BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
District Attorney Jeff Rosen has been sued for a third time by a prosecutor who is collecting a paycheck from Santa Clara County but not getting a job assignment from Rosen.
Rosen has fired Deputy District Attorney Daniel Chung twice, and both times was ordered to reinstate Chung — first by an arbitrator, and then by the Santa Clara County Personnel Board.
Still, Rosen hasn’t given Chung access to the office, his email account, any training sessions or the courthouses.
“Consistent with the District Attorney’s constitutional and statutory authority to assign prosecutorial and investigative work, you are not to perform prosecutorial or investigative assignments,” Assistant District Attorney David Angel said in an email to Chung on June 11.
Chung and his union filed a lawsuit on Friday asking a judge to order Rosen to give him an assignment.
Fued timeline
The feud between Rosen and Chung goes back to February 2021, when Chung published an opinion piece that criticized “progressive prosecutors” in the wake of several hate crimes against Asians.
Rosen, 57, of Los Altos, suspended Chung for two weeks, and an arbitrator later reduced the suspension to one week.
Chung in May 2021 went to a Red Cross center where the families of mass shooting victims were gathered, but he didn’t get Rosen’s permission first.
So Rosen fired Chung.
Arbitrator Paul Roose later reduced the punishment to a 30-day suspension.
Rosen gave Chung his $7,000 paycheck every two weeks but banned Chung from coming to work.
Chung then went to a training seminar in San Diego in April 2023, despite instructions not to do so, and Rosen fired him again.
The Personnel Board reversed the firing and reinstated Chung on June 23, putting him back on payroll.
Chung has three active lawsuits against Rosen — the first for allegedly violating his First Amendment rights related to the opinion piece, and the second for allegedly going against the arbitrator’s decision the first time that he was fired.
The third lawsuit, which was filed on Friday, alleges that Rosen is going against the Personnel Board’s decision.
Rosen’s spokesman Sean Webby has declined to comment on Chung, citing the ongoing lawsuits.
Election challenge
Meanwhile, Chung has filed papers to run against Rosen next year on a platform of being tougher on crime.
Rosen has raised nearly $300,000 for his reelection campaign, his campaign spokesman Leo Briones said in an email.
Rosen has secured endorsements from Sen. Adam Schiff and local congressional members Sam Liccardo, Jimmy Panetta, Zoe Lofgren, Kevin Mullin, Eric Swalwell and retired Anna Eshoo. Rosen is also endorsed by state Sen. Josh Becker, Assemblyman Marc Berman, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, Santa Clara County Sheriff Bob Jonsen, the Santa Clara County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association and police unions in San Jose and Sunnyvale.
“However, DA Rosen’s main focus is on increasing safety and justice in Santa Clara County,” Briones said.