Questioning motives – Letters Of Liberty

**“Questioning motives”, Monterey Herald – July 24, 2023**

A bill against child sex trafficking was recently voted down by California’s Assembly Public Safety Committee. Six of the committee’s Democrats abstained from voting, defeating the bill. This new legislation had the means to make child sex trafficking a serious felony. It would keep convicted offenders in jail longer while making them less eligible to be released early. Seems like a no-brainer. But why did the Democrats kill this laudable bill? Did they confuse child sex trafficking with the transgendering of minors?

Gov. Newsome took note of this defeat and pressured the Democrats on the committee to take another vote. This time most of the Democrats voted in the affirmative, helping to pass the bill with six additional votes, while two other Democrats, Mia Bonta and Isaac Bryan, still abstained.

It is nice to see Newsom take a moral stand on violent sex crimes against children. But was this the right thing to do for children, or was it the right thing to do for Newsom’s possible presidential ambitions?

— Lawrence Samuels, Carmel