ACLU’s Ripston Chastised in Visit to Crime Summit

Ramona Ripston might as well have stepped into the path of a runaway freight train.

Ripston, who heads the American Civil Liberties Union’s Southern California office, appeared Tuesday on a panel at Gov. Pete Wilson’s summit on crime, where she had hoped to slow the momentum of Wilson’s effort to lengthen criminal sentences and build more prisons.

Her reception at the hands of Wilson’s handpicked group of crime fighters was somewhere between chilly and nasty.

“We have met the enemy, and Mrs. Ripston, I hate to tell you this, but you are it,” said Steve Baker, whose son’s killer, Robert Alton Harris, staved off the death penalty for more than a decade by filing repeated appeals.

Marc Klaas, whose daughter Polly was kidnaped and killed last year, told Ripston she was “far out in left field.” Another father showed Ripston a portrait of his murdered son and blamed her group for his death. Several panelists shortened the organization’s name to the Civil Liberties Union, deliberately dropping the word American. And a legislator chastised Ripston for defending “lechers and scumbags.”

“It was not unexpected,” Ripston said afterward. “I thought what I had to say was so important I was willing to risk what happened.”

Ripston’s message: Sentences should be tailored to fit the crime and the individual, not meted out with broad strokes adopted by panicky lawmakers fearful of their reelection chances. She said the ACLU opposes the “three strikes” initiative that polls show has the support of more than 80% of the public.

“The ACLU believes that all people are entitled to justice,” she said.

Ripston’s experience underscored the tone of the governor’s two-day crime summit, which was billed as an effort to develop bipartisan consensus on the hottest issue of the day but turned out to be primarily a showcase for Wilson and his views on crime and punishment.

From the start, when the pastor of the host Hollywood Presbyterian Church joined in the call for stricter sentencing, to the end, when the leader of a crime victims group threatened political retribution against lawmakers who don’t toe her line, the event was a forum for the Republican governor’s position that building more prisons and putting more inmates in them will make the state’s streets safe again.

Wilson, sitting at the head table on the stage of the church’s auditorium, presided over the eight sessions on issues ranging from school violence and prevention to enforcement and punishment and crime’s impact on business. Sometimes donning glasses to read from reports, Wilson introduced each session with a summary of his beliefs, then listened, moderated and asked an occasional question.

The governor also played traffic cop, admonishing the audience to “take your conversations outside” and repeatedly giving the speakers tips on how to handle the hall’s sensitive microphones.

The parade of panelists and speakers was peppered with prosecutors, police, judges and crime victims. Independent experts and academics were scarce.

Barely present was the point of view that the state’s dwindling resources would be better spent on educating and training young people than warehousing criminals.

One critic called the event a farce, contending that though Wilson is talking tough now, he has spent three years as governor cutting the ranks of the Highway Patrol, softening parole policy to save money and slicing money from local governments, which spend the bulk of their budgets on law enforcement and other public safety services.

“This guy has been asleep at the switch for three years,” said Al Angele, executive director of the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs. “Finally he wakes up and says ‘Geez, I’m on the rocks, maybe I should hold a crime summit.’ ”

But Wilson aides and allies say the summit was a legitimate effort to gather information and ideas for bills that will be introduced in Sacramento in the weeks ahead. Many of the prosecutors in attendance cited specific sections of the penal code they said should be changed to make their jobs easier.

“Any cynic who says it’s being done for political reasons needs to have one of their kids snuffed to really understand,” said Collene Campbell, who became a leader in crime victims circles after her son and brother were murdered in separate incidents.

Kevin Sloat, a deputy chief of staff for the governor, said Wilson’s staff took some heat from conservative groups and lawmakers that wanted the presentations weighted even more heavily toward their positions. He noted the presence of Ripston of the ACLU and former San Jose Police Chief Joseph McNamara, an outspoken advocate of gun control.

“We consciously tried to find a balance of all points of view,” Sloat said.

Sloat acknowledged that Wilson hopes the summit will add to the pressure on legislators to pass the bills the governor already has endorsed. He said other measures will be introduced reflecting the ideas gleaned from the summit.

“Hopefully we will take the momentum from this event and focus it on the state Legislature,” Sloat said.

Senate Republican Leader Ken Maddy of Fresno described the summit as a “dog and pony show” and said he heard few new ideas expressed. But he said it was a worthwhile effort anyway.

“When you focus this much attention on something, it becomes very difficult for the Legislature to do what it normally does, which is study and delay and put everything off for another year,” Maddy said.

That worries Ripston of the ACLU. She says lawmakers should take their time and thoughtfully consider the consequences before adopting simple-sounding solutions. But with the public clamoring for quick action, she said she is finding it harder to get her message across to lawmakers.

“People don’t want to hear it,” she said.