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   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state leaders   
   reversed course on a plan to place a crime-focused initiative on the   
   November ballot a day after announcing it.   
      
   In a statement released Tuesday night, Newsom said there’s not enough time   
   for state leaders to work out final language before the Wednesday   
   deadline. State leaders rolled out the proposed measure Sunday night after   
   spending weeks unsuccessfully trying to negotiate a separate, more   
   punitive proposal on the same subject off the ballot.   
      
   The unusual and abrupt move highlights state Democrats’ difficult   
   balancing act between tamping down voters’ frustration on crimes and   
   avoiding a return to mass incarceration policies — all while the Governor   
   has his eyes set on political ambitions elsewhere.   
      
   Newsom, who reportedly has presidential goals of his own, jetted off to   
   Washington D.C. Wednesday morning to support President Joe Biden and will   
   spend the next few days fundraising for the president after a shaky debate   
   performance.   
      
   “This gives you real insight into Gavin Newsom and how he thinks and where   
   he’s at,” Sonoma State University political science professor David McCuan   
   said. “It is that he cares about himself above all others.”   
      
   The now-abandoned measure would have competed with the tougher-on-crime   
   ballot initiative backed by a broad coalition of district attorneys,   
   business groups and local officials. Both proposals would increase   
   penalties for some drug charges and make shoplifting a felony for repeat   
   offenders, but Democratic lawmakers’ plan was narrower in scope and less   
   punitive. They argued the district attorneys’ proposal would return   
   California to the the war on drugs and mass incarceration era.   
      
   Lawmakers will now return to their original plan of advancing a   
   legislative package of bills to target auto thieves and professional   
   reseller schemes, which they aim to deliver to Newsom by the end of the   
   session in August.   
      
   Republicans and the coalition led by district attorneys, who called the   
   Democrats’ ballot measure “a sham,” celebrated its defeat Wednesday.   
      
   “For once, Californians benefitted from having a governor who cares more   
   about national politics than his job in Sacramento,” state Senate   
   Republican leader Brian Jones said in a statement.   
      
   How to tackle crimes in California has become increasingly difficult to   
   navigate in recent years for state Democrats, many of whom have spent the   
   last decade championing progressive policies to depopulate jails and   
   prisons and invest in rehabilitation programs.   
      
   But the issue hit a boiling point this year amid mounting criticism from   
   Republicans and law enforcement. Voters across the state are also vexed   
   over what they see as a lawless California where retail crimes and drug   
   abuse run rampant as the state grapples with a homelessness crisis.   
      
   As the issue could even affect the makeup — and control — of Congress,   
   some Democrats broke with party leadership and said they supported the   
   tough-on crime approach.   
      
   It’s hard to quantify the retail crime issue in California because of the   
   lack of local data, but many point to major store closures and everyday   
   products like toothpaste being locked behind plexiglass as evidence of a   
   crisis. Videos of large groups of people brazenly rushing into stores and   
   stealing in plain sight have gone viral.   
      
   The state attorney general and experts said crime rates in California   
   remain low compared to the heights decades ago.   
      
   The plan to put an alternative crime-focused measure on the ballot was one   
   of several attempts state leaders have made to walk the tightrope on crime   
   — tactics even some top Democrats weren’t happy with. State Senate   
   President Pro Tem Mike McGuire told reporters on Monday it’s “unfortunate”   
   and “frustrating” that lawmakers have to put a crime-focused measure on   
   the ballot. Other Democrats also withdrew their support when leadership   
   planned to void their own legislative package if voters approve the tough-   
   on-crime initiative led by business groups.   
      
   The lawmakers’ balancing act on crime “requires a lot of buy-in, and it   
   requires often a set-aside of your own political ambitions and sometimes   
   making things uncomfortable,” political science professor McCuan said.   
   “And not all politicians are prepared to do that.”   
      
   Criminal justice reform groups are lining up support behind the   
   legislative package, which they say is much more comprehensive and   
   impactful than the ballot initiatives in addressing retail theft and drug   
   abuse.   
      
   Beyond the fight over the crime ballot measures, San Francisco Mayor   
   London Breed and Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón face tough   
   reelection bids against challengers who have criticized their approaches   
   to crime and punishment.   
      
   “California right now has to position itself to double down on real   
   solutions,” said Tinisch Hollins, executive director of Californians for   
   Safety and Justice, which wrote a 2014 proposition to reduce some non-   
   violent charges from felonies into misdemeanors. “What we need right now   
   is leadership.”   
      
   https://apnews.com/article/california-retail-theft-ballot-measure-   
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