Lies and Fear Did In Three-Strikes Measure
The low road was taken to defeat Proposition 66 when bald-faced lies were used at the last minute, giving supporters no time to refute them. What lies? (1) That any murderers would be released. The sentence for murder is a minimum of 15 years to life and has nothing to do with three strikes. If there were a three-strikes conviction, it was after the first life sentence for murder. (2) That 26,000 would be freed, including two-strikers who were not part of the proposition. In fact, only 4,000 were eligible for review and possible resentencing.
Up until two weeks before the election, those against the proposition complained that one individual had put up more than $1 million to have it passed. Where was the hue and cry when an Orange County individual poured in several million to defeat it, aided and abetted by the [prison] guards union? Nice timing but hardly ethical and certainly not honest; just another scare tactic from the broken criminal justice system.
Bob Driscoll
Woodland Hills
*
The defeat of Proposition 66 is the saddest result of this election. Fear-mongering has brutalized the majority of voters of California and made us mean-spirited. Any lingering support I felt for our popular governor is now terminated.
Gordon Theil
Van Nuys
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
