Democrats' virtual 180 on the issue of crime - a journey from supporting the "defund the police" movement to espousing tougher law enforcement - has been accentuated by a striking pattern of prominent liberals being mugged, sometimes quite literally, by the harsh reality of rising crime as victims themselves.
Bill Walton
- The 69-year-old basketball legend-turned-garrulous broadcaster has a history of stirring controversy and advocating a range of progressive causes
- Most recently, he backed income and business tax hikes to fund homeless services and supported Black Lives Matter rioters condemning police brutality following George Floyd's death in 2020
Over the last several weeks, however, Walton has adopted a strikingly different tone on law and order while blasting Todd Gloria, the Democrat mayor of his longtime home San Diego.
- Walton has sent several emails demanding more action to get a handle on the city's homeless crisis, including one message in which he said he was assaulted but also implied it happened before
- He called for greater enforcement, noting a recently passed measure in Los Angeles banning homeless encampments near schools
Karen Bass
- The home of Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, who is running for mayor of Los Angeles, was burglarized last week
- She has pushed to increase the economic and social vitality of communities rather than policing to lower crime rates
- Overall violent crime is also on the rise in the city
Bass called for hiring more police officers and taking current officers from behind the desk and putting them on the street in "neighborhoods that want to see an increased presence"
- a position she’s echoed before.
- Earlier this year, L.A. gangs made headlines for a string of "follow-home robberies" targeting wealthy city residents
Background
- Lightford proposed slashing Chicago's police budget by $80 million
- Scanlon has cosponsored several pieces of police reform legislation
- She fights to "dismantle systems of hate" and "hold law enforcement officers accountable"
- Recently, Democrats in both Illinois and Pennsylvania have come under fire for their approach to law and order amid spikes in crime
In Pennsylvania, Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner, a poster boy of the so-called progressive prosecutor movement, has come under the microscope for his soft-on-crime policies
- The state Legislature formed a bipartisan committee to investigate a crime spree in Philadelphia
- In another shift in the Keystone State, Pennsylvania Democrat Senate nominee John Fetterman walked back his apparent call to release all second-degree murderers with life sentences from Pennsylvania's prisons.
- A broader 180 by Democrats nationwide who supported the defund the police movement but walked back their stance as crime surged.
Crime
- Business owners have threatened not to pay their taxes unless the city addresses rampant drug use and a surging homeless crisis. Breed recently responded by pledging more police help if necessary.
- These latest moves come as Republicans double down on the issue of crime, hounding Democrats with relentless attack ads for pushing policies that contribute to rather than combat spikes in crime.
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