California Ocean Ranger Bill
Defeated After Heavy CLIA & PORAC Lobbying
June 24, 2008
California Gives Green Light To Cruise Ship Crime
Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) and their lobbyists, Aaron Read and Associates were successful in getting a cruise ship safety bill, that would have put ocean rangers on cruise ships departing from California ports killed in the California Assembly Public Safety Committee.
The Senate passed the bill, Sb 1582, on a bi-partisan 25-12 vote. It cleared the Assembly Judiciary Committee 7-1, where top lawyers in the Assembly shredded CLIA and PORAC's legal arguments concerning jurisdiction.
The defeat was a blow to Cruise Bruise and to our partner International Cruise Victims Association and was nothing short of dirty politics, to put it mildly.
The Assembly Public Safety Committee is comprised of:
Jose Solorio - Chair Dem-69
Greg Aghazarian - Vice Chair Rep-26
Joel Anderson Rep-77
Hector De La Torre Dem-50
Fiona Ma Dem-12
Anthony J. Portantino Dem-44
The three Democrats who voted "not voting were Solorio, De La Torre, and Portantino. Portantino likely would have supported the bill if there had been a 3rd vote, four were needed. Speaker Bass, appointed Mark Leno to the Comittee the night before. Mr. Leno and Assemblywoman Fiona Ma voted aye. The two Republicans, Anderson and Aghazarian voted no.
The proposal by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-San Jose, to create a new team of ocean rangers that would help assist with criminal investigations aboard cruise ships turned into a lobbying war, that ended up having little to do with crime, and more to do with scratching other's backs, so they will scratch your back. Victims, were never the real issue, except for Simitian and the International Cruise Victims Association that worked hard to get the bill passed.
It was tag team lobbying with the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) hiring Aaron Read and Associates as well to help out with their fight against legislation.
It is important to note that when a lobbyist works for a client, all the clients of that lobbyist generally are supported by each of the clients, by unwritten mostly silent agreements. This makes CLIA and PORAC partners in the fight against cruise victims, as odd a combination as that may seem. Since PORAC had the clout and the markers to collect on within the committee, in this battle they lead the charge, with CLIA taking more of a back seat.
While it seemed pretty important that PORAC was against the bill, giving the impression that if law enforcement wasn't for the bill, it had no merit, that fact was some what misleading. Some reporters made it seem like ALL law enforcement was against the bill, and that was not the case. The California State Sheriffs Association and the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association were supporting the bill.
What it came down to was money, in Solorio's campaign coffers.
Santa Ana with a population of 370,000 is 76% hispanic, with 26 murders in 2006. Their crime rate is slightly BELOW the national average with only one police officer for every 1,000 residents, only a third of the representation the nation as a whole has.
Solorio was in the PORAC pocket. with CLIA paying major dollars for Aaron Read lobbying, it was a given that PORAC would fall into the ranks. The bill never stood a chance.
PORAC had little influence with Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, but they have often turned to the Assembly committee, and Solorio, to help kill legislation the group does not like.
PORAC made Solorio its legislator of the year in 2007, has donated to his political campaigns and has sponsored a number of Solorio-authored bills.
Solorio also lead the charge last year against one of PORAC's most highly-targeted bills, Romero's SB 1019, which would have made more information public about police officers under investigation. That bill died last year in Solorio's committee without a motion on the bill. Everyone on the committee sat silent, refusing to take a vote.
PORAC contributed $5000 to Solorio on August 8, 2007 about a month after he successfully killed Romero's SB1019 bill and in fact was one of his top 10 cash contributors. The vast majority of contributors to Solorio gave contributions of only a fraction of that, most of them $1000 or less.
The group made Solorio legislator of the year a few months after he killed SB1019, a fact that was nothing more than a public admission that Solorio was being rewarded for his assistance in killing SB1019.
PORAC also contributed to another committee member Hector De La Torre. De La Torre received $1,000 for his most recent cash contribution, as a less significant member of the Assembly Public Safety Committee.
De La Torre represents the Southeast Los Angeles County cities of Bell, Bellflower, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Cudahy, Downey, Lynwood, South Gate, and the unincorporated communities of Florence-Graham and Walnut Park. His home is South Gate, California, a population that includes 92% working-class hispanics. It is nowhere near the cruise ship terminals.
What South Gate is known for is having only .87 police officers for every 1000 citizens, where the national average is 3 police officers for every 1,000. With a population of only 98,000 South Gate has seen increasing murders in recent years. In 2002 the city had 3 murders, in 2006 it had 16, though their crime rate is about the national average.
Safety is in deed the #1 issue in South Gate. PORAC may be courting De La Torre to get more officers in his district. However, with the cruise ship bill on the table, it was an opportunity for PORAC to flex their muscles with De La Torre as well as Solorio.
It will be interesting to see what rewards Solorio and De La Torre harvest from this last conspiracy. We will likely see CLIA in the list of contributors for both politicans in the near future, simply because they sit on the The Assembly Public Safety Committee.
PORAC is the largest statewide law enforcement association in the country, representing 61,000 rank-and-file peace officers and 760 local peace officer associations.
The most important part of this state disgrace, is that those in committee can decide not to vote at all, instead of being forced to vote for or against a measure and take a public stand. In this case, two politicians who were in PORAC's pocket, didn't vote, most likely to ensure the public didn't see the campaign contributions as bribes.
This is a slacker position, if ever I saw one, and one that needs to be addressed at election time. We the people, do not send hard earned money in the form of tax dollars that pay politician salaries to have them refuse to vote. They ARE there to vote and take an active roll in legislation. It would be nice to see a California initative on this point.
Special thanks to Alan Gordon Principal Consultant, Senator Joe Simitian, for sending me some clarification on the legislation votes.
The public safety committee is chaired by Jose Solorio, D-Santa Ana, Orange County which also happens to be home to the cruise ship terminals.
He was the ace in the hole for PORAC, with an almost guaranteed defeat in committee.
