The Hall of Shame: 3-Strikes Caused by Politicians who
Follow the Mob (or Even Incite It)
"Distrust all men whose impulse to punish is powerful." Friedrich
Nietzsche
Like the spineless judges, prosecutors and politicians in the days of the
witch trials, today's politicians find it easier to jump on the bandwagon than
necessarily to "do the right thing."
Where would today's judges, prosecutors and politicians have been in Nazi
Germany, Stalinist USSR, at the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, or as the Ku Klux
Klan lynched African-Americans? Would they have stood up against the mob, or
would they have joined it?
This is another page the politicians are going to hate. When history looks
back at this time, how will they be judged? This page is going to stay up for
many years so people can see who stood up and who didn't against the 3-Strikes
law.
One thing the politicians haven't reckoned with is that a web page can be
created and stay up for many years. No longer can politicians hope that their
past votes and comments will be hidden from the public because newspapers and
the media will have forgotten about them. In the future, if someone wants to do
a search on the internet for a particular politician, hopefully this page will
pop up and they can see what a politician stood for in the past.
The following are some comments made by politicians and their voting
records regarding the 3-Strikes law. PLEASE SEND US NEW COMMENTS AND ARTICLES
IF YOU HAVE THEM.
Attorney General Dan Lungren and Governor Pete
Wilson hold mantel for greatest mob inciters
FACTS gives the mantel for the politicians who have incited and inflamed
the mob the most to Attorney General Dan Lungren and Governor Pete Wilson. Is
it any coincidence that Dan Lungren is planning to run for the Governor
position and Pete Wilson is planning to run for President?
Dan Lungren shows the true depth of his ability to misconstrue the
3-Strikes law for his political purposes through his article "Three
Cheers for Three Strikes." (FACTS response can be found by
clicking here.)
Pete Wilson has shown the depths of his sleaze by going to the funeral of
Polly Klaas and angering the relatives of Klaas (click here for story).
District Attorney in Colusa County follows the
crowd--no matter what.
"I come from a really conservative county. They want people locked up,
and locked up forever. I want to keep my job. If prior strikes are serious or
violent, I don't care what the current charge is. I want him locked up."
-- John R. Poyner, Colusa County district attorney, quoted in California
Lawyer, October 1996.
San Diego District Attorney against 3-Strikes but then
admits to easily joining the mob
While campaigning for district attorney in San Diego County in 1994, Paul
J. Pfingst opposed the version of the law that was enacted that year. Instead,
he supported an alternate proposal under which a third strike would have to
involve a violent felony. The prosecutor later pointed out that voters elected
him only to quickly disregard his first piece of legal advice by approving a
broader three strikes initiative.
Since his election, however, Pfingst has become a strong 3-Strikes
advocate. He worked with local superior court officials and public defenders to
set up the state's first courtrooms devoted solely to 3-Strikes cases, staffing
them with a nine-member prosecution force. He also joined Attorney General Dan
Lungren in arguing the Romero case before the state Supreme Court and
has loudly lamented the court's opinion in that case, which provided judges
with wider discretion in three strike trials. California Lawyer, October
1996, by Marty Graham.
Political consultant makes living having mob turn
against politicians that don't join it
Dave Gilliard, a leading political consultant in California, is the chief
political adviser to Orange County Republicans and has been gathering
ammunition he hopes he can use to torpedo Democrats over the 3-Strikes debate.
"Lockyer really set his feet in concrete over the whole thing,"
said Gilliard, referring to the Hayward lawmaker's role in scuttling the GOP's
3-Strikes measure to remove the bulk of judicial discretion to strike priors.
"Three strikes has incredible support. I think he made a political mistake
on this one."
Gilliard is the perfect example of someone that gets the mob to turn
against anyone who tries to stop it--and he gets paid by the mob for doing it.
How does it feel to have sold your soul Dave?
California Lawyer, October 1996, by Mike Lewis
Here they are, they may have been afraid to stand in front of the 3-Strikes
train at the time, but now they look pretty bad in their decision-making. Here
are the politicians that voted "yea" to the 3-Strikes law in March of
1994.
The California Senators that voted "yea" were as follows:
Ayala, Bergeson, Beverly, Boatwright, Calderon, Craven, Dills, Greene, Hill,
Hurtt, Johannessen, Kelley, Leonard, Leslie, Lewis, Lockyer, Maddy,
McCorquodale, Mello, Peace, Presley, Roberti, Rogers, Rosenthal, Russell,
Thompson, Torres, Wright, and Wyman
The California Assembly members that voted "yea" were as follows:
Aguiar, Alby, Allen, Alpert, Andal, Areias, Baca, Boland, Bornstein, Bowen,
Bowler, Bronshvag, Valerie Brown, Brulte, Bustamante, Caldera, Connolly,
Conroy, Cortese, Costa, Eastin, Epple, Escutia, Ferguson, Frazee, Goldsmith,
Gotch, Hannigan, Harvey, Hauser, Haynes, Hoge, Honeycutt, Horcher, Johnson,
Jones, Karnette, Katz, Klehs, Knight, Knowles, Margolin, Martinez, McPherson,
Moore, Morrow, Mountjoy, Napolitano, Nolan, O'Connell, Polanco, Pringle,
Quackenbush, Rainey, Richter, Seastrand, Snyder, Solis, Statham, Takasugi,
Umberg, Weggeland, and Woodruff
SB2048 made it out of the Public Safety Committee on April 14, 1998.
The vote was as follows:
Noes:
Rainey, McPherson and Schiff
Ayes:
Vasconcellos, Burton, Kopp, Polanco and Watson
Here they are, the senate members that are still willing to allow
nonviolent and non-serious offenders to get a "25 years-to-life"
sentence from the vote in 1997:
Alpert (D), Bruite (R), Calderon (D), Costa (D), Dills (D), Haynes (R),
Hurtt (R), Johannessen (R), Johnson (R), Karnette (D), Kelley (R), Knight (R),
Leslie (R), Lewis (R), Lockyer (D), Maddy (R), McPherson (R), Monteith (R),
Mountjoy (R), O'Connell (D), Peace (D), Rainey (R), Schiff (D), Thompson (D),
Wright (R)
Those who voted yes:
Burton (D), Greene (D), Hayden (D), Hughes (D), Johnston (D),
Kopp (I), Lee (D), Polanco (D), Rosenthal (D), Sher (D), Solis (D),
Vasconcellos (D), and Watson (D).
Absent, Abstaining, or not voting:
Ayala and Craven
Here they are, the assembly members of the Assembly Public Safety Committee
that voted against AB1444 from getting out of the committee which would have
narrowed the 3-Strikes law to only violent and serious offenses:
Boland, Bowler, Goldsmith, Rainey and Rogan
Those who voted in favor of amending the law were as follows:
Villaraigosa, Kuehl, Martinez, and Kevin Murray
Here they are, the senate members who voted against SB2089 which would have
narrowed the 3-Strikes law to only violent and serious offenses in 1995:
Ayala, Beverly, Calderon, Costa, Dills, Haynes, Johannessen, Johnson,
Kelley, Leonard, Leslie, Lewis, Lockyer, Maddy, Monteith, Mountjoy, Peace,
Rogers, Thompson and Wright
Those who voted in favor of amending the law were as follows:
Alquist, Boatwright, Greene, Hughes, Johnston, Killea, Kopp, Marks, Mello,
Petris, Polanco, Rosenthal, Solis and Watson
Absent, abstaining or not voting:
Craven, Hayden, Hurtt, O'Connell, Russell and Sher
Prison guard union incites the mob, and now regrets it
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association spent vast amounts
of money on politicians that support the 3-Strikes law and even gave over
$100,000 to the group that spearheaded the successful 1994 ballot measure that
ratified the Legislature's earlier enactment of the tough 3-Strikes sentencing
law. (Click here for more details).
Now, apparently worried about the fact that assaults on prison guards have
nearly doubled since judges began handing down stiffer prison sentences in
response to the 3-Strikes law, Don Novey, head of the CCPOA, seems to have
changed his mind. Currently Novey says the law "has to have fairness to
it," and has called for earlier parole for nonviolent offenders, while
restricting third strike offenses to serious or violent crimes. California
Lawyer, October 1996, by John Roemer.
Unfortunately, Novey's voice on this matter is now only a little squeak,
and we haven't seen any money being contributed to politicians and groups that
support amending the law to do just what he says.
Please send questions or comments to factsla@sbcglobal.net.
Everything on this web site can be distributed to the general public,
reprinted, or reposted without permission of Families to Amend California's
3-Strikes.
Date last modified: 5/2/98.
