Republicans set sights on 'Top Gun' attorney general candidate

Republican activists may have breathed a sigh of relief today on learning that Santa Monica City Councilman Bobby Shriver has opted not to run for state attorney general.

Now they are working to recruit their own star candidate.

Their target is U.S. Atty. Thomas O’Brien. A recruitment effort is being spearheaded by California Republicans Aligned For Tomorrow, or CRAFT, a nonprofit focused on enlisting candidates for statewide office. The organization is bankrolled mostly by corporate leaders who have been seeking for years to move the party more toward the middle. Its chief executive is Duf Sundheim, former chair of the state GOP.

Sundheim said O’Brien "would be a fantastic candidate." He said CRAFT has approached the prosecutor, who told the group that "right now he is the U.S. attorney and that is what he is focusing on."

But O’Brien, who has been representing Los Angeles and six other counties as U.S. attorney since July 2007, doesn’t appear to be ruling anything out. Asked about his ambitions, he declined comment.

The GOP has had a tough time capturing statewide offices. Six of the eight statewide elected officials are Democrats.

But Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown is expected to run for governor in 2010, and none of the Democrats lining up to replace him are nearly as popular or well-known.

O’Brien, a former Navy fighter pilot who graduated from the “Top Gun” academy (officially called the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School), has won acclaim in law enforcement circles for his aggressive prosecution of gang violence, human trafficking, hate crimes and police misconduct.

"I can’t imagine anyone better" to be attorney general, said Riverside County Dist. Atty. Rod Pacheco, who is involved in the recruitment effort. "He would be phenomenal. We would be lucky to get him."

-- Evan Halper

Comments

[Marcos El Malo]

I think we (the GOP) would do a lot better if we nominated a candidate like Retired California Superior Court Judge James Gray of Orange County.

[attorney]

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Barbara

[Accident Attorney]

Does anyone know if O'Brien is still in contention for Attorney General? I'm a little behind the times I suppose.