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Former U.N. prosecutor seeks GOP nomination

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  • Former U.N. prosecutor seeks GOP nomination

    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
    [email protected].

    http://www.sacbee.com/conte nt/politics/story/13732076p-14574914c.html

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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