Dirty Money from Soros? By Cliff Kincaid | October 28, 2004
In a major development that has national implications, a political party backed by billionaire leftist George Soros has been caught illegally involving itself in a New York Democratic primary, in order to defeat a tough-on-drugs District Attorney. Soros, who favors legalization of dangerous drugs, has been spending millions of dollars to put John Kerry in the White House.
The pro-Soros national media have refused to examine the implications of a ruling by New York State Supreme Court Justice Bernard Malone. He ruled that it was improper for the Soros-backed Working Families Party to get involved in a Democratic primary for DA and he referred the case to local prosecutors and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for a possible criminal investigation.
Using money from the Soros-funded Drug Policy Alliance Network, the Working Families Party influenced that DA race with mass mailings on behalf of David Soares, who was described by UPI as the "pro-drug legalization candidate for district attorney of Albany County." Soares is opposed to tough drug laws and wants drug criminals treated more leniently. Thanks to the money provided by Soros, he defeated incumbent District Attorney Paul Clyne in the Democratic primary. At the time of Clyne's defeat, Ethan Nadelmann of the Soros-funded Drug Policy Alliance Network said he was proud that his group had "contributed to this race." He went on to say that "what happened in Albany" has "national resonance." That suggested to some that Soros, if he is successful in putting John Kerry in the White House, would change the nation's anti-drug policy.
Soros, who lives in New York, has also contributed $150,000 to a California ballot measure, proposition 66, to overturn the three-strikes law, which mandates prison terms of 25-years-to-life for defendants convicted of a third felony. Proposition 66 would remove several crimes from the "serious felony" list. Voters passed the law in the wake of the 1993 murder of 12-year old Polly Klaas by a paroled felon. The law has been credited with a 32 percent decline in California's crime rate, versus a 13 percent drop for the rest of the nation.
Soros apparently believes that too many drug users and abusers have been put in prison under the law. But Proposition 66 won't just free drug traffickers and dopers. The website threestrikes.org has published the mug shots and rap sheets of criminals currently serving time under Three Strikes sentencing guidelines that will be released or have their sentences reduced if the measure passes.
One of them, Dean Bandarras-Ross, is a killer, once sentenced to life in prison and then released, who has a history of sexual violence. He is now being prosecuted for giving false or misleading information while registering as a sex offender. If convicted under the three-strikes law, he could get 25-years-to-life. But under Proposition 66, his sentence could be no more than five years, and he would be required to serve only half. From Albany to California and the nation as a whole, George Soros is throwing his money around. And the media have given him a free pass from scrutiny.
Yes,that's but one of the published stories. :-)