Sometimes you just have to shake your head and wonder: What was
he thinking? That was our reaction to the recent proposal by
Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz to
”
deputize
”
supervisors.
Sometimes you just have to shake your head and wonder: What was he thinking? That was our reaction to the recent proposal by Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz to “deputize” supervisors.
His proposed ordinance would have required landlords to do background checks on prospective tenants to determine if they are registered sex offenders. Landlords would have been required to report that person to their supervisor, who would then “educate” residents in the neighborhood about the offender’s presence. That’s tantamount to putting a badge on an elected representative’s lapel.
De La Cruz said he was motivated by a rash of news stories about abducted children and wanted to do something about it.
It took county attorney Claude Biddle less than a week to put the kibosh on the idea. Biddle declared that it would run afoul of the state constitution, since “state law already covers the entire field of regulating sex offenders.”
If he were being less legalistic, Biddle might have added that the idea smacks of political grandstanding.
What possible reason could a politician have for wanting to get in the way of what is clearly a law enforcement function, other than to show off for his constituents? Going after sex offenders is the political equivalent of a comedian getting laughs from a room full of stoned college students. It’s just too easy.
Did getting shot down by Biddle stop De La Cruz? No. The supervisor then declared that he would form a grassroots committee to do the job without legal sanction. Said De La Cruz: “We’ll go to the individual, be very gentle and tell them we’re here and will continue to monitor the situation.”
It’s easier to imagine a less benign scenario. A crowd forms, and in it is someone with a history and a grudge carrying a noose, or a gun. This was likely what District Attorney John Sarsfield had in mind when he called De La Cruz’s proposal “vigilatism.”
“That type of conduct is not allowed,” said Sarsfield, “that’s how lynching happens.”
Proposals like this are not likely to help Supervisor De La Cruz’s constituents take him seriously. For a man who won a disputed election by the slimmest of margins – 10 votes – he would be better off spending his time thinking of ways to speed up the lifting of the sewer moratorium, or otherwise advancing the economic interests of San Benito County.
