SF District Attorney Chesa Boudin last year at a press conference during his campaign. Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM

Three Northern California district attorneys called on the state bar Monday to adopt new ethics rules barring elected prosecutors and district attorney candidates from accepting political contributions from law enforcement unions.

After days of protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, the DAs from San Francisco, Contra Costa and San Joaquin counties said in a video conference that professional rules should eliminate any appearance of conflict when prosecutors review allegations against police officers.

The three prosecutors—Chesa Boudin, Diana Becton and Tori Verber Salazar—were joined by former San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, who is running for the top prosecutorial job in Los Angeles. Gascón said that while he accepted police union contributions in his 2011 campaign he will "never do so again."

"The influence or appearance of influence erodes" public trust in prosecutorial review of police misconduct, he said Monday.

A spokeswoman for the state bar said, "it would be premature" for leaders of the legal regulatory agency to comment. Messages left for representatives of the California District Attorneys Association, including its president, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley, were not returned.

The Rules of Professional Conduct, the California Penal Code and associated case law offer guidelines for when attorneys, and specifically prosecutors, should or must recuse themselves or when they must advise their clients of a conflict.

"These rules, however, do not preclude the attorney or prosecutor from soliciting or receiving financial support from an individual or organization that is financing opposing counsel," the four DAs who appeared Monday wrote in a letter to state bar leaders. "It is illogical that the rules prohibit prosecutors from soliciting and benefiting from financial and political support from an accused officer's advocate in court, while enabling the prosecutor to benefit financially and politically from the accused's advocate in public."

Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton called the nuanced language "a loophole" that "needs to change and … needs to change now."

The four prosecutors asked the bar for an expedited review of their request, although the rule-adoption process can typically be a lengthy one.

Richard Zitrin, a San Francisco lawyer and legal ethics specialist, said such a rule change would likely survive a free-speech challenge.

"There's no question that lawyers' free speech can be and is regulated by the state bar," Zitrin said. "This is in keeping with the state bar moving in the direction of significant prosecutorial enlightenment."

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