Criminal justice reform continues to be one of the rare areas where bipartisan cooperation is actually possible. The latest evidence: the Koch brothers, Grover Norquist, and FreedomWorks have partnered with the liberal Center for American Progress and the American Civil Liberties Union on a $5 million reform initiative, titled the Coalition for Public Safety.
“The Coalition for Public Safety is an opportunity for all of us to set aside ideological and political differences and unite on an issue that matters to so many Americans,” Koch Industries general counsel Mark Holden said in a statement. “Koch is pleased to be a supporter of this diverse Coalition.”
CAP president Neera Tanden told the New York Times, which first broke news of the group, that this partnership between foes “speaks to the importance of the issue.”
“We want to both do good policy work and try to improve the system, but also to send the message to politicians that we always ask you to work together, and we are going to lead the way,” said Denis Calabrese, an organizer of the coalition.
Charles Koch announced at the beginning of the year that criminal justice reform will be a priority of his charitable work for 2015, with the goal of “making it fair and making (criminal) sentences more appropriate to the crime that has been committed.” Both Kochs have long supported such reforms, including ending the criminalization of nonviolent crimes like drug offenses.
“Enforcing so many victimless crimes inevitably leads to conflict between our citizens and law enforcement,” Koch and Holden wrote in a joint op-ed for Politico. “As we have seen all too often, it can place our police officers in harm’s way, leading to tragic consequences for all involved.”
While the right was once known as the “tough on crime” party, conservatives have increasingly come to embrace reform.
