The California Democrat Supermajority has been showing their collective hindquarters along with their depravity. As RedState reported in April, the chairman of the Public Safety Committee, Nick Schultz (D-Burbank), chose to stall AB 379, a bill that would make it a felony for anyone purchasing sex from a minor under the age of 18. Its author, Assemblywoman Maggy Krell (D-Sacramento), is an experienced prosecutor in the area of sex crimes and human trafficking. But as our Managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar outlined on Monday, Schultz and his colleagues thought that they knew better than this expert who had garnered support for this bill among her colleagues, both Democrat and Republican, as well as organizations and advocates who worked on behalf of victims of sex crimes.
Fast forward to this year, and the fiery debate over the last few weeks over a bill put forward by Asm. Maggy Krell (D-Sacramento) to make it a felony to solicit or purchase 16 and 17-year-olds for sex. Despite Newsom’s entreaties, Assembly Democrats stripped Krell’s name from the bill, struck the provision from the bill, inserted some vague language about wanting to protect victims of sex trafficking, then embarked on a PR crusade to accuse leading Republicans of voting against protecting 16 and 17-year-olds.
The Republicans in the Assembly have been eating their Wheaties lately because the Democrat tactics not only failed to work, but backfired spectacularly. Sacramento Capitol Correspondent Ashley Zavala exclusively reported a counter ad campaign by the California GOP.
WATCH:
The video ads, which KCRA 3 is the first to report, come amid the fight at the state Capitol over whether it should be a felony to purchase 16 and 17-year-olds for sex. The proposal is part of a broader push to ramp up the consequences for the buyers of the child sex trafficking trade.
The videos feature three teenage girls. One begins by specifically calling out an assembly member and notes Democrats in the Assembly “blocked a law that would’ve protected us.”
The ads are targeted against eight Democrat Assembly members, some of whom are in swing or competitive districts: Rhodesia Ransom (Stockton), Esmeralda Soria (Merced), Pilar Schiavo (Santa Clarita), Jacqui Irwin (Thousand Oaks), Mark González (Los Angeles), Corey Jackson (Moreno Valley), Sharon Quirk-Silva (La Palma), and Darshana Patel (San Diego). In this Golden Age of Trump, it’s a new California GOP: No doubt, CA GOP chair Corrin Rankin, and Los Angeles GOP chair Roxanne Hoge have candidates waiting in the wings to challenge them.
Time to pop the popcorn.
For the Democrats, this doubling down on the victimization of minors while protecting the predators has only served to make them appear even more craven and crazy than they already are. They have managed to single-handedly engineer the worst PR campaign imaginable.
As Van Laar pointed out, Newsom’s powers of persuasion are non-existent; he has fully lost control over his state party. However, the threat of this targeted ad campaign, along with being called out by California citizens, has brought about a change of heart… if they even had them in the first place.
Zavala reported on Tuesday afternoon that the Democrat leadership decided to add the age ceiling back into AB 379.
Democratic leaders in the California Assembly announced on Tuesday they will add a proposed automatic felony for those who purchase or solicit 16 and 17-year-olds for sex back into a bill that aims to crack down on the buyers of the child sex trafficking industry.
Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Assembly Public Safety Chairman Nick Schultz announced the update in written statements.
Leaders said the proposed automatic felony will be added back into AB 379, backpedaling on moves the two made last week that first removed the felony that was in the bill filed by Democratic Sacramento Assemblymember Maggy Krell.
The change will be made with one condition: the felony will not apply when the adult offender is within three years of the age of the minor. In those cases, the crime would remain a misdemeanor.
Rivas and Schultz also restored Krell’s name to the bill she authored. So, for all intents and purposes, it’s a win-win.
Whoever was in charge of this strategy by the CA GOP needs to keep it up. Not only did they manage to force the Democrats to cede legislative ground, but they have also gained the moral high ground.
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