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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBy Susan Crabtree, RealClearPolitics<\/p>\n\n\n\n
California\u2019s fierce political battle over crime and retail theft faces a key test this week as divided Democrats in the legislature address efforts by Gov. Gavin Newsom and his allies to undermine a public-safety ballot initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ballot initiative would overhaul Proposition 47, a law voters approved in 2014 that lowered certain theft and drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanors partly as a way of reducing prison overcrowding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Newsom was among the first elected officials to support Proposition 47, a ballot initiative written by reform-minded George Gascon, who was then the district attorney in San Francisco. (In an unusual move, Gascon is now the DA in Los Angeles.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the pendulum has now swung in the other direction, with critics blaming Prop 47 for the steep rise in retail theft and smash-and-grab \u201cmob\u201d robberies of both high-end department stores and convenience stores that have plagued retailers across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Californians for Safer Communities, a bipartisan group made up of law enforcement officials, elected officials, and businesses, including Walmart and Target, collected more than 900,000 signatures in support of a ballot initiative that would reform Prop 47 by increasing penalties for criminals. In early June, the initiative qualified for the November ballot, a move Newsom and liberal supporters in the state legislature opposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead of letting voters decide its fate, Newsom and his allies, which includes Assembly and Senate leaders, pushed a raft of public safety bills aimed at addressing organized retail theft, car break-ins, and other crimes. They are also working hard to thwart a separate ballot initiative sponsored by the California District Attorneys Association, which has attracted widespread Republican and law enforcement support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats in the state Assembly added \u201cinoperability\u201d clauses to the proposed public safety bills to prevent them from going into effect if voters approve the ballot initiative aimed at reforming Prop 47. They contend that such clauses are needed to ensure that the law is consistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Critics of the move argue that the Democrats\u2019 \u201cpoison pill\u201d measure is designed solely to circumvent California\u2019s storied referendum process. Instead of letting voters determine the ballot initiative\u2019s fate, Newsom and his allies are trying to undermine it apparently because they fear it could attract strong support \u2013 with the added impact of helping Republicans in key Congressional races this fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDemocrats need to stop playing politics with public safety and let voters decide on fixing Prop. 47,\u201d Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThese poison pills show that Democrats aren\u2019t serious about ending the crime wave \u2013 they just want to look like they\u2019re doing something because their years-long support for criminals has become a political liability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The machinations to undermine a ballot initiative on crime came the same week the California Supreme Court unexpectedly rejected<\/a> another referendum that had attained enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot but which Democrats opposed. The court stopped a sweeping proposal that would have made it far more difficult for lawmakers to raise taxes and fees across the state. The justices unanimously ordered that the measure be kept off the ballot, finding it unconstitutional \u2013 even though it was an effort to amend California\u2019s Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans and conservative activists who backed and financed the initiative, which they say had collected more than 1.4 million signatures, are fuming over the move. Carl DeMaio, a candidate for state Assembly and chairman of the group that helped collect the anti-tax initiative signatures, said the state liberal justices sided with \u201ccorrupt politicians\u201d to strip citizens of their rights to qualify propositions for the ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several other ballot initiatives aimed at increasing taxes are slated for the November ballot, and now citizens won\u2019t have a countermeasure to vote on, he said. \u201cThe bottom-line remains: Californians cannot afford our state\u2019s high taxes and cost of living \u2013 and until we fix the cost crisis, Californians will continue to flee this state,\u201d DeMaio tweeted<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regarding Democratic leaders\u2019 efforts to thwart the Prop 47 reform measures, Republicans got a surprise assist from several normally skeptical journalists. George Skelton, the longtime Los Angeles Times columnist and dean of the California press corps, wrote a column<\/a> last week headlined: \u201cStop playing politics on retail theft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026Democrats cynically intend to insert a \u2018poison bill\u2019 that would automatically kill their own legislation if a rival tough-on-crime ballot measure is approved by voters in November,\u201d he wrote. \u201cTo normal people, that must seem bizarre.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDemocrats fear the ballot measure so much they\u2019re offering its backers an offer they can\u2019t refuse,\u201d Skelton added. \u201cAt least that\u2019s the Democrats\u2019 hope. The message: Take what you can get immediately from the legislation \u2013 or risk losing it if the ballot measure passes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Criticism only increased over the week after CBS New California broke a story<\/a> revealing that Newsom\u2019s chief of staff would not negotiate to strengthen the Democratic package of crime bills unless the coalition backing the Prop 47 reform ballot initiative agreed to postpone that effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In leaked emails, Newsom Chief of Staff Dana Williamson told Greg Totten, the coalition\u2019s lead negotiator, that Democrats would be willing to negotiate on its package of crime bills \u2013 but only if the matter was tabled until 2026. \u201cAs I noted previously, our focus is on amending Proposition 47 on the 2024 ballot,\u201d Totten replied. \u201cIf the administration is prepared to consider an amendment of Proposition 47 on the 2024 ballot, then we are happy to meet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Williamson then abruptly cut Totten off. \u201cIf that\u2019s your position, then I agree, there\u2019s nothing to talk about.\u201d She added, \u201cIt\u2019s really amazing how you are incapable of taking a win. And the consultants you\u2019re working with haven\u2019t won anything in a decade. Good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans and journalists aren\u2019t the only ones who find the inoperability clauses disingenuous. At least three Democratic state lawmakers removed their names from retail theft bills included in the package after the clauses were added, and district attorneys and law enforcement associations in their districts pulled their support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, yanked his support from the retail theft bill package because of the added inoperability clauses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUnfortunately, I can\u2019t support the retail theft package, which contains my Retail Theft Accountability bill, AB 1794, with the poison pill non-operative amendments included,\u201d McCarty noted. McCarty is running for mayor of Sacramento and has positioned himself more to the center while facing a progressive opponent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democratic state Sen. Alvarado-Gil and Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria, who both represent the more conservative Central Valley, also withdrew their names as co-authors of retail theft bills included in the package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI oppose the amendments to these two bills, and I was not consulted about them prior,\u201d Alvarado-Gil said in her weekly newsletter to constituents<\/a>. \u201cLet me be clear \u2013 I do support the Prop 47 reform initiative and believe the voters have the right to vote on this. This is not about the policy; it\u2019s about the politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, the Democratic leadership also faces opposition to both the retail theft legislative package and the ballot initiative from the progressive wing of the party, which opposes any<\/em> criminal justice reforms that will result in increased incarceration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe [Democratic] leadership here has gotten a little bit too far out front of their troops,\u201d GOP Sen. Roger Niello told RealClearPolitics in an interview Friday. \u201cI know a lot of members of their caucus didn\u2019t even know about this amendment move and only heard about it over the [previous] weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A spokeswoman for Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas did not respond to a request for comment about the level of Democratic support for the amended legislative package. This bill was also amended to include an urgency clause, which means it goes into effect immediately. Yet to do so would require a two-thirds majority of the Assembly and Senate. Sacramento insiders say the urgency is needed because of another deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta faces a Thursday deadline to provide a title and summary for the ballot initiative and is poised to characterize the proposition as one that would kill the legislature\u2019s anti-crime reform bills. He can only do so, however, if the retail theft package with the inoperability clauses passes with a supermajority this week before the deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n