Orange County DA Todd Spitzer and Crime Survivors (PAC) Founder Patricia Wenskunas to head KCS Southern California Team
SACRAMENTO — The Keep California Safe Campaign, which is dedicated to passing the “Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act of 2020” that will appear on the November ballot, is expanding its campaign infrastructure to include regional teams as the election approaches.
“We’re thrilled to have two of our longstanding statewide Leadership Committee members, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer and Crime Survivors (PAC) Founder Patricia Wenskunas, volunteer to lead our first regional campaign team,” said Mike Ziegler, Executive Director for Keep California Safe.
“We’ve already garnered an impressive list of endorsements from up and down the state, and as these regional grassroots teams come online, they’ll play an important role in our overall campaign strategy.”
“I believe strongly in this initiative and am honored to be co-Director of the Southern California Team,” said Spitzer. “California now has 450 violent crimes that have gone unsolved due to lack of DNA collection, and this initiative will fix that, among other flaws in the current system.”
“As a long-time victims’ advocate, this initiative is a top priority,” said Wenskunas. “It’s unconscionable that California doesn’t classify rape of an unconscious person, human trafficking or domestic violence as ‘violent’ crimes. It’s obvious how dangerous it is to allow early release for those who commit these crimes. This initiative is not an option — it’s a necessity.”
Spitzer and Wenskunas have already begun pulling together a diverse and growing membership for the KCS’ Southern California Team, which so far includes Santa Ana Councilmember Jose Solorio, Irvine City Councilmember Anthony Kuo and Mission Viejo City Councilmember Greg Raths.
The Keep California Safe initiative fixes four main flaws in recent criminal justice “reforms” that simply went too far — expands the list of violent crimes for which early release is not an option, revises the theft threshold to restore consequences for serial theft, restores DNA collection for certain misdemeanor crimes, and gives prosecutors and victims a greater voice in the parole process.
The initiative qualified for the ballot in 2018 with more than 600,000 voter signatures, and recent public opinion polling shows that its violent crime component is supported by 82 percent of voters and the serial theft component by 70 percent.
For more information on the initiative, please visit keepcalsafe.org.