ELECTIONS / 24TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT : McClintock Plan Angers Women’s Panel

The Ventura County Commission for Women denounced Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) for trying to undermine the gains of women with a bill that would abolish the state Commission on the Status of Women and divert its funding to state prisons.

McClintock is seeking the Republican nomination, in a June 2 primary, to represent a congressional district that includes parts of Encino, Woodland Hills and other portions of the southwestern San Fernando Valley.

Stacey B. MacDonald, chairwoman of the Ventura county Commission for Women, said that “With violence against women continuing to rise in today’s society, the commission is astounded that a legislator could be so insensitive.”

But McClintock said Tuesday that he no longer plans to push his bill to abolish state commissions on women and other commissions on American Indians, aging, energy and the arts. He said his bill is no longer needed because the Legislature has budgeted the money he sought to operate two new prisons in Kern County.

Yet McClintock said he remains opposed to the commissions for women and other state-sponsored advocacy groups. “They serve no purpose but to provide employment to otherwise unemployable political hacks,” McClintock said.

In February, McClintock introduced a bill to shift $1.3 billion to the new prisons by eliminating the state women’s commission, the Commission on Aging, the Native American Heritage Commission, the Integrated Waste Management Board and the California Arts Council.

His bill would have also forced the California Energy Commission to discontinue its energy development and research projects, and would have cut off travel expenses for the Department of Savings and Loans. McClintock also proposed cutting the commission during the Assembly’s budget review, but was defeated by Assembly Democrats.

McClintock said his bill was his last chance to cut the commissions he considers a waste of tax dollars before he leaves office.

MacDonald said McClintock’s bill seemed to be aimed mostly at commissions representing those segments of society that historically have had little power. “He has taken the concept of valuing diversity and thrown it in the trash,” she said.

The Ventura commission voted Saturday to support the efforts of the state Commission on the Status of Women, and denounced McClintock’s for his “attempt to undermine the gains that women have made in California.”

MacDonald said the Ventura County women’s commission views McClintock’s bill as an assault on women’s interests. “This type of legislation would jeopardize the programs and opportunities available to women,” she said. “We can’t go backwards, and this bill would definitely take us backwards.”

MacDonald, who is city clerk of Santa Paula, said the state commission was instrumental in backing legislation that allows women who have been repeatedly beaten to use “battered women’s syndrome” as a legal defense against charges of homicide.