Republicans and crime

Republican Michael Roberson, running for lieutenant governor, got into someone else’s race last week, attacking Democratic candidate for attorney general Aaron Ford.

Roberson said Democrats at the 2017 legislature “spent last session pushing the most pro-felon session in history rather than doing more to protect innocent Nevadans from those seeking to commit fraud and violent crime in our state. Democrat[ic] leaders had an opportunity to pass AB 15, which would have addressed these kinds of crimes, but they turned a blind eye on the very Nevadans that this legislation would have protected. … They sought to reduce sentences for violent criminals, make it easier for convicted felons to vote and worked to turn Nevada into a sanctuary state. Their efforts do not represent the values of the majority of Nevadans, nor of our law enforcement community.

“The Democratic public defender caucus in the Assembly pushed policies to take it easy on violent criminals and to make our communities less safe, and Senator Aaron Ford, the very Democrat seeking to become Nevada’s next Attorney General, sponsored a bill to provide sanctuary to violent criminals in our communities and on our streets.”

Ford declined comment—“I plan on running a positive, forward-looking campaign”—but sent a list of his endorsements from law enforcement. Assembly Democratic leader Teresa Benitez-Thompson, however, had this to say: “Legislative Democrats spent the session vigorously defending victims and expanding their rights. Any notion to the contrary is nothing more than hyper-political rhetoric. Assembly Bill 122, for example, enshrined access to Victim of Crime funds for all victims. Assembly Bill 97 puts into place reporting deadlines and mandatory testing timeframes of sexual assault kits. The passage of Marcy’s Law, too, demonstrates our commitment.”

Roberson’ statement was sent out jointly with Assemblymember Jim Wheeler, best known for saying he would vote for slavery if that’s what his constituents wanted.