In reality, this union turned out to be a secretive and unaccountable group of deadbeats, lead by a “president” who was abusing his position to advance his own political agenda. In 2008 ADDA “President” Steve Ipsen ran against DA Steve Cooley, and he lost. Since then, Ipsen has concentrated on forming a “union” that is undemocratic, secretive, and focused solely on trying to embarrass Cooley’s administration with these pathetic and baseless lawsuits. Ipsen himself had to withdraw his complaint that he was the target of retaliation for forming his “union” when it was revealed that Ipsen had not only testified as a character witness for a three-time convicted sex offender who he described as “one of his closest friends,” but had also allowed this “closest friend” to live with him, use his car, and have access to his DA Badge. Hardly the model for a “President” let alone acceptable conduct for a deputy district attorney.
Ipsen’s Stalin-like leadership of his “union” is a disgrace. Ipsen recently endorsed Attorney General candidate John Eastman, making the endorsement appear to be in the name of all Los Angeles deputy district attorneys. Ipsen acted without the consent of Los Angeles deputy district attorneys and in doing so showed not only how unrepresentative he is, but also gave another clear example of the poor choices he makes; Eastman had been running with a ballot designation of “Assistant Attorney General” when in fact Eastman is a minor law school dean. A Superior Court judge recently threw out Eastman’s misleading ballot designation. These are the types of people this union “President” believes in; convicted sex offenders and lying politicians.