It’s amazing what a successful recall election can do — even a local one.
San Franciscans overwhelmingly voted to recall three of their worst school board members last Tuesday. But the ramifications are being felt far beyond the Bay Area. Suddenly, some of the most ensconced politicians in the Golden State are panicking over the possibility that they, too, will have their time in office cut short.
This, of course, applies to Chesa Boudin, the useless San Francisco district attorney. His soft-on-crime approach has resulted in massive increases in violent and property crime and a culture in which the rule of law simply is not respected. He faces a recall election already on June 7. Until last Tuesday, I didn’t think he was in any danger — after all, it’s San Francisco. But then Tuesday happened.
Far to the south, in Los Angeles, soft-on-crime, George Soros-funded District Attorney George Gascon is suddenly singing a different tune. Voters there just began to gather signatures as part of their second recall process against him. (The first effort failed to make the ballot for lack of signatures, but now, I have a feeling as of Tuesday that this one will at least get a vote.)
In reaction to the possibility of recall, Gascon is abandoning all the principles he ran on. He has suddenly experienced a change of heart on two key criminal justice issues. First, he will now allow his prosecutors to seek life sentences without the possibility of parole for some defendants. He had previously maintained that every defendant deserves a second — or third, fourth, tenth, or hundredth — chance at life via parole. Out of principle, he had ruled out such sentences, even for the most heinous crimes. No longer.
Second, Gascon will now allow prosecutors in his office to try serious and violent juvenile offenders as adults in some circumstances. This, too, is a complete reversal from everything he has ever promised previously and everything he campaigned on originally.
It’s no coincidence that this abrupt change of heart comes less than a week after liberal San Franciscan voters showed that there are limits to how much wokeness even they are willing to put up with. It’s a lot like watching Democratic governors ditch their mask mandates within a week of party focus groups showing how toxic they are and how much voters hate politicians for keeping such policies in place.
I don’t know about you, but it gives me a warm feeling inside when I see that all the right people are scared.
