Stores and food places in San Fran and Oakland are closing due to thefts and assaults on employees and customers. State law ALLOWS you to steal up to $950 worth of goods, at a time, without consequences or punishment. Go to four stores in a day and you get close to $4,000 in goods, tax free! Then you can take the rest of the week off.
“However, as Politico reports:
“Criminal justice reform advocates are mobilizing to thwart a ballot initiative that would reverse California’s recent turn away from tougher criminal penalties.
The counteroffensive signals that those advocates fear the initiative to crack down drug and property crimes, backed by prosecutors and major retailers, has a strong chance of landing on the November ballot. If it does, it could unravel a series of recent political victories seeking to overhaul sentencing and incarceration.
A six-figure digital advertising campaign, funded by some of the same groups and people that have championed lighter criminal penalties, urges Californians to reject the tough-on-crime ballot measure and instead push for changes in the Legislature.”
Leading the charge in favor of crime is the SEIU. Unions are killers.
SEIU and Wealthy Donors Trying to Kill California’s Retail Theft Reform Bills
Doesn’t retail theft impact everyone in the state?
By Katy Grimes, California Globe, 4/7/24 https://californiaglobe.com/fl/seiu-and-wealthy-donors-trying-to-kill-californias-retail-theft-reform-bills/
The SEIU has thrown down its cards and is now trying to kill retail theft reform bills – even the bills authored by Democrats. And they are joined by the wealthy spouses of real estate developers, tech billionaires and daughters of oil barons – people who live behind tall walls and secured gates. Their cars and homes aren’t broken into.
Yet because they don’t shop at Target, Walgreens, Home Depot, Walmart, or even Nordstrom and Macy’s, somehow the bills targeting repeat retail theft, organized retail theft, enhancing penalties for selling fentanyl, and making it easier to prosecute car thieves, just aren’t of interest to them – so much so that they are trying to kill them.
Doesn’t retail theft impact everyone in the state – not just the supporters who are collecting signatures to overturn parts of Proposition 47? Nearly 50% of the stores in San Francisco have closed and residents are fleeing the city.
Escalating crime throughout California’s cities and communities has taken its toll on the state’s residents and businesses. Because of Proposition 47, there is no accountability when it comes to these crimes, theft is underreported and some stores are even told not to report theft crimes. And we all are paying the price for the rampant thefts.
The proposed ballot initiative to amend Prop. 47 is currently collecting signatures for the November 2024 ballot.
However, as Politico reports:
“Criminal justice reform advocates are mobilizing to thwart a ballot initiative that would reverse California’s recent turn away from tougher criminal penalties.
The counteroffensive signals that those advocates fear the initiative to crack down drug and property crimes, backed by prosecutors and major retailers, has a strong chance of landing on the November ballot. If it does, it could unravel a series of recent political victories seeking to overhaul sentencing and incarceration.
A six-figure digital advertising campaign, funded by some of the same groups and people that have championed lighter criminal penalties, urges Californians to reject the tough-on-crime ballot measure and instead push for changes in the Legislature.
A newly launched committee supporting the advertising campaign has reported donations from Quinn Delaney and Stacy Schusterman, who have together poured millions into California prosecutor and crime ballot measure campaigns, and an organization whose leader, Tinisch Hollins, has championed efforts to reduce criminal penalties.”
Don’t you want to know why?
Some of these same “donors” spent $3.7 million alone to elect George Gascón Los Angeles District Attorney, the failed pro-criminal justice reform DA who has harmed victims, their families, and the average taxpayer who faces the indirect burdens of his actions, Aidan Chao wrote for the Globe. “Over the last two years, property crimes have increased a staggering 14 to 42%, highlighting a troubling correlation: a spike in crime, particularly retail theft and “smash-and-grab” incidents, have surged under overly lenient policies like zero-bail and the elimination of the three-strike system. This uptick not only undermines public confidence but also imposes substantial economic burdens on a county already wrestling with affordability crises and inequality.”
These same “philanthropists” also tried to pass Proposition 16 in 2020, the initiative to bring back race-based preferences in hiring and education (to overturn Proposition 209). As Edward Ring wrote for the Globe:
“And while the unions came up with $1.7 million to support this bill, another $17.5 million came from private donors, including $5.5 million from M. Quinn Delaney – who along with her wealthy husband Wayne Jordan are among California’s premier limousine liberals.”
Philanthropy – The effort or inclination to increase the well-being of humankind, as by charitable aid or donations – is wonderful and noble, particularly if it is properly conducted and administered.
How is what these donors are funding philanthropy? How is it progress? What is it with these super-wealthy women? Are they compelled out of guilt to fund disruption and destabilization in California? Are they self-loathing America-hating anarchists? Do they see themselves as female versions of George Soros? Too much of today’s “philanthropy” tears down institutions, supports abortion and assisted suicide, supports hardened criminals and subjugates victims, resulting in dangerous living conditions for the masses.
Stacy Schusterman is an oil heiress from Oklahoma: “Stacy Schusterman, a major Democratic donor, helms both her family’s philanthropic foundation and the new incarnation of the family’s drilling company, called Samson Energy,” Jewish Telegraph Agency reported in 2022. “The Schustermans’ foundation is known as a funder of liberal and progressive efforts in a wide array of areas, including voting rights, education, criminal justice reform and gender and reproductive equity. The family donates millions to Democratic party campaigns,” and supports”#JewsForAbortionAccess,” because “Reproductive freedom is a Jewish value.”
Today’s Politico article reported:
“They have raised more than $7 million and, in a sign that the idea could resonate with California’s overwhelmingly Democratic electorate, they have won endorsements from San Francisco Mayor London Breed and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, both Democrats,”
However, nowhere in the article does Politico link to this new committee or the advertising campaign.
And now we have the SEIU also opposing retail theft reform efforts, claiming it is a race issue, in a letter to Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Public Safety (letter below):
“On behalf of SEIU California and our over 700,000 members, we would like to express our opposition to AB 1990 (Carrillo), which would allow a police officer to, without a warrant, arrest a person for shoplifting not committed in the officer’s presence if the officer has ‘reasonable cause’ to believe that the person has committed shoplifting. This bill would also prohibit the use of citations in lieu of custodial arrest for individuals arrested for shoplifting regardless of the circumstances.”
Our members, the majority of which are people of color, are not only workers in various sectors across the state but they are also members of the community that are concerned about policies that disproportionately impact people of color as it relates to the criminal legal system.
AB 1990 is not only unfair but can harm black and brown communities and have an impact on various workforces.”
SEIU laughably claims existing law is already effective in shoplifting matters:
“Existing law provides effective procedures for the detention and arrest of shoplifters. Current law provides shopkeepers and their agents, including security officers, the power to detain individuals for shoplifting. Current law also gives shopkeepers and their agents the power to make citizen arrests and turn the arrestee over to the police for processing and criminal prosecution.”
And if those weak and flawed arguments don’t pass muster, the SEIU claims:
“This bill is unfair and believed to be unconstitutional. For these reasons, we strongly oppose this bill and request your ‘NO’ vote.”
CDCR.ca.gov has a bio posted for Tinish Hollins on their website, and says she “has over two decades of professional experience in community organizing, guiding government systems, and informing public policy to make social change. Currently, she serves as the Executive Director of Californians for Safety and Justice (CSJ), one of the nation’s most effective criminal justice reform advocacy organizations.”
So the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is now taking “guidance” from a community organizer bent on social justice, criminal justice reform and social change?
Or from the bored wives and daughters of wealthy philanthropists? Politico identified Delaney and three others in 2021 as “4 wealthy donors fueling overhaul of California’s criminal justice system.”
The 2021 article continues: “social justice advocates are preparing to defend the state’s top prosecutor, Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is closely aligned with the reform movement and one of the nation’s most liberal AGs.”
“The four donors — Patty Quillin, Quinn Delaney, Elizabeth Simons and Kaitlyn Krieger — channeled $22 million toward criminal justice ballot measures and allied candidates the previous two years.”
“Delaney has been involved in criminal justice fights for decades, launching a foundation with her husband Wayne Jordan — a prominent Bay Area real estate developer — after voters passed a 2000 ballot proposition toughening sentencing for youth offenders.”
The female “donors” and now the SEIU are venturing into dangerous territory. California is already on shaky ground having now dabbled in failed social justice experiments for 10 years following the passage of Propositions 47 and 57 in 2016.
Because it’s not just about retail theft run amok – everyday people are getting hurt and even killed with so much money having been spent to defend criminals – in the name of “social justice.”
Perhaps that is what they want.
Retail theft reform is discriminatory. It restricts how a person can earn enough money to feed his family and pay the rent. With no job and therefore no income, $950 five times a week equates to a $247,000 yearly income, tax free. Sell some of the goods for cash to get the money to pay the rent and the whole family is golden. Retail business owners gouge their patrons and make a good living. Why deny a snatch and grabber from making a good living?
The SEIU is a scumbag organization. They are the protectors of crappy service and incompetent dealings at your local CA DMV. My local one, in Stockton, used to use Wednesday as “Union Day: by wearing the ugly Barney Purple Tee-shirts with the SEIU script on them. They are cheerfully sign-up illegals to vote.
Last night on KCRA (NBC affiliate) in Sacto-Swamp, had the story on the news about retail theft. Speaker Rivas had his less then 2-cents of word salad not saying whether he was pro or con on the issue. Maybe the donation checks were still in the mail for him! Who does he represent? Donors or citizens and businesses that get ripped off and harmed by the thefts.