PURELY POLITICAL Michael Gates

By Jim Buckley

Oct 17, 2026

Michael Gates Could End California’s “Culture of Lawlessness”

Republican candidate for California State Attorney General Michael Gates is the real deal. He would be an “old-school” law enforcement officer, someone who – if elected – could indeed finally make a dent into what he refers to as “California’s Culture of Lawlessness.” He doesn’t mince words, and it’s not just a catchy phrase for him. “Let’s face it,” he says during our half-hour telephone conversation, “If you commit a crime, or want to commit a crime in California, chances are you won’t be caught… or punished. We live in a Culture of Lawlessness and that’s a fact.”

His description of what he saw when he visited the Skid Row section of Los Angeles appalled him. “I thought I’d see maybe hundreds of homeless in tents and doing drugs, but no, there were thousands. The sidewalks are so packed with people walking shoulder-to-shoulder that the only way to get anywhere in Skid Row is to walk in the street.”

He says he couldn’t believe how crowded the area is.

Q. Is there evidence of ongoing crime?

A. “Oh yes, mostly drug dealing and openly ‘shooting up’ was common.”

Q. Tents?

A. “Everywhere.”

Q. Why?

A. “Don’t know. Every city in America has laws against setting up a tent on a pubic walkway. It’s illegal in every city.”

Q. So, if you become Attorney General, you’ll be able to deal with the situation?

A. “Yes. Even if local LAPD don’t want to cooperate, or are told by higher-ups not to cooperate, as Attorney General, every Sheriff in California is part of my law enforcement, so I could/would enlist them in the effort.”

Statewide City Clean Up Possible

Gates believes that L.A. Mayor Karen Bass will be reelected (though recent polls indicate a different outcome) and that doesn’t bother him because, as he sees it “she actually has a strong desire to clean up the area.” When asked why she hasn’t done it yet, he says, “It takes a team and if you don’t have your team on board with the effort, it will fail.” With Gates’s help, and the help of his Sheriffs, he believes she’d rally her troops and would be “a strong part of the clean-up” effort that would take place under his watch.

Gates notes that San Francisco has made significant positive strides since the election of Democrat mayor Daniel Lurie and that as Attorney General, he could put real teeth into the same kind of effort in every city throughout the state, especially in Los Angeles.

Some of the things Lurie put into place right away in San Francisco included creating a couple of “crisis stabilization centers,” and “RESET Centers” where police could bring people arrested for public intoxication rather than jail. This is interesting to me, as my hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts did exactly that when I was a child. By avoiding an arrest record and sobering up an individual, it was a win-win then and I believe a win-win once again. Officers are back on the street in less than 20 minutes on average and the poor sot has avoided a criminal record.

A September 2025 settlement in Coalition on Homelessness v. San Francisco ended three years of litigation and left the city free to clear camps, while keeping bag-and-tag rules for stored property.

Large vehicles and RVs are now limited to two-hour street parking starting in late 2025; the RV count has recently hit a record low.

A crackdown on auto theft in the heart of San Francisco has also led to an increased sense of safety for shoppers and visitors.

As California’s Attorney General, Gates would work with Lurie and other mayors or with, as he calls them, “our Sheriffs” to begin a serious effort to clean up the state’s cities, “particularly their downtown areas.” He believes such a statewide cleanup would accomplish two ends: firstly, safer cities, and secondly, a return of a more vibrant retail and business environment.

There is no question that if Gates could squeak in as California Attorney General, much could change in the Golden State even if Steve Hilton loses his bid to become governor against squishy soft “Sanctuary City” Democrat Xavier Becerra, mainly through more prosecutions of lawbreakers in every category and an emphasis on cleaning up places such as L.A.’s Skid Row and the other sprawling “encampment cities” that have blossomed in so many of California’s downtown areas.

Gates points to his eight years as Huntington Beach’s City Attorney (2014 to 2022) and the way he kept that city from joining the ranks of cities whose central cores had been hollowed out by the transient crowd.

Gates’s emphasis on quality-of-life cases (trespassing, public intoxication, camping on public property, interfering with residents’ right-of-way, etc.) led to a sharp drop in downtown crime statistics in Huntington Beach. Oh, and he was deeply involved in both voter-roll and election-integrity investigations under the Trump Department of Justice.

He is on the “right” side of issues such as parental rights, parental notification, and school-gender confrontations, all of which are in direct contrast with California’s current Attorney General, Democrat Rob Bonta, who will remain as Attorney General if Gates doesn’t beat him.

Gates wants to roll back sanctuary limits so jails can transfer people to ICE “in the jail,” not fight ICE tactics in court. Gates has said he would require that his sheriffs issue concealed-carry permits on a 90-day clock and would treat some local delays as unconstitutional. He is essentially a classic local law-and-order guy who would back law enforcement officers, cooperate with ICE, and patrol encampments and open drug use. As Attorney General, he says he would operate “as a statewide District Attorney,” and would prosecute crimes that otherwise would be left alone by the current Attorney General.

It’s important to note too that the California State Sheriffs’ Association endorsed Gates, not Bonta.

Vote for Michael Gates for Attorney General

I don’t believe a voter – of any political persuasion – could disagree that Michael Gates, if elected even under a Democrat governor, could begin to right the California ship.

Just think what he could do under a Republican governor!

He’s got my vote and I hope he gets yours.

www.Gates4AG.com

E-mail: info@gates4ag.com
X: @MichaelGatesESQ
Facebook: @GatesforAG

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