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On paroles, Newsom only has himself to blame

Gavin Newsom is trying to deflect blame after serial child rapist David Allen Funston was ordered released from prison by the state parole board.

Funston was serving three life terms after being convicted of kidnapping and molesting more than a dozen children. The judge in the case described him as “the monster parents fear the most.”

In the words of Fox News’ Bill Melugin, Funston “drove around the Sacramento area using toys and candy to lure small children into his car before beating and raping them.”

Yet the California Parole Board released him.

That triggered outrage — from police, from prosecutors, and from the public.

Many blamed the governor. Newsom took to social media to wash his hands of the scandal:

“The Board of Parole hearings is an independent agency and made this decision. The Governor asked for them to re-review its decision. The Governor doesn’t agree with the outcome and has NO authority to reverse this independent decision per state law,” Newsom’s press office posted on X.

Former Sacramento District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, who prosecuted Funston, responded:

“What a joke. Newsom not only SIGNED the law allowing early release at 50 … he appointed these people.”

As Melugin explained, Newsom signed a law in 2020, introduced into the state Assembly by Democrat Phil Ting of San Francisco, that lowered the age of parole eligibility from 60 to 50 years old.

This was in the heyday of “criminal justice reform,” when the Black Lives Matter movement prodded politicians to erode law and order.

“Notably, the law had no exceptions for violent sex offenders. Not even for child rape, forceful sexual penetration, or sodomy by force,” Melugin noted.

Republicans have tried to amend the law, but because Democrats hold a supermajority in both houses of the legislature, the GOP’s changes went nowhere.

In this case, Democrats held up amendments because, they said, it would cost more to keep criminals in prison for their full sentences.

The imminent release of David Allen Funston is a disgrace — for which Newsom only has himself, and his party, to blame.

Democratic presidential primary voters should take note.

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