Thus headlines a publication posted December 9, 2021 by KUSI in Local News on the Google platform.
https://www.kusi.com/oceanside-city-councilman-r-chris-rodriguez-radical-left-wing-policies-are-terrorizing-our-communities/
Christopher Rodriguez claims in this interview, and in his printed declaration to quote “Southern California is in the middle of a crime wave. The Left-wing Democrats don’t want to talk about it. I do.”
He is simply vilifying the will of the majority of the electorate in California, and several other states. This is just the same old rhetorical political bombast used to inflame uninformed voters as has always been universally practiced. It doesn’t work for me and it shouldn’t work for anyone. Christopher Rodriguez must do better if he wants the job…. In My Not So Humble Opinion (IMNSHO).
Proposition 47 is a voter approved Ballot Initiative from 2014. It was approved by a majority of California voters back in 2014. More importantly, Prop 47 does not legalize theft under $950.
Christopher Rodriguez is attempting to mischaracterize this will of “We the People ” as a law initiated and approved by poor management. HOGWASH….IMNSHO!
Politically motivated critics, among them Christopher Rodriguez, Oceanside’s elected District 2 City Councilmember, are making a blatant effort to promote their unreasonable personal opinion and agenda. Hoping to gain popularity, and possible political office by energizing good folks to vote for them. Mr. Rodriguez wants to replace Mike Levin in the next election as our United States Congressional Representative. A very bad idea indeed. Congressman Levin has accomplished an amazing amount of good work already in his relatively short tenure since replacing Darryl Issa, who was basically run out of town by protesters IMNSHO.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-issa-protest-20180425-htmlstory.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/12/democrat-mike-levin-is-the-apparent-winner-of-california-house-district-49-nbc-news.html
I think it is common knowledge in District 2 that the majority of voters there will not re-elect Mr. Rodriguez to a second term as City Council member. Think about that as a motivator, huh folks?
Such critics as Mr. Rodriguez have warned that these higher criminal charges cutoff points embolden offenders and cause property crime, particularly larceny, to rise. To determine whether their concerns have proved to be true, The Pew Charitable Trusts examined crime trends in the 30 states that raised their felony theft thresholds between 2000 and 2012, a period that allows analysis of each jurisdiction from three years before to three years after the policy change. Pew also compared trends in states that raised their thresholds during this period with those that did not.
Their chartbook, which updates and reinforces an analysis published in 2016, illustrates three important conclusions:

• Raising the felony theft threshold has no impact on overall property crime or larceny rates.
• States that increased their thresholds reported roughly the same average decrease in crime as the 20 states that did not change their theft laws.
• The amount of a state’s felony theft threshold—whether it is $500, $1,000, $2,000, or more—is not correlated with its property crime and larceny rates.

Furthermore, the judicial branch of California explains on its page about Prop 47 that the new law only “reclassifies certain theft and drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors”. Thanks to Prop 47, shoplifting offenses involving property valued at less than $950 are prosecuted as misdemeanors, not felonies, but they are still prosecuted. Such offenses are punishable by up to six months in county jail.
It is important to note that California is not the only state that has raised the bar for felony convictions. Since 2000, at least 37 states have enacted laws that raised the threshold for what constitutes felony theft. In 2017, Pew Charitable Trusts examined how these laws impacted the crime rate and found that “raising the felony theft threshold has no impact on overall property crime or larceny rates.”
If Mr. Rodriguez wants my vote, he is going to have to do better than slinging a load of “Partisan Nonsense” in the media news outlets. I advise all voters to think likewise, regardless of Party Affiliation. CRIME DOES NOT CARE ABOUT OUR POLITICS!
Richard Burton
Resident District 2 Voter