From Politico:
Gov. Gavin Newsom is trying to defeat a tough-on-crime ballot initiative by convincing voters it would mark a return to the drug war launched by Richard Nixon.
Newsom, one of the few prominent Democrats speaking out against the Proposition 36 initiative, calls it a “drug policy reform that takes us back decades.” Civil rights groups refer to the measure as the “War on Drugs 2.0.”
“We did that,” said No on Prop 36 campaign spokesperson Anthony York, a former top aide to Newsom. “Voters decided they didn’t like it, and the courts decided they didn’t like it.”
At a moment when even many Democratic politicians and left-of-center voters are increasingly focused on fighting crime, Newsom is insisting that the initiative goes too far in returning to an era when American law enforcement emphasized imprisonment over rehabilitation. And while he’s not actively campaigning to defeat it, he is using strong language to advocate against it. Continue reading >>>
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