California Ballot Initiative Title History and Kamala’s AG Days

In California, when it comes to ballot measures, one of the biggest abuses is the requirement for the Attorney General to compose a ballot title and summary. It has been ripe for abuse and efforts at proposing legislation to modify the current policy have been tried on several occasions.

One of the biggest abuses has contributed to the legitimate perception that criminal activity has been increasing. In 2014, Proposition 47 was proposed, which, according to Wikipedia, “recategorized some nonviolent offenses as misdemeanors, rather than felonies, as they had previously been categorized.”

The crimes affected were:

Shoplifting, where the value of property stolen does not exceed $950

Grand theft, where the value of the stolen property does not exceed $950

Receiving stolen property, where the value of the property does not exceed $950

Forgery, where the value of forged check, bond or bill does not exceed $950

Fraud, where the value of the fraudulent check, draft or order does not exceed $950

Writing a bad check, where the value of the check does not exceed $950

Personal use of most illegal drugs, below a certain threshold of weight.

The Attorney General at the time, Kamala Harris, gave this incentive to increase criminal activity the title the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” It was anything but. However, most voters don’t read the actual ballot measure and rely on the title. Consequently, Proposition 47 passed and, unsurprisingly, crime in the state went up. But because the measure downgraded felonies to misdemeanors, the statistics would indicate that felony charges had declined. Such is the joy of manipulating data.

Just ask anyone in California if crime is increasing and they will give you a strong affirmative. Print your survey results or claim that within a few years crime was up and the mainstream media’s lapdog, Politifact, will quote the statistics, skewed as they are, to justify that crime is not up.

Now you know why California has experienced a real significant increase in shoplifting. Police officers have become extremely frustrated with arresting someone who walked out of a store with items totaling less than $950, have them booked, only to see them immediately released.  These shoplifters then come back in the afternoon and commit the same crime. Just ask the manager of a Target store what they think of the chain’s locations in the state of California. I single them out, because they complained to me while I served in the California State Senate.

But this was not a unique and singular case. Two years earlier, Kamala Harris gave another ballot title that was also directly the opposite of its intentions. Knowing that voters don’t read further than the brief explanation on their ballots, those who successfully gathered the signatures decided to not have it placed on the ballot. It would be too expensive to communicate to voters that their sincere efforts were deliberately maligned.

This sad story was provided by Laer Pearce in his 2012 book, “Crazifornia:  Tales from the Tarnished State – How California is Destroying Itself and Why It Matters to America.”

Many propositions addressing pensions have been, and are being, proposed, but all face withering assaults from the well-funded and powerful public-employee unions. 

Their power was displayed when California Pension Reform qualified a reform measure for the ballot in 2012, leading to the next step in the process: the Attorney General’s drafting of a ballot title and summary.

California’s attorney general [was] Kamala Harris, a San Francisco liberal and great friend of the unions, who were primary funders of her tough campaign for her seat. The ballot statement she drafted for the pension reform initiative said the measure reduced pension benefits for current employees, but it didn’t. It said the measure prohibited death and disability benefits, while it specifically allowed them. And, showing the deliberateness of her effort to paint the proposition in a bad light, Harris’ ballot statement singled out teachers, nurses and police officers as those whose benefits would be cut. She could have used any of hundreds of state job categories to illustrate her point, but chose only the ones polls show voters respond most favorably to. Faced with an understandable drop in campaign contributions after Harris published her ballot summary, California Pension Reform was forced to end its . . . efforts.

When selecting a Presidential candidate, it’s a good idea to check out their character.  One of the charges that is thrown at both is that they are liars.  In Kamala’s case, it’s true and documented, and California has suffered from her deliberate antics to deceive voters not only once, but twice.  

Crime is now up in California and, even with very generous pension benefits, recruiting police officers has become much more difficult.  To address this matter, enough Californians have signed on to put a response to this nonsense and put Proposition 36 on the November ballot.  

Members of both parties are upset with having been lied to by former California Attorney General Kamala Harris back in 2014.  It will be interesting to see if those voting for Proposition 36 have their angst spill over for whom they vote for United States President.  It’s hard to determine, but they should, and even more so if they have personally suffered from the ever prevalent and growing criminal activity Kamala Harris foisted on this once Golden State.