Jones Urges No Change in 3 Strikes

In an echo of a political battle he won 10 years ago, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bill Jones traveled here Wednesday to defend the three-strikes measure he wrote as a member of the California Assembly -- a law that would be partially rewritten under a November ballot initiative.

Jones said the law sent a “clear message from government” against crime, and was a necessary element of an extensive anti-crime program that he said should include tightening the nation’s borders -- particularly the border with Mexico.

“We have been able to reduce the crime problem dramatically with the three strikes -- a 46% overall reduction in crime, 2 million fewer victims, burglary dropped to the lowest level since 1957,” Jones told about 35 members of the California Narcotic Officers Assn.

The former California secretary of state urged similar efforts to address the flow of undocumented immigrants and illegal drugs that he said exacerbates gang problems in San Diego, Los Angeles and other cities.

Without offering details, he called for increased federal funding for border protection; heightened cooperation between the U.S. Border Patrol, the FBI and local law enforcement agencies; and increased pressure on other countries to target drug traffickers and illegal immigration.

“The problem that we’ve had in the whole area of both drug prevention and illegal immigration [is that] government has not spoken with a very clear message, and the result of that has been the kind of problems that we see today,” Jones said.

“We need to get back to basics when it comes to dealing with issues of crime and punishment. We need to make sure that people who would break our laws understand clearly the same message that we delivered when [the Legislature] passed the three-strikes law: that there really are consequences to people’s actions.”

Since the 9/11 attacks, he said, illegal immigration has emerged as a “broader national security problem” that could be exploited by terrorists working with drug cartels.

“That gives us the potential ... for expansion of terrorist organizations” in the state, Jones said during a poolside luncheon at the Manchester Hyatt. “It’s not just the question of drug trafficking. It’s not just a question of illegal immigration. The broader question of the war on terror is also at stake here.”

Roy Behr, spokesman for Jones’ opponent -- Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer -- said she has been active on the issues cited by Jones.

“Sen. Boxer has a long record of voting to protect California’s borders and fighting illegal immigration,” Behr said, citing votes to hire more immigration officers, speed the deportation of illegal immigrants and increase penalties for those convicted of smuggling undocumented people into the U.S.

He said Boxer also co-sponsored the 2002 Enhanced Border Security Act, which requires immigration authorities to better integrate computer databases to make it easier to match documents with lists of known and suspected terrorists.

Although Jones packaged his three-strikes comments Wednesday in broad terms, he has made opposition to Proposition 66 on the Nov. 2 ballot a mainstay of his campaign, often including it in his stump speech as proof of his commitment to public safety.

Though Jones’ stance might help him with his core supporters -- conservative Republicans -- analysts suggest that it’s unlikely to help him gain ground on Boxer, who has held a double-digit lead in most polls. She also supports the three-strikes law and opposes Proposition 66, Behr said.

They both might be out of step with most voters on the measure, which would require that a crime be violent or a serious felony to qualify as a strike. A Field Poll last month found that Californians overwhelmingly backed revising the three strikes law, which critics say has sometimes led to excessive sentences for relatively minor crimes.

Supporters such as Jones defend it as a proven weapon against repeat criminal offenders, though some analysts believe California’s crime drop in recent years was due to a variety of factors.

As it is, Jones’ embrace of the issue -- a California law -- could be largely symbolic for a candidate running for a federal legislative seat.

“Since he did author the law, it is a big issue,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the independent state Field Poll. “But it doesn’t seem to be a Senate issue. Being tough on crime is something you would use in a gubernatorial race. When it’s the Senate, the discussion usually goes to global issues.”

Yet political analyst and USC scholar Sherry Bebitch Jeffe said embracing three strikes was unavoidable for Jones.

“Frankly, it wouldn’t make sense for him to sort of abandon his legislation,” Jeffe said, adding that the issue has been more than just another piece of legislation to Jones. “Maybe he feels very strongly that he doesn’t want three strikes opened up -- taking a stand on principal.”

Still, she said, defending the law could shore up Jones’ standing with his core supporters in a race that, with less than four weeks to go, voters are still largely ignoring.

“First he has to get the base, then he can worry about reaching out to the middle of the road,” Jeffe said.