Californians Spoke Clearly, Governor Newsom Wasn’t Listening

Something remarkable happened in California on November 5.  In several of the state’s most liberal strongholds, voters rejected liberal politicians. Nearly two-thirds of Los Angles voters replaced criminal-coddlling George Gascón with a law-and-order prosecutor. In the East Bay voters recalled Pamela Price, the first black female district attorney in Alameda County history, because she refused to crack down on criminals. Oakland’s ultra-liberal Mayor Sheng Thao has also been recalled. Both votes were by a two-to-one margin. San Francisco voters fired liberal Mayor London Breed and two-thirds of them re-elected crime-fighting DA Brooke Jenkins, who had replaced progressive Chesa Boudin in 2022. Democrats make up 62% of voters in San Francisco, 59% in Alameda County and 52% in Los Angeles. A hell of a lot of them voted with republicans in these races.

Statewide, Proposition 36, a ballot measure to crack down on thieves, drug dealers and addicts, passed with over 70% of the vote. Proposition 6, which forbids mandatory work for prison inmates, is currently losing with 54% of voters opposing it.  In California, 46.2% of voters are  democrats, 27.4% are republicans, 21.9% are independents and 7.2% identify with minor political parties.

What this means is that large majorities of Californians are dissatisfied with how elected Democrats at both the state and local level have addressed crime and public safety. For almost two decades democrat politicians have promised that the reforms they have adopted to replace punishment with rehabilitation programs would reduce crime. When law enforcement leaders warned that these reforms would cause more crime they were called fearmongers. When crime rates climbed, the democrats running the state legislature doubled down, passing more bills to reduce the consequences for criminals. Governor Newsom, of course, signed them into law.

No politician currently in office has been more complicit in encouraging crime than Governor Gavin Newsom. He supported Proposition 47 in 2014, which decriminalized theft and drug crimes. He supported Proposition 57 in 2016 which shortened sentences for violent criminals and handcuffed prosecutors. He granted a reprieve for the state’s death-sentenced murderers and closed down death row.  He used the pandemic as an excuse to give thousands of hardened criminals early released from prison, and three years later he has expanded the effort while closing down prisons.

While this has been going on, prominent democrats have been increasingly becoming crime victims. Former Senator Barbara Boxer was assaulted and robbed in Oakland. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband was attacked with a hammer in their San Francisco home. Prominent democrat philanthropist Jacqueline Avant was murdered in her Beverly Hills mansion by an habitual felon.  Another habitual felon stabbed a UCLA co-ed to death at a luxury furniture store in LA’s exclusive Hancock Park neighborhood. Wealthy democrats living in other West Los Angeles neighborhoods are being followed home from stores by criminals who assault and rob them in their driveways. While shopping at Target with his daughter last February, Governor Newsom actually witnessed a thief carry out stolen goods with impunity. When he asked the clerk why she did not stop the thief she responded “Oh the Governor.” Apparently it did not sink in.  Proposition 47 caused this and thousands of other thefts across the state while Newsom opposed the reforms adopted by Proposition 36.

At last week’s general election, hundreds of thousands of Californians crossed party lines to put a stop to this madness. Don’t expect much help from Governor Newsom. He’s already announced that he will be busy leading the democrat resistance campaign against the Trump administration.