Officials fight over solutions for prisons

This is a good idea. It could be a model for the rest of the country.


http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_5666957?nclick_check=1
The dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was the turning point in the nearly half-century-long Cold War, and it soon became apparent that much of the immense American military apparatus would be dismantled as well.

Congress had a rare burst of common sense; acutely aware that it would be politically impossible for its own members to make decisions that could have substantial economic impacts on their districts, Congress created an independent commission to decide which military bases would be shuttered.

The same dynamic is now evident in the California Legislature, which faces massive overcrowding in the prison system but whose members are very chary about softening the state's tough criminal sentencing laws, lest they be accused of being soft on crime. Lawmakers are noodling around with creating an independent commission to overhaul sentencing laws, thus insulating themselves from the political fallout.

Democrats, especially leery about being tagged with the soft-on-crime epithet, appear to be lining up behind the idea, but Republicans and many law enforcement groups are opposed to it. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to be somewhere in the middle, favoring a commission that would recommend changes to the Legislature, but not be empowered to make changes by itself.
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_5666957?nclick_check=1