For the past week, I had been hearing about the pending confirmation vote to take place for Linda Shelton, a Democrat who was appointed as a Commissioner on the Board of Parole Hearings by Governor Schwarzenegger about a year ago. The more I kept hearing, the more I was convinced that while the Governor may have made this appointment in good faith, believing that Shelton would be as tough on criminals as he was, clearly she demonstrated over her first year that she was not. Frankly, the Governor probably should have withdrawn her name from consideration before it came up for a vote, which happened earlier this week.
Frankly, were in not for the hectic schedule that I had due to last weekend’s California Republican Party convention, I would have been writing ahead of the nomination, urging the Governor to pull her name, and short of that, urging Senators concerned about her history of voting to put convicted violent felons out on the streets before their full sentence was served.
Given that liberals control the State Senate (you know the type, the ones who believe that if someone is a criminal, it is because ‘society’ let them down, not because of a lapse in individual responsibility), it was not at all surprising to me that Shelton was confirmed. It also did not surprise me, given what I had been hearing about her, that more than two-thirds of Senate Republicans voted to oppose her confirmation, in addition to Lou Correa, a moderate Democrat from Orange County.
I asked Senator Jeff Denham, who was pretty engaged in opposing Shelton’s nomination, to pen a short piece for FR readers which is below. Also, if you click the attachment below, you can read a list of sixteen extremely poor decisions made by Shelton.
Of course, I invite any of the three GOP Senators who voted to confirm Linda Shelton (Dick Ackerman, Bob Dutton and Roy Ashburn — Bob Margett is recorded as an abstention) to comment below, or send me a statement that I would be happy to print. While I have been told that opposition to Shelton’s confirmation came late in the game, it is significant that every Senator knew about her record, and that she was opposed by crime victim groups, before casting their votes.
Here is what Senator Denham has to say:
In 2006, Linda Shelton was appointed to Commissioner on the Board of Parole Hearings, Adult Division. In her one year of service, she has made a lot of decisions that have veteran prosecutors and crime victim families rightfully concerned.My colleagues and I in the State Senate yesterday had an opportunity to vote on her confirmation to this position. Prior to yesterday, I received numerous calls, letters and emails from victims, their families and victim’s rights organizations. These individuals and organizations were very concerned with Ms. Shelton’s record on releasing violent criminals back on the street.
These concerns led me and my staff to research Ms. Shelton’s record. I didn’t want to jump to any conclusion before taking a position. I quickly learned that I could not condone her actions and, therefore, could not vote in support of her confirmation.
To date, she has voted to let 16 convicted violent criminals (mostly murderers) back onto the streets. Fortunately, the Governor has already reversed eight of these decisions, and seven others are still pending review.
For example, Shelton voted to let Charles Williams back on the streets. Williams murdered 68-year-old wheelchair-bound and leg-amputee Paul Ward by beating Ward with a wooden board during a robbery in West Sacramento. She also voted to release Jerome Thorton, who murdered Maryann Hill by striking her in the head with either a baseball bat or steel bar during a robbery. The Governor saw that these violent criminals should not be back on the streets and reversed both of these decisions.
Meanwhile, criminals like William Oldright, who murdered Ronald Tucker in Bakersfield and Cornelius Edwards, who murdered Darryl Bradley in Los Angeles, are thankfully still in custody as Shelton’s decision to release these criminals is being reviewed.
Ms. Shelton seems to care more about helping the violent criminal, instead of protecting the safety of law-abiding families and the victims of these violent crimes. With Ms. Shelton on this board, victims and families will be fearful knowing violent criminals are back on the street again. I simply could not look into the eyes of my constituents or the victims and family members of these crimes and simply shrug off these acts of violence.
Therefore, I spoke out against Linda Shelton’s confirmation on the Senate Floor earlier this week. I presented my colleagues with a letter and a copy of the 16 decisions where she voted to release the violent criminal back on the street. Eleven Senators stood strong to oppose her confirmation. I want to thank Senators Battin, Cogdill, Correa, Cox, Harman, Hollingsworth, Maldonado, McClintock, Runner and Wyland for joining me and putting the rights of victims and their families above the rights of violent criminals.
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