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Help Defeat the Runner Initiative! Coalition Grows
Unions, Interfaith Groups, and Civil Rights Organizations Stand With Bay Area Elected Officials Against Costly Statewide Ballot Initiative
Get involved at http://www.defeatrunner.org
Unions, Interfaith Groups, and Civil Rights Organizations Stand With Bay Area Elected Officials Against Costly Statewide Ballot Initiative
OAKLAND – Notable local elected officials and advocacy organizations have joined forces against a proposed statewide ballot initiative that would pump billions of dollars into prisons and "anti-gang" laws and policies. Senate Republican Caucus Chairperson George Runner will be submitting petition signatures at 3:30PM on April 24th in San Bernardino for the Criminal Penalties and Laws State Spending Statute, a potential November ballot initiative. The initiative would bankrupt the state by directing billions of dollars to fund prisons, probation, and police in the midst of a budget crisis that has caused drastic cuts to education and health care. This potential statewide ballot proposal, also known as the "Runner Initiative" or "Safe Neighborhoods Act," would waste California tax dollars on policies that don't work.
"Bringing peace to urban America is perhaps the most difficult and profound challenge facing the country today. However, in this time of crisis, the Runner Initiative is the worst kind of public policy. It plays on our deepest emotions but sets us up for failure. The Runner Initiative is an unfunded mandate that will gut California's budget. It won't result in safety and security. Instead it will leave us in more debt with less safety and stability than ever before." said Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, who has taken a position against the Initiative.
Zachary Norris, Director of the Ella Baker Center's Books Not Bars Campiagn, adds that,"The Runner Initiative is an investment into failed "tough on crime" policies that cost too much for California in this time of crisis. If we want to tackle the problems of crime in our communities, we need an investment in education, job-training, and community-based crime prevention programs."
On Tuesday April 22nd, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the Berkeley City Council both passed resolutions against the proposed Runner Initiative. United States Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, and Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates all have taken positions against the Runner Initiative, joining groups including the California NAACP, the California Church IMPACT, and the California Federation of Teachers.
California already spends more per capita on prisons than any other state in the nation. The state spends more on its prisons than it does on higher education, while our schools remain drastically underfunded. The CFT is committed to working to defeat this initiative that would take more money away from our schools and put it into prisons," California Federation of Teachers President, Marty Hittelman.
The Runner Initiative is a proposed ballot measure that would shift state resources away from education, crime and violence prevention and toward increased incarceration of youth and young adults from low-income communities of color who already have limited opportunities for education, employment and rehabilitation. The initiative would cost Californians one billion dollars in the first year, and half a billion per year thereafter; plus additional unfunded mandates that local and county governments will be forced to pay.
The Runner Initiative is a far reaching-measure that stiffens criminal penalties and introduces laws reminiscent of failed past polices that did not increase public safety, but instead substantially increased California's prison population. The initiative would allow the prosecution of youth as adults, increase penalties for drug related offenses, increase penalties for offenses alleged to be "gang related", create mandatory criminal background checks for housing subsidy recipients, and prohibit bail for undocumented immigrants charged with "gang related" felonies.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation' projected $12 billion budget already exceeds that of higher education. Currently, California prisons house 170,469 people, with an additional 3,275 people shipped out of state from overcrowding. Many prisons are packed at more than 200 percent, forcing some inmates to sleep outside and on floors. Highlighting the prison system's failures is California's 70% recidivism rate, the highest in the country.
Press Availability: Representatives from the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights are available for comment. http://www.defeatrunner.org 510.428.3939 ext 232
Unions, Interfaith Groups, and Civil Rights Organizations Stand With Bay Area Elected Officials Against Costly Statewide Ballot Initiative
OAKLAND – Notable local elected officials and advocacy organizations have joined forces against a proposed statewide ballot initiative that would pump billions of dollars into prisons and "anti-gang" laws and policies. Senate Republican Caucus Chairperson George Runner will be submitting petition signatures at 3:30PM on April 24th in San Bernardino for the Criminal Penalties and Laws State Spending Statute, a potential November ballot initiative. The initiative would bankrupt the state by directing billions of dollars to fund prisons, probation, and police in the midst of a budget crisis that has caused drastic cuts to education and health care. This potential statewide ballot proposal, also known as the "Runner Initiative" or "Safe Neighborhoods Act," would waste California tax dollars on policies that don't work.
"Bringing peace to urban America is perhaps the most difficult and profound challenge facing the country today. However, in this time of crisis, the Runner Initiative is the worst kind of public policy. It plays on our deepest emotions but sets us up for failure. The Runner Initiative is an unfunded mandate that will gut California's budget. It won't result in safety and security. Instead it will leave us in more debt with less safety and stability than ever before." said Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, who has taken a position against the Initiative.
Zachary Norris, Director of the Ella Baker Center's Books Not Bars Campiagn, adds that,"The Runner Initiative is an investment into failed "tough on crime" policies that cost too much for California in this time of crisis. If we want to tackle the problems of crime in our communities, we need an investment in education, job-training, and community-based crime prevention programs."
On Tuesday April 22nd, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the Berkeley City Council both passed resolutions against the proposed Runner Initiative. United States Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, and Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates all have taken positions against the Runner Initiative, joining groups including the California NAACP, the California Church IMPACT, and the California Federation of Teachers.
California already spends more per capita on prisons than any other state in the nation. The state spends more on its prisons than it does on higher education, while our schools remain drastically underfunded. The CFT is committed to working to defeat this initiative that would take more money away from our schools and put it into prisons," California Federation of Teachers President, Marty Hittelman.
The Runner Initiative is a proposed ballot measure that would shift state resources away from education, crime and violence prevention and toward increased incarceration of youth and young adults from low-income communities of color who already have limited opportunities for education, employment and rehabilitation. The initiative would cost Californians one billion dollars in the first year, and half a billion per year thereafter; plus additional unfunded mandates that local and county governments will be forced to pay.
The Runner Initiative is a far reaching-measure that stiffens criminal penalties and introduces laws reminiscent of failed past polices that did not increase public safety, but instead substantially increased California's prison population. The initiative would allow the prosecution of youth as adults, increase penalties for drug related offenses, increase penalties for offenses alleged to be "gang related", create mandatory criminal background checks for housing subsidy recipients, and prohibit bail for undocumented immigrants charged with "gang related" felonies.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation' projected $12 billion budget already exceeds that of higher education. Currently, California prisons house 170,469 people, with an additional 3,275 people shipped out of state from overcrowding. Many prisons are packed at more than 200 percent, forcing some inmates to sleep outside and on floors. Highlighting the prison system's failures is California's 70% recidivism rate, the highest in the country.
Press Availability: Representatives from the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights are available for comment. http://www.defeatrunner.org 510.428.3939 ext 232
For more information:
http://www.defeatrunner.org
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This is the same Republican ugly machine that foisted Three Strikes and Jessica's Law upon us. All they need to do is send out an email and the money comes rolling in to make these conveyor belt laws happen. Then they tell the other voters that "we the people" passed the initiative. Who are the voters mostly? Are they regular people, the poor, the disabled, the students? NO. The voters are mostly law enforcement labor unions, their friends and family members, crime victims, district attorneys. The root of the oppression is that our side is not getting out the vote. We outnumber them all, how many people are registering 20 poor people to vote? This is how you stop an initiative, I doubt that it can be stopped through any other process except at the ballot box and writing 150 word letters to editors, posting beneath the articles at the news sites every day. Takes some work. I as a UNION member applaud this work.
For more information:
http://www.1union1.com/Join_the_UNION.html
It is the poor who are most victimized by crime.
This iniative will pass.
This iniative will pass.
We have just had an eight year display of the fact that the government will do whatever the hell it wants, and make up laws later if any of it gets them in trouble that the courts cant get it back out of.
What are the implications of that stark, standing fact? If they can "disappear" and torture you in a secret prison in Poland at will, is it not therefore a different ballgame?
And so why worry about these quaint, 19th century notions like ballot-driven legal reform, whether for or against?
What are the implications of that stark, standing fact? If they can "disappear" and torture you in a secret prison in Poland at will, is it not therefore a different ballgame?
And so why worry about these quaint, 19th century notions like ballot-driven legal reform, whether for or against?
What is amazing to me is the number of voters who fall for the public safety/tough on crime rhetoric. If society needs these crime bills so very much, how come 30 years of tough on crime bills have not done the trick? May be it's because locking up people isn't the answer, especially for gang members. All they do is make even more connections in prison, making it even worse down the road. I recently read a small article in The Atlantic Monthly that showed when the U.S. deported MS-13 gang members back to their original countries (El Salvador, etc.), they just came back even more powerful.
Much of these crime trends have to do with political and economic trends, not necessarily deviant criminal behavior, and reactionary bills like this one is only going to do one thing: cause even more billions to be siphoned off from education, social services, and environmental causes to prisons.
Much of these crime trends have to do with political and economic trends, not necessarily deviant criminal behavior, and reactionary bills like this one is only going to do one thing: cause even more billions to be siphoned off from education, social services, and environmental causes to prisons.
...that a society gets all the criminals it deserves.
The quote that applies here is "that people get the government they deserve" through their participation or non participation in making sure that the wrong people don't get elected to office in the first place. The advocates for our side need to be supported with funds and volunteers. A very famous advocate living now uses an important quote.
"If the poor all voted, the world would be a different place."
If the poor all brought 20 people each to the polls, this type of terrorism on the people could never win at the ballot box. Law enforcement labor unions never have to be asked to get out the vote or show up to important hearings in Sacramento. Silence is a dumb position to take.
"If the poor all voted, the world would be a different place."
If the poor all brought 20 people each to the polls, this type of terrorism on the people could never win at the ballot box. Law enforcement labor unions never have to be asked to get out the vote or show up to important hearings in Sacramento. Silence is a dumb position to take.
For more information:
http://www.1union1.com/Join_the_UNION.html
As of August 2nd, George Runner and the Runner Intiative folks have not been able to raise any additional money to fight for their campaign. Henry Nicolas their major contributor was also indicted for felony drug, conspiracy, and securities fraud.
Please encourage your friends to vote, if you've been incarcerated on a felony charge-you may still be able to vote-go to http://www.thesentencingproject.com to find out more about your rights!! History happens everyday and we can defeat Prop 6.
Please encourage your friends to vote, if you've been incarcerated on a felony charge-you may still be able to vote-go to http://www.thesentencingproject.com to find out more about your rights!! History happens everyday and we can defeat Prop 6.
For more information:
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/06/bu...
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