Tweeting is all the rage on the Right. They tweet everything. Their anger over government spending, their anger over Senate recruiting, and, um, national secrets. So, when Sen. George Runner (R-Lancaster) gets in on the tweeting action, you know there's going to be some crazy going on. And, yup, that's the deal with this:
In tomorrow's #caprisons bill, Dems want a commission to change CA sentencing laws. Commission required to have a felon on it! Unbelievable!
You can get the details about the Democratic/Schwarzenegger plan in Dave's diary from yesterday, but let's focus on this “felon on the commission” thing. First, this isn't a current prisoner. It is an “ex-felon.” Presumably somebody who made it through what is left of the “rehabilitation” in the California Department of Corrections and “Rehabilitiation.” This is a valuable perspective, as who knows the failings and the opportunities of the system better than a rehabilitated prisoner?
Of course, George Runner never was really one for making policy decisions based on actual information. He gets it from the gut. Because his gut has so far been a good decision making process. You know, like the time that George Runner thought it was a good idea to get all cozy with Henry Nicholas III, the former CEO of Broadcom. You know, the guy who allegedly built a “sex cave” under his mansion to keep his legion of prostitutes, spiked his colleague's drinks with ecstasy, and horded drugs like they were going out of style. Yeah, the guy that funded Runner's Prop 9, another small minded and costly ToughOnCrime measure. Yeah, he and Runner are tight, tight enough that Nicholas gave nearly $5 Million to Runner's campaign.
But even if you didn't care to get a full perspective on the system by consulting somebody intimately familiar with it, Runner perhaps should consider that the reformed felon wouldn't even get a vote on the commission. Like the victim's rights advocate, the seat on the commission for the reformed felon would be a non-voting seat. So while he or she would be in the room to discuss the issues, in the end, their voice is their only tool in the discussion.
But, hey, maybe Henry Nicholas III can be a two-fer, and nab both the victim's rights seat and the ex-felon seat after he gets out of the clink. But, you know, that may be asking a bit too much, after all, he is quite busy with his underground lair with “an underground grotto, tunnels and a 2,000-square-foot sports bar he called “Nick's Cafe.”