Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday was noncommittal when pressed about whether he plans to campaign against Proposition 36, a controversial anti-crime measure on the November ballot that targets theft and drug offenses and has divided Democrats.
“I fear I can’t do everything,” Newsom said Thursday in San Francisco’s Mission district during the signing of a major affordable housing package, saying that there is a lot on his plate between now and election day. “I’m trying to get Kamala Harris elected president of the United States. … I just pray, I really do, people take a good look at Proposition 36.”
The ballot measure addresses drug and theft crimes by implementing stiffer penalties for repeat retail theft offenders, regardless of the value of merchandise stolen. It also would mandate drug treatment as an option, instead of jail time, for those who commit certain drug crimes. The measure would alter critical parts of Proposition 47, a ballot measure that voters overwhelmingly passed in 2014.
A new poll published Thursday found that 71% of likely California voters said they would vote in favor of Proposition 36. Another poll published in August by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times found that a smaller portion of voters, 56%, are likely to support Proposition 36.
“I was wondering what state I was living in,” Newsom said when he saw the poll results Thursday morning. “I know people are angry, I know people are frustrated. I am too. But this is not the way of solving it.”
For nearly nine months, Newsom has criticized the initiative, warning that the harms to Black and Latino communities will be “next-level.” He reiterated Thursday a point he has made several times during his last few public appearances: the fact that the measure is missing a funding plan. Newsom called it an “unfunded mandate.” Legislative analysts project it could cost the state hundreds of…