Should sex offenders be barred from running for public office? The California State Senate’s Elections Committee doesn’t think so and killed a bill (AB 2753) last week that would bar registered sex offenders from running for public office.
It was a procedural denial because only two senators supported the bill and Senator Scott Wiener voted no (no surprise because he’s a moral reprobate), and two took the easy way out by abstaining from voting.
The two heroes who voted for the bill were Democratic San Diego State Senator Sabrina Cervantes and Republican State Senator Steven Choi.
The two cowards who didn’t vote were Democrats Tom Umberg and Ben Allen.
Fresno Democratic Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria wrote the bill after registered sex offender Rene Campos tried to run for Fresno City Council. He pleaded no contest in 2018 to a misdemeanor charge of being in possession to child sex abuse material.
The bill sailed through the state Assembly but this small Senate committee killed the bill.
Not all senators were willing to support it because of their feelings about the three tiers of sex offenders that California has. Tier One offenders remain on the sex offender registry for up to 10 years, Tier Two for up to 20 years, and Tier Three for life. Wiener said he would support the bill only if it applied to Tier 3 status.
Soria believes that persons in all tiers should be disqualified from holding public office. Tier One, for example, includes child molestation and enticing a child to prostitution. Tier Two includes incest and sodomy with a minor.
The committee advanced another bill, AB 2961, which prohibits sex offenders from running for office — but primarily if the victims are adults. The committee watered down the bill by allowing people convicted of felony child sex crimes, such as rape and sodomy, to still run for positions like school board, city council, or state legislature. Unbelievable, folks.
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We received the sad news that Pete Wigt has passed away from leukemia. Many folks in the ag community of Ceres and the Westport district loved Pete, who is the husband of Ceres School Board Trustee Valli Wigt who is loved by many of the folks who were in her class when she was teaching.
I was stunned at the news. On May 19 as I was covering the annual Agribusiness Luncheon at Diamond Bar Arena, Pete came up to me and was extremely chatty. When it was over I thought what a nice guy.
Apparently Pete had been battling the disease a while.
The word leukemia is a tough one for me to hear. My cousin Sandra died of leukemia at age 10 in 1975 when medical technology was not advanced to cure childhood leukemia. In 2011 my wife Karen was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and she courageously battled for the next 16 months until it took her life.
Our condolences to Valli Wigt and his family.
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I enjoyed attending the Stanislaus County Fourth of July Parade as Ceres has no events for the holiday. A number of Ceres residents participate in the parade.
All of the Stanislaus County supervisors (except for Channce Condit) were riding in a 1930s antique touring car produced by the White Motor Company, widely known as “Red Jammers” or “Reds.”
Rosalinda Vierra rode in a low rider with campaign signs and Mayor Javier Lopez was less conspicuous as he walked with soccer balls in hand in front of the county GOP entry.
While standing at the corner of 11th and I streets I witnessed a group of vocal protestors who were so proud of their First Amendment rights to free speech that they felt the need to cover their faces. One carried a sign saying ICE agents shouldn’t be masked. (Note: they wear masks because they are doxed and attacked at home by the looney lefties). It appears that the blue-haired crowd are among the unhappiest people on earth, this time out to spoil the patriotic feelings of Americans happy their country hust turned 250 years old. They were all over the map with their protest: hating ICE, hating Trump, hating the police. What was unsettling to me and many was when they started chanting F- - - ICE over their portable loudspeaker in front of little children and families trying to enjoy the celebration of the greatest nation on Earth.
One man held a sign reading: “MPD Officer Solomon Foketi was arrested on June 20 for assault with deadly weapon, criminal threats, false imprisonment, domestic violence. HOLD VIOLENT COPS ACCOUNTABLE.”
Since Foketi was arrested and to face trial, I’d say he’s being held accountable so why the sign? The gentleman could have gone home and enjoyed some iced tea and planned a BBQ or something patriotic. But maybe he’s one of these types who hates his country but refuses to leave it.
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I find it highly hypocritical for Gavin Newsom to oppose the state’s so-called “one-time” Billionaire’s Tax initiative yet just came out calling for a national billionaire’s tax.
Don’t fall for the Billionaire’s Tax scheme invented by the Democrats. Aside from it being unfair and driving wealthy taxpayers out of California, it has a loophole that allows the state Legislature to enact a similar tax on persons who are not billionaires or even millionaires – basically anyone. Think of it as a “savings tax.”
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I want to thank the Democrats in Sacramento for raising the cost of labor so high that with a minimum-wage that service at fast food restaurants has been scaled back. Of course I’m being facetious.
I walked into the Jack-in-the-Box in Oakdale two Sundays ago and stood there for about two minutes while one customer diddled around on the ordering kiosk while nobody waited on me to take an order. I walked out. They lost a sale.There are so many other places I can get better service and I’m not beholden to any specific fast food place. When you don’t respond to a customer when he walks through the door then I walk out.
This also happened to me at another hamburger place when they all called out, “Welcome in!” and then proceed to ignore me and another customer for the next five minutes. Apparently they were putting a large order together. The gentleman next to me said “This has been going on since I got here.” I walked out after I didn’t hear a “Sorry for the delay, we’ll take your order in just a minute.” No telling how long they expected both of us to wait.
Raising the minimum wage has an unintended consequence which, of course, that businesses were forced to scale back on hired help and people lost jobs because they have to make a profit. They replaced workers with those frustrating ordering kiosk screens, in essence we are the employees courtesy of the state of California lawmakers who supported this.
It’s always been customary to let the economy dictate labor prices. When government interferes with that process, businesses scale reduce costs and cut back on service. They also raise prices so when they ask businesses to pay employees more, they’re basically adding tax on us, but that’s their specialty up in Sacramento.
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A big tax fight awaits us California voters in November.
Six of the initiatives deal with taxes with three being bad for taxpayers and three being good.
No on 2 (which would cancel any tax rebate due the taxpayers under the Gann spending limit). It prohibits politicians from further manipulating the spending limit,
No on 3. Defeat it since it will permanently extend the higher income taxes in place. All this is doing is force the wealthier Californians to leave the state and taking with them their taxes.
No on 40 (the billionaire’s tax mentioned earlier but will GUARANTEED result in taxes for all of us since the Democrats have a loophole saying two-thirds majority in the Legislature is needed to pass a tax on all of us). It’s window dressing for a tax on all of us when they look at all of our assets and taxing it.
Yes on 41, which calls for new audit requirements of special taxes, such as if they pass the mileage tax.
Yes on 42 which will stop taxes on savings accounts held by the middle class and remove the poison pill found in 40 (the billionaire’s tax).
Yes on 43 which will save Prop 13 passed in 1978. It will also restore the two-thirds voter approval for local tax increases rather than the simple majority.
This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation. How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com
