by CalWatchdog Staff | May 23, 2011 12:29 pm
Steven Greenhut: I love the self-important statements legislators issue as if the public is hanging on their every word. My favorite one of the day — granted, it’s still early — comes from the usually fatuous Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, who said this in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision demanding that California release prisoners due to overcrowding: “While I disagree with the US Supreme Court’s ruling to release tens of thousands of dangerous felons onto our streets, I acknowledge the power of the Court to render lethal and sweeping decisions.”
Stop the presses. Sen. Lieu accepts the authority of the U.S. Supreme Court! That certainly is news. Lieu does talk about the need for rehabilitation programs, which is spot on, but he doesn’t talk about anything much of substance. Will someone please point out that the Legislature’s negligence on this issue, mainly its refusal to take on the prison guards union and stop using tough-on-crime rhetoric to appeal to voters, is a key reason that Californians will soon find themselves in greater danger. The Legislature is incapable of dealing even with a budget let along take on the nuances of crime and punishment policy, so it has created this awful prison mess and refused to make distinctions. So now a broad sector of inmates will be set free.
As usual, the Legislature is useless at anything other than grandstanding.
Note this from the New York Times story on the decision: “State officials will have two years to comply with the order, and they may ask for more time. Justice Kennedy emphasized that the reduction in population need not be achieved solely by releasing prisoners early. Among the other possibilities, he said, are new construction, out-of-state transfers and using county facilities.”
Will Lieu take on the CCPOA and its opposition to out-of-state transfers, etc.?
Of course not. But at least he respects the Supreme Court.
MAY 23
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