Los Angeles Times - 18.03.2020

LATIMES.COM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2020B

CITY & STATE

Los Angeles County Dist.

Atty. Jackie Lacey appears

highly likely to face prog-

ressive challenger George

Gascón in a November run-

off that could set the tone for

criminal justice policy inside

the nation’s largest court

system for years to come, ac-

cording to returns made

public Tuesday.

Lacey saw her share of

the vote slip just below 49%

as Gascón climbed to

slightly above 28% with

about 64,000 votes remain-

ing, according to the latest

tally from the county regis-

trar-recorder.

To avoid a runoff, Lacey

needs 50% of the vote plus

one. But to hit that figure,

she’d need to secure 53,

of the remaining potential

ballots, which is extremely

unlikely as her vote share

has been trending down

since the initial set of returns

came out on election night.

It is also unclear whether

all of the outstanding ballots

will ultimately be counted

and influence the outcome.

The leftover pile includes

10,000 provisional votes as

well as a number of damaged

ballots, which could be

voided as part of the coun-

ty’s tallying process. Dis-

carded ballots would only

further tilt the math against

Lacey.

Former public defender

Rachel Rossi, who ran as an

alternative to the two experi-

enced law enforcement offi-

cials, was eliminated Tues-

day. Even if she were to se-

cure every remaining ballot,

she could not barge past

Gascón into second place.

In a statement, Lacey

said she was “honored” by

the hundreds of thousands

of voters who turned out for

her and noted that in the

wake of the panic caused by

the coronavirus it is “all the

more important that we

have a real conversation

about keeping our commu-

nity safe.”

“I look forward to con-

tinuing that conversation in

November,” she said.

Gascón’s campaign man-

ager, Jamarah Hayner, said

that while the returns bred

“cautious optimism” her

staff was also focused on

making sure their loved ones

and colleagues were safe

and healthy in light of the

outbreak.

For months, the three

candidates faced off in a

tense primary that pitted

the more moderate Lacey

against challengers who em-

body a nationwide push to

elect more progressive pros-

ecutors.

Gascón, a former assist-

ant Los Angeles police chief

who served as San Francis-

co’s district attorney for

eight years, co-authored

Proposition 47 — which re-

duced a number of felonies

to misdemeanors — and ran

on improving public safety

while reducing what he con-

siders high incarceration

levels in L.A. County. Critics,

however, have blasted him

over surges in property

crime in San Francisco dur-

ing his tenure. Rossi, who

helped craft federal sentenc-

ing reform legislation in

Washington, D.C., had re-

peatedly chastised Lacey for

her handling of cases involv-

ing mentally ill defendants

and promised not to prose-

cute offenses she believed

criminalize homelessness.

The race grew more con-

tentious when a January de-

bate was repeatedly inter-

rupted by protesters, lead-

ing Lacey to decline to ap-

pear at other public forums.

Less than 24 hours before

election day, a demon-

stration outside Lacey’s

home took a dangerous turn

when the district attorney’s

husband pointed a gun at

protesters.

Times staff writer Ben

Welsh contributed to this

report.

Runoff

is likely

in race

for D.A.

Incumbent Lacey slips

below 49% in latest

tally, making a contest

with Gascón probable.

By James Queally

Former U.S. Rep. Dun-
can Hunter was sentenced
to 11 months in federal prison
Monday for conspiring to il-
legally use more than
$150,000 of his campaign
money for personal benefit.
U.S. District Court Judge
Thomas J. Whelan handed
down the sentence at a hear-
ing for the former Republi-
can lawmaker from Alpine.
Hunter pleaded guilty in De-
cember to a felony conspira-
cy charge, one of 60 counts in
an August 2018 indictment
that also named his wife and
former campaign manager,
Margaret.
Both Duncan, 43, and
Margaret Hunter, 44,
pleaded not guilty when
they were arraigned, then
changed their pleas last year
in separate agreements with
prosecutors.
Whelan ordered Hunter
to surrender by May 29 to be-
gin serving his sentence.
The disgraced former

lawmaker resigned his seat

representing the state’s 50th

District in January during

his sixth term. He had suc-

ceeded his father, former

Rep. Duncan Lee Hunter,

who served 14 terms in Con-

gress, in the seat.

Margaret Hunter is

scheduled to be sentenced

April 7.

According to the indict-

ment, the Hunters relied for

years on campaign contrib-

utions to pay routine family

expenses such as dental vis-

its, home repairs and fast-

food meals. They also used

the donations to pay for ex-

otic vacations, private-

school tuition, video games

and plane tickets for Mar-

garet’s mother to travel to

and from Poland.

The Hunters used more

than $500 in campaign funds

to fly the family’s pet rabbit

across the country with

them, Margaret Hunter ad-

mitted in her plea agree-

ment.

In total, the initial indict-

ment accused the Hunters

of misusing $250,000 in cam-

paign funds.

In later court filings, it be-

came clear that prosecutors

believed Hunter had extra-

marital affairs with at least

five women and spent cam-

paign funds on such things

as travel, drinks and hotels.

Hunter was accused of

using campaign funds to pay

for a three-day weekend at

Lake Tahoe with a woman

who was not his wife. On an-

other occasion, he used po-

litical donations to pay for a

stay at the Liaison Capitol

Hill hotel in Washington,

D.C., records show.

The indictment also said

that Hunter and his wife

were aware that their use of

campaign donations was

questionable. Prosecutors

said Hunter was warned

about the spending as early

as 2010.

The couple’s joint bank

account was overdrawn

more than 1,100 times over

the six-plus years of records

examined by prosecutors,

and the couple racked up

some $36,000 in overdraft

penalties — fees they paid

using campaign funds, the

indictment stated.

Text messages included

in court files show that at

one point Margaret advised

her husband to use the cam-

paign credit card to buy a

pair of Hawaiian shorts he

wanted but could not afford

— and to tell his then-treas-

urer that the purchase was

in order to assist “wounded

warriors.”

The criminal charges

filed in 2018 came after the

Federal Election Commis-

sion and the San Diego

Union-Tribune questioned

campaign expenditures

Hunter reported in April

2016 — a series of video-game

purchases and a payment to

his children’s private school.

Hunter initially blamed

his son for grabbing the

wrong credit card to pay the

video-game charges, ex-

plaining that both of the

cards were blue.

Later, the congressman

appeared to blame his wife

for improper charges, point-

ing out that she was in

charge of the family finances

and she was receiving $3,

a month to serve as his cam-

paign treasurer.

The Union-Tribune con-

tinued to raise questions

about Hunter’s campaign

spending over the months

that followed. By the 2016

general election, Hunter had

repaid about $60,000 to his

campaign for expenditures

he said were mistaken or in-

sufficiently documented.

Neither the denials nor

the repayment quelled the

investigation. The lawmaker

dismissed follow-up stories

by the Union-Tribune as

“fake news” and said the

newspaper was out to get

him.

Federal prosecutors

opened their criminal case

in mid-2016, a probe that

Hunter dismissed as being

conducted by “deep state”

partisans within the FBI

and others in the U.S. gov-

ernment.

The investigation, and

the cost of his legal defense,

took its toll on Hunter and

his family.

The congressman and

his wife sold their Alpine

home in 2017 to pay off family

debts and moved into the

home of Hunter’s father.

All the while, the Marine

Corps veteran who served

multiple tours of duty in Iraq

and Afghanistan before join-

ing Congress in 2009, re-

mained adamant than he

did nothing wrong.

Cook and Moran write for

the San Diego

Union-Tribune.

Union-Tribune staff writer

Jeff McDonald contributed

to this report.

Duncan Hunter gets prison sentence

A judge gives the

former lawmaker an

11-month term after

he pleaded guilty to

felony conspiracy.

By Morgan Cook and
Greg Moran

DUNCAN HUNTER,

who was first elected to

Congress in 2009.

San Diego Union-Tribune

Aiming to limit student
exposure to the coronavirus,
the College Board is propos-
ing that rigorous Advanced
Placement tests could be-
come take-home exams, and
has canceled the SAT test
scheduled for May 2.
ACT Inc. has postponed
its April 4 exam to June 13.
The AP exams, which
test students on prescribed
college-level curriculum
across subjects, including
calculus, history and Eng-
lish, remain scheduled for
May 4–8 and 11–15, with late
testing scheduled for May
20–22.
College admissions offi-
cers regard AP courses as
important markers of a stu-
dent’s academic ambition
and readiness for college
work. Students who pass an
AP exam may receive college
credit, depending on the
campus and test score.
“The AP Program is final-
izing streamlined AP Exam
options that would allow
students to test at home, de-
pending on the situation in
May,” the College Board said
in a statement. “We’re work-
ing to give every AP student

the opportunity to claim the

college credit they’ve

earned.”

Some AP teachers, how-

ever, said they feared that

at-home tests could result in

widespread cheating. They

also questioned whether all

students would have equal

access to home computers,

Wi-Fi and data plans needed

for at-home testing.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said

Tuesday, however, that it

was unlikely that many

schools, if any, would open

before the summer break.

He said teachers and staff

“shouldn’t worry about com-

ing back” to administer SAT,

ACT and AP tests.

A College Board official

was not immediately avail-

able for comment, but the

nonprofit said in statement

that it would release further

details about AP testing op-

portunities on Friday.

Monty Armstrong, an AP

world history teacher at Cer-

ritos High School, said the

move to at-home testing

could be a “disaster.”

“There’s no real way to

monitor the student,” said

Armstrong, who is a co-mo-

derator of the College

Board’s AP world history

teaching community.

Armstrong said tests

should continue to be ad-

ministered at schools, with

students spaced six feet

apart as recommended by

guidelines on social distanc-

ing by the Centers for Dis-

ease Control and Preven-

tion.

Cerritos High School has

been giving AP tests that

way in the gymnasium for

about the last five years with

no problems, Armstrong

said. He added that stu-

dents could be given individ-

ual times to check in to avoid

large groups converging at

once.

Miles Nagaoka, who

teaches AP English lan-

guage and composition at

Lincoln High School, also

said he was concerned about

the potential for cheating

and equal access to technol-

ogy.

But one potential upside,

he said, is that the College

Board could administer an

online test at the same time

across the country, prevent-

ing students in different

time zones from sharing in-

formation as some report-

edly have in the past.

Alice Yao, a senior at

Downtown Magnets High

School, isn’t thrilled about

the prospect of taking her

AP exams in English litera-

ture, calculus and biology at

home. If it’s a paper test, she

worries that people might

cheat without a proctor. She

would not cheat, but it’s a

fact of life among students,

she said.

“Honestly, I feel we’re all

students and trying to get

the best scores as possible,”

she said.

An online test could have

technological problems, she

said. What if her computer

crashes or slows to a crawl?

AP tests are timed, Yao said,

so every second is critical.

The only potential bene-

fit, she said, would be the

ability to stay safe by not

mingling with other stu-

dents. But for her, that

doesn’t outweigh the poten-

tial problems.

“I just hope the co-

ronavirus situation calms

down before the AP exam so

we can take it at school with

teachers,” she said.

But Eddie Comeaux, who

heads the University of Cali-

fornia’s Academic Senate

committee overseeing test-

ing and admissions policies,

said he would not personally

be opposed to at-home tests.

At UC Riverside, he teaches

several online classes, in-

cluding one about policy and

legal issues in intercollegiate

athletics. He said he is able

to secure the integrity of on-

line exams using a third-

party proctoring platform,

ProctorU.

Under the setup, a proc-

tor watches the student take

the test via computer after

confirming the ID. The proc-

tor is able to see everything

on the student’s desk, he

said, and would be able to

see any use of prohibited

items, such as phones, notes

or books.

“In my five years using

this, I have never heard of

any compromising of the in-

tegrity of the exam,”

Comeaux said. “I think it’s

great. It works.”

The College Board has

not yet canceled the SAT

test scheduled for June 6.

SAT, AP tests in flux amid virus pandemic

“THE AP PROGRAMis finalizing streamlined AP

Exam options,” the College Board said in a statement.

Los Angeles Times

The College Board

proposes allowing

Advanced Placement

exams at home.

By Teresa Watanabe

A SOCIAL DISTANCING TWO-STEP

Raul RoaLos Angeles Times

Carrie Malloy, owner of Malloy Irish Dance School, does a traditional Irish dance for passersby in South Pasadena on St. Patrick’s

Day. The green beer wasn’t flowing anywhere in L.A. County, with bars being closed because of the coronavirus outbreak.