The issue of crime in Democrat-run cities has reached a boiling point. Now, even California Gov. Gavin Newsom is telling Democratic mayors to get it together.
“I’m not the mayor of California, but I was a mayor [of San Francisco 2004-11], and I know when things like this happen, mayors have to step up,” Newsom said Monday. “We need to investigate these crimes. We need to break up these crime rings. We need to make an example out of these folks.”
Newsom’s remarks come after stores in San Francisco’s Union Square were looted. San Francisco district attorney Chesa Boudin, who has been notoriously soft on crime, has promised felony charges will be filed.
But Boudin is already facing a recall election after shrugging off crime and letting unrepentant repeat criminals roam free in the city. And the backlash against liberal criminal justice reforms is continuing to grow nationwide after repeat criminal Darrell Brooks drove his SUV through a parade in Wisconsin and killed six people while injuring dozens more.
This is not an issue that is foreign to Newsom. Despite being the governor of the most liberal state in the country, Newsom reversed 129 parole decisions in his first two years in office. Most recently, Newsom reversed the California Board of Parole Hearings decision to recommend parole for Michael Panella, a 51-year-old man convicted of killing a toddler in 2000.
When Newsom has to warn Democrats that they need to be tougher on crime in California, you know there is a problem brewing. The crime surge of the last two years, combined with Boudin treating criminals with kid gloves, is going to be a very real issue for Democrats in coming elections, and it isn’t going to be limited to San Francisco.
