Former U.N. prosecutor seeks GOP nomination

The Sacramento Bee
Tuesday, October 18, 2005

By Andy Furillo, Bee Capitol Bureau

A former Bush administration official has taken out papers to challenge
state Sen. Charles Poochigian for the Republican nomination for state
attorney general, a spokeswoman for the new candidate said Monday.

Pierre-Richard Prosper had served in President Bush’s State Department
as ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues until he recently departed
the administration to enter the attorney general’s race, spokeswoman
Elizabeth Blackney said.

The Denver-born Prosper, 42, had previously served in the Clinton
administration as a top assistant in the criminal division of the
Department of Justice and as special counsel and policy adviser to the
war crimes ambassador.

Prosper also is a former United Nations war crimes prosecutor who
obtained a 1998 genocide conviction against a local official named
Jeal-Paul Akayesu who allowed Hutu police to rape and murder Tutsi women
during the ethnically based Rwandan civil war, according to his official
State Department biography.

From 1994-96, Prosper served as a drug prosecutor for the U.S.
attorney’s office in Los Angeles. Before that, he worked five years as a
Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, including two years he
spent in the Hardcore Gang Division.

The Colorado native was raised in New York and graduated from Boston
College before moving to Southern California and getting his law degree
from Pepperdine University.

“He has a real passion for the rule of law and helping the rule of law
take root,” spokeswoman Blackney said. “Whether it’s in Inglewood or
Compton, where he served, or in Rwanda, the world is growing smaller,
and in California, being the seventh-largest economy in the world, we
need that kind of experience.”

Blackney said Prosper signed organization and statement of intent papers
Monday and mailed them to the secretary of state’s office.

In Poochigian, Prosper will be taking on a Republican stalwart with more
than $2 million in cash on hand as of June 30 and the endorsements of
former Govs. Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian, of every GOP lawmaker in
the state and most of the party’s congressional delegation in
Washington, according to Poochigian’s strategist, Ken Khachigian.

Poochigian has served more than 10 years in the Legislature as a senator
and Assembly member. His resume also includes a three-year stint as
Wilson’s appointments secretary and three years of work as senior staff
member to Deukmejian.

Khachigian said he views Prosper’s candidacy as “inconsequential.”

“I’m looking at somebody who has no ties here …, has no family here,
has no roots here, and has done nothing for the Republican Party here,”
Khachigian said. “It doesn’t make any sense at all. He’s not a Californian.”

On the Democratic side, Los Angles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo has
officially announced for the attorney general’s race that is expected to
pit him against Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown.

The Bee’s Andy Furillo can be reached at (916) 321-1141 or
afurillo@sacbee.com.

nt/politics/story/13732076p-14574914c.html

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress