California
Voter frustration with crime, liberal DAs mounting in California while Harris mum on controversial Prop 47
Proposition 47, a progressive proposal headed by George Soros-backed Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, could be going down the drain come election night as polling shows a partial-repeal effort has the support of the majority of California voters.
Gascon’s job, along with other progressive district attorneys who championed Prop. 47 across the state, could also be at risk from voter backlash.
Voter outrage is “sort of a message to [Vice President] Kamala Harris, who was the one that was a big supporter of Prop. 47 by giving it a misleading ballot title,” former Republican Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley told Fox News Digital.
“So it’s a rejection of her, it’s a rejection of Gascon, who was the official proponent of Prop. 47, and the rejection of Soros-type prosecutors,” Cooley said.
WOKE CALIFORNIA PROSECUTOR ‘IRONICALLY IN CHARGE OF ETHICS’ CHARGED WITH FELONIES
The Manhattan Beach Police Department is asking members of the public to help identify suspected smash-and-grab robbers. (Manhattan Beach Police Department)
Also known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act passed by Californians in 2014, Prop. 47 made theft under $950 punishable by up to six months in jail and reclassified felonies down to misdemeanors “unless the defendant had prior convictions of murder, rape, certain sex offenses, or certain gun crimes.”
Gascon, who co-authored the ballot measure, sought to rethink tough-on-crime policies and reduce mass incarceration.
But in the last several years, retail chains and mom-and-pop shops have been hit hard by theft, smash-and-grab robberies and organized retail crime gangs. Prop. 36 – titled the Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act – seeks to undo portions of Prop. 47 by boosting penalties for some crimes and could increase depending on each category.
An overwhelming 71% of Californians support Prop. 36, according to a survey last month by the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan think tank.
Harris, who was California’s attorney general at the time of Prop. 47’s passage, has not said whether she supports Prop. 36.
“She paid her dues to the Soros people when she went along with that phony, misleading title of Safe Schools and Neighborhoods Act,” Cooley said of Harris. “That was an incredible lie to the voters, so she paid her dues.”
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has also thrown her support behind Prop. 36, calling it a “meaningful difference for cities across California.” But Gov. Gavin Newsom remains staunchly opposed to the effort, saying it “takes us back to the 1980s, mass incarceration.”
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has also joined the effort to partially repeal Prop. 47. The California District Attorneys Association, the Los Angeles Police Protective League and the California State Sheriffs’ Association all endorsed Prop. 36.
And some Republicans in the state legislature are confident it has enough support to pass.
“Nobody talks about the victims in California,” Republican state Sen. Brian Dahle told Fox News Digital. “The Democrats never talk about them. They talk about the people who they think have been put in jail unfairly, and it’s made it a social justice issue more than just flat-out crime.”
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George Gascon and Kamala Harris (Fox News Digital photo illustration/Getty Images)
Four years ago, Dahle heavily campaigned for Prop. 20, which was another initiative that sought to repeal Prop. 47, but state voters rejected the measure.
But Prop. 36 may not be headed for the same outcome.
“The big difference in my mind is that the retailers are in the game now,” Dahle said. “They went and got the signatures. They realized that, ‘Hey, we can’t continue to bleed out hundreds of millions of dollars in theft,’ and they’re behind it, and that’s why I think you see the change.”
In Los Angeles, where organized smash-and-grab retail thefts and robberies thrived during the pandemic and its aftermath, law enforcement officers often had their hands tied and described what they called a “revolving door” of arrests.
“Right now, we’re just seeing the revolving door of our officers,” Los Angeles Police Protective League Director Debbie Thomas told Fox News Digital.
“They’ll respond to radio calls, and they can arrest somebody up to three times and shift the same officers because of this blanket policy of not holding people that commit under $950 of theft accountable for their actions,” said Thomas, who is also a Los Angeles Police Department officer. “They’re the ones that are praising George Gascon in the penitentiaries.”
EMBATTLED PROSECUTORS GASCON, FOXX ENDORSE HARRIS, SAY TRUMP ‘WOULD MAKE US ALL LESS SAFE’
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Thomas said the shift to supporting a repeal effort for Prop. 47 is indicative of other shifts in ideology among some voters, including that of the “defund the police” movement.
“I think that people are more than fed up with the lack of support that they’ve seen,” Thomas said. “Defund the police does not work.”
“It’s just nice to see people starting to wake up and realize that it’s a ‘yes’ to Prop. 36, and also ‘yes’ to Nathan Hochman, who’s currently running for L.A. County district attorney,” he added.
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If voters pass Prop. 36 in November, offenders of the law will have to serve out their sentences in state prison “regardless of criminal history.”
Fox News Digital did not hear back from either Gascon’s office nor the Harris campaign by publication deadline.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
California
Heavy rain, high tides cause flooding along stretch of Northern California
CORTE MADERA, Calif. (AP) — Heavy rain and high tides believed to be the most severe in two decades caused flooding in parts of Northern California on Saturday, prompting road closures and rescues of residents trapped in their cars.
Roadways through a 15-mile (24-kilometer) stretch from the Sausalito area to San Rafael were flooded after a downpour coincided with record-breaking “ King Tides,” Marin County Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Dobbins said.
No injuries were reported but authorities were called to assist when cars got stuck in floodwater as high as three and four feet (1.1 and 1.2 meters), he said.
“There is a lot of water in the roadways,” Dobbins said, adding the tides were reportedly the highest in more than two decades. “Along with heavy rains, it just created the perfect storm for flooding on the streets.”
Authorities in the communities near San Francisco asked residents to stay home wherever possible until waters recede. Some residents kayaked along what normally would be city streets. Others waded out in water that passed their knees.
A flood warning was in place for the San Francisco area until 2 p.m. Saturday and an advisory until 2 p.m. Sunday, according to the National Weather Service in San Francisco.
King Tides occur when the sun, moon and Earth are in alignment and the moon is in its closest position to the Earth, creating a stronger gravitational pull.
California
UPDATE: Crash at California/Dakota
10:06 PM: Police are arriving at the scene of a two-vehicle crash reported at California/Dakota, with at least two people hurt.
11:06 PM: Police have just reopened the street. We went to the scene after a report that one vehicle had ended up on the lawn of a church – First Lutheran Church of West Seattle (WSB sponsor) – is on the southwest corner – but all we could see was one vehicle on the sidewalk. We’re following up with SFD regarding the people who were hurt.
California
Southern California’s wild weather is not over. Wind gusts of up to 65 mph predicted
Last week’s rain won’t be the end of Southern California’s wild weather as strong wind gusts are forecast through the area until Tuesday.
Gusts of up to 65 mph are expected in mountains and valleys throughout the region, with the National Weather Service warning that power outages were possible and that residents should keep an eye out for downed trees and power lines.
“Travel could be difficult, especially for high profile vehicles,” according to an alert issued by the National Weather Service.
The recent storms that drenched Southern California and soaked the soil could also “increase the likelihood of damage” caused by downed trees and power lines, the agency noted.
The National Weather Service issued the advisory Sunday, warning that the western Santa Monica Mountains, Santa Susana Mountains, San Gabriel Mountains and the Interstate 5 and Highway 14 corridors could see strong winds starting Sunday evening, lasting until Monday afternoon.
Winds between 20 to 30 mph are expected in those areas until Sunday evening. Wind speeds are then predicted to pick up until Monday afternoon, with northeast winds of up to 40 mph and gusts of up to 65 mph.
A similar alert for strong gusts was issued by the weather service for the San Bernardino and Riverside County mountain and valley regions, as well as the Santa Ana Mountains, where strong winds could linger until Tuesday afternoon.
Northeast winds with speeds of up to 30 mph are expected to hit the area starting this evening, with gusts of up to 60 mph.
The high wind alerts come after the region was drenched for days, causing debris flows that washed through homes in Wrightwood. At least three people were killed in storm-related deaths, including a man in San Diego who was struck by a falling tree. In Boyle Heights, a rare tornado touched down on Christmas morning.
More rain is expected this week, including the possibility of rain on New Year’s Day.
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