Big Money Pours In for 3-Strikes Ads

With less than a week to go, three of the nation’s richest men poured more than $2 million into the intensifying fight over a ballot measure to significantly scale back California’s tough three-strikes sentencing law.

The money -- $1.5 million to fight Proposition 66 from Orange County billionaire Henry T. Nicholas III and $350,000 each from out-of-state billionaires George Soros and John G. Sperling to support the measure -- comes amid a flurry of activity by opponents hoping to reverse recent polls that show the measure far ahead among likely voters.

Both sides said nearly all recent contributions will go into television ads.

The contributions by Soros and Sperling, who now have each given $500,000 to the cause, were made to help counter television ads featuring Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that began running Wednesday, supporters of Proposition 66 said.

Nicholas, founder of Broadcom Corp. whose worth is estimated at more than $2 billion, said he is willing to “give as much as necessary to defeat Proposition 66.” His sister was killed by her boyfriend in 1984. That man is now serving 17 years to life.

The last-minute donations came as supporters of changing the three-strikes law asked television stations to pull the governor’s anti-Proposition 66 ads, accusing him of lying to voters.

In two 15-second ads, Schwarzenegger urges voters to defeat the measure, stating that if it passes, “26,000 dangerous criminals will be released from prison.”

The statement is nearly identical to one that a Superior Court judge in Sacramento ordered opponents not to use in their ballot argument. At issue is how many inmates would qualify for resentencing under the changes to the law, which would require that all strikes be for violent or serious felonies and would remove eight crimes from that category.

Proponents -- as well as the state’s nonpartisan legislative analyst’s office -- contend that only about 4,200 inmates serving 25 years to life on third strikes for lesser felonies would be resentenced. They say those serving enhanced sentences for second strikes would not qualify.

“The airing of patently false advertisements violates the public’s trust that only truthful information be disseminated to the public,” Yes on 66 attorney Lance Olson wrote the stations.

Tom Hiltachk, legal counsel for the California Recovery Team, a political committee set up by Schwarzenegger to fund various ballot measure campaigns and political expenses, said the governor had no intention of backing off.

“Fortunately for us, our ads are truthful,” Hiltachk said. “The governor shares the opinion of the California District Attorneys Assn., as does the attorney general, [Bill Lockyer], that Proposition 66 will lead to the release of 26,000 felons.”

Supporters of the measure also began a statewide television ad this week. It features Joe Klaas, whose granddaughter Polly Klaas’ kidnapping and slaying helped spur passage of the original law. Klaas appeals to voters to fix what he calls “a flaw in the law.”

Schwarzenegger is scheduled to appear today with former Govs. Gray Davis, Pete Wilson and Jerry Brown, as well as a representative for George Deukmejian, at an anti-Proposition 66 news conference in downtown Los Angeles. Polly Klaas’ father, Marc, is also scheduled to speak against changing the law.

The state’s tough three-strikes sentencing law was passed a decade ago with the support of nearly three in four voters. Recent polls, including one conducted by the Los Angeles Times, have indicated that voters now appear ready to reconsider, saying they would vote 3 to 1 in favor of changing the law.

The fight has gotten increasingly nasty -- with accusations of lies and misstatements being traded with growing frequency.

In addition to the donation from Nicholas, California Recovery Team officials said they would spend at least $500,000 more on the effort to defeat the measure.

“I should have put the money in a long time ago,” said Nicholas, who added he was jarred by polls showing the measure winning easily. “In a short amount of time there has been a huge wake-up call, and we think things can turn around very, very quickly.”

Backers of the ballot measure say that opponents have continued to use arguments they know are untrue -- citing Judge Raymond Cadei’s assessment that it was “mathematically impossible” for 26,000 inmates to simply be released from prison under the revised law.

“Just because he’s the governor and he has a lot of money doesn’t mean he can lie to the voters,” said Steve Hopcraft, Yes on 66 campaign manager.

Hiltachk said, “My response to that is just because the proponents of Prop. 66 have a lot of money doesn’t mean they can lie to the voters.

“When are they going to come clean and admit that certainly second strikers will assert that this proposition will set them free too?”

Hiltachk said he was confident the proponents’ appeal to television stations would go nowhere.

Hopcraft conceded it was unlikely for the stations to refuse to air the ads and said Proposition 66 backers planned to dispute the governor’s position in new ads.

*(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

AD WATCH

Both Sides Crank Up on 3 Strikes

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began airing two 15-second television advertisements Wednesday opposing Proposition 66, a measure that would significantly scale back the state’s tough three-strikes sentencing law. The ads are paid for by donations to the anti-66 campaign of more than $1 million from Schwarzenegger’s California Recovery Team and of $1.5 million from Broadcom Corp. founder Henry T. Nicholas III. The pro-66 campaign has a new 30-second commercial featuring Joe Klaas, whose granddaughter Polly’s kidnapping and slaying a decade ago helped spur passage of the original three-strikes law.

Schwarzenegger ads:

Titles: “Early Release” and “Criminals”

Script: Walking among the oversized mug shots of convicted felons, Schwarzenegger warns, “Under Proposition 66, 26,000 dangerous criminals will be released from prison. Child molesters. Rapists. Murderers. Keep them off the streets and out of your neighborhood. Vote no on 66. Keep them behind bars.”

Accuracy: At issue -- as it has been throughout the fight over the ballot measure -- is Schwarzenegger’s statement about “26,000 dangerous criminals” being released from prison. A Superior Court judge stopped similar language from being used in the ballot argument against Proposition 66, calling the figure “mathematically impossible.” Top law enforcement officials in the state, including Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer and the state’s 58 district attorneys, insist that the figure is accurate. Supporters of the proposition, backed by the nonpartisan legislative analyst’s office, say the changes in the law would apply retroactively to only about 4,200 inmates now serving sentences of 25 years to life. The supporters also dispute Schwarzenegger’s claim that murderers and rapists would go free. The measure would apply only to people whose last conviction was for a nonserious or nonviolent crime. However, such inmates might include those with previous convictions for violent crimes such as rape and murder. Independent legal analysts say the difference over the number of inmates who could be eligible for new sentences would be fought out in court if Proposition 66 passes.

Pro-66 ad:

Title: “Joe”

Script: “I helped lead the fight for a three-strikes law because of a personal tragedy in my family. That law has put a lot of dangerous people in prison. But there was a flaw in the law. We’re putting people away for life when their third strike is a nonviolent crime, like stealing aspirin ... and we’re paying a million dollars to incarcerate each one. That’s not what we voted for. Proposition 66 fixes the flaw in the law.”

Accuracy: Klaas was an early supporter of the three-strikes law, which was signed by then-Gov. Pete Wilson in 1994. However, he almost immediately expressed regret for his backing and actively campaigned against the law when it went before voters as Proposition 184 later that year. Whether voters who approved three strikes in 1994 anticipated how it would be used is a matter of dispute. The official ballot explanation at the time noted that life sentences could be given for offenses such as shoplifting if the defendant had two previous convictions for serious or violent offenses.

Analysis: The television push from both sides -- and large contributions to both sides -- come in the last week of the campaign after polls, including one by the Los Angeles Times, found Proposition 66 winning by a large margin. Schwarzenegger conceded that the measure is ahead, but hopes that he can turn the campaign around with a last-minute push. Supporters of changing the law say they have gone back to their big donors for more money to counter Schwarzenegger’s donations and ads. Schwarzenegger’s California Recovery Team and the state’s prison guard union, the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn., have given almost all of the nearly $2 million reported by the anti-Proposition 66 group. That total does not reflect all of the $1.5-million donation made this week by billionaire Nicholas. Proposition 66 backers have raised more than $4 million, about $2.5 million from Jerry Keenan, a Sacramento insurance brokerage owner whose son could potentially be released early from prison if the law is changed.

Compiled by Times staff writer Megan Garvey

Los Angeles Times