letter of a Former Employee

Mark Burnley, a former prosecutor who worked in the office, referred to Gascón's management style as a "managerial dumpster fire." According to Fox News.

Burnley was a veteran prosecutor with 28 years of experience and had been with the office since 1999.

He wrote an exit letter on his last day of work in which he detailed what his work experience was like once Gascón came on board after unseating incumbent DA Jackie Lacey in 2020.

"Until December 2022, I thought I had the best job in the world," he said in his letter.

"I am constantly amazed by the expertise and knowledge of the DDAs in this office. They are deeply devoted and have a breathtaking amount of experience. It's a shame you cannot or will not recognize that," Burnley wrote in his letter, which was obtained by Fox News.

Burnley said he was originally told that Gascón wouldn't be making any "dramatic" policy changes.  But then, once he was sworn in, all of that changed.

"Many of us hoped, like Mark Burnley, that George Gascón could run a government office. He made it clear, from the first minute of his administration, that he could not," Vice President of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys for Los Angeles County Eric Siddall told Fox News in a statement.

Siddall stated that as time progressed, it became clear to many talented employees that things weren't going to improve, so many of the "dedicated public servants are leaving the office in record numbers. Interest in joining the office is at a historic low, And the people of Los Angeles are paying the price. Burnley is right: competence matters."

The DA's office has admitted to having 139 open positions, but it is blaming the high number of openings on "retirement and a previous hiring freeze," according to Daily Mail.

The general explanation offered for the backlog of cases was that there are many reasons why a case may not be immediately filed, including a need for further investigation.