Governors unite to oppose change to three-strikes law

LOS ANGELES - In a striking show of political unity, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and four of his predecessors are urging voters to reject Proposition 66, a proposal on the November ballot that would roll back aspects of the state's three-strikes sentencing law.

Schwarzenegger and former Govs. Gray Davis, Pete Wilson and Jerry Brown stood shoulder to shoulder at a downtown hotel Thursday and warned Californians that they would witness a potentially deadly surge in crime if the proposal becomes law. Former Gov. George Deukmejian sent a statement echoing their concerns.

"It's a rare event when all five governors come together in opposition to a proposition. But we are strongly opposed ... because if Proposition 66 passes, crime will go up," said Davis, a Democrat ousted by Schwarzenegger last year.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said that "all of the evidence shows that the three-strikes laws get violent, dangerous criminals off the streets and keeps them behind bars, where they belong."

Proposition 66 "would take the teeth out of the three strikes law and favor the criminals instead of the victims," the governor added.

The bipartisan front of governors - Brown is a Democrat, Wilson and Deukmejian Republicans - added fresh evidence that the fight over Proposition 66 was emerging as one of the most hotly contested issues on the state ballot, which features 16 propositions.

It was Schwarzenegger's second major event keyed to stopping the proposition within a week, his political committee has donated at least $1 million for advertising and he's also urging voters to reject it in TV spots running around the state.

Big money is pouring into the campaign. Orange County billionaire Henry T. Nicholas III has put up $1.5 million to fight Proposition 66, while fellow billionaires George Soros and John G. Sperling have each kicked in $500,000 to help pass it.

The three-strikes law was established a decade ago with the support of nearly three of four voters. But recent polls have found that residents might be ready to reconsider, although significant numbers remain undecided.

Proposition 66 would make several significant changes to criminal law. First, it would require that the maximum 25-to-life term be imposed only if a felon's third conviction is "serious or violent," such as murder, rape or kidnapping. Under existing law, anyone convicted of a felony - including shoplifting - after having been convicted of two serious or violent felony crimes, would get at least a 25-year-to-life term.

The proposal would also make thousands of inmates eligible for resentencing, if their so-called third strike doesn't meet that new criteria.

Supporters say the change would restore fairness to a sentencing system that, in some cases, punishes minor offenders with what can amount to a lifetime sentence.

The governors' opposition "is just business as usual - politicians banding together to resist a popular, needed and common sense reform to please a powerful special interest, the prison guards union," said Sandy Harrison, a spokesman for the campaign supporting the change, Yes on 66.

"People know that rapists deserve stiffer sentences than shoplifters, and it doesn't matter at all if the politicians tell them differently," Harrison said.

There has been disagreement over the number of inmates that could be freed under the change - ranging from about 4,000 to more than six times that number.

Even some of the governors appeared to have different ideas.

Schwarzenegger has said 26,000 could be freed, an estimate by state district attorneys. But Davis said, "We may not know exactly how many violent criminals and serious offenders will be released early from prison."

Brown, a Democrat now serving as Oakland mayor, said "There are killers, known to our police department, that will be cut loose." Brown said half of three-strike offenders would be released, but didn't provide a number.