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Central Valley Sheriff Says Police Officer's Murder Could Have Been Prevented If Sac'to Hadn't Enacted SB 54/"Sanctuary State" Law; LB Councilwoman Gonzalez Now Seeking State Senate Seat Led Effort To Put City of Long Beach On Record Supporting SB 54; Roughly Half Of LB Will Now Vote On Her; Will This Affect Your Vote And If So How And Why?


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(Dec. 29, 2018) -- At a Dec. 28 news conference, Stanlislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said the murder of Newman, CA police Corporal Ronil Singh "could have been preventable" if California legislators hadn't enacted SB 54 (colloquially dubbed the "sanctuary state" bill.) Corporal Singh was a lawful immigrant from Fiji. He leaves a wife and a five month old son.

At midday, Dec. 28, Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson told a press conference that the arrested murder suspect, Gustavo Perez Arriaga, 32, "crossed our border illegally into Arizona some time ago" and "has two prior arrests" for DUI. Sheriff Christianson didn't cite the adjudicated outcome of those arrests but said "Remember that's the reason that Officer Singh stopped him because we had reason to believe that he was under the influence of alcohol; past behavior is typically a predictor of future behavior" and further stated that Mr. Arriaga also has "known gang affiliations" [citing social network content.]

Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson: [T]his could have been preventable, and under SB 54 in California, based on two arrests for DUI and two other active warrants that this criminal has out there, law enforcement would have been prevented, prohibited from sharing any information with ICE about this criminal gang member. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not how you protect a community. This is not how you assure the people who live our community, regardless of their ethnicity, their culture, their race, any of that, that they live in a safe community, because there are people who want to exploit and victimize others. And in this case, Officer Singh sacrificed everything. He paid the ultimate price trying to protect the people of Newman. We need to have a conversation about that..[Sheriff Christianson also fielded questions from reporters at this link.]

On Feb. 7, 2017, Councilwoman Gonzalez was the lead agendizer, joined by co-agendizing Councilmembers Jeannine Pearce, Roberto Uranga and then-Vice Mayor Rex Richardson, in proposing a City Council item to put the City of Long Beach on record as supporting SB 54. The agendized item recommended that the City of Long Beach support SB 54 and SB 31 calling the bills "two legislative proposals [to] protect the safety and well-being of all Californians by ensuring State and local resources are not used to support deportations, separate families, collect information about an individual's religious beliefs or affiliations, and ultimately hurt California's economy."

[Scroll down for further.]

Councilwoman Gonzalez is now among a field of candidates seeking to fill a LB-Huntington Park state Senate seat vacated by now-Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, who has endorsed her. Two of her co-agendizers on the SB 54 endorsement item, Councilmembers Roberto Uranga and Al Austin, have also filed political committee paperwork for the state Senate seat but have been publicly mum following Gonzalez's entry into the race. Gonzalez has been endorsed by immediate past state Senator Lara and by Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia.

In 2019, residents in roughly half of Long Beach (map below) will have their first opportunity to vote on Councilwoman Gonzalez's Council record in deciding whether to send her to Sacramento. The 33rd state Senate district stretches from Long Beach to Huntington Park:

Long Beach is the largest city within the district.


If you're within the LB area that will have an opportunity to vote in the upcoming election, LBREPORT.com is interested in knowing on the extent to which Councilwoman Gonzalez's record on SB 54 will or won't affect your vote for or against her and your reasons why. Let us know via your comments on Facebook and our Disqus comment system below.

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On Feb. 7, 2017, Councilwoman Gonzalez (joined by co-agendizing Councilmembers Jeannine Pearce, Roberto Uranga and then-Vice Mayor Rex Richardson) was the lead agendizer on a City Council item to put the City of Long Beach on record as supporting SB 54.

On Feb. 7, 2017, the City Council voted to support SB 54 on a 7-0 vote. (Two Councilmembers visible earlier in the Council meeting -- Dee Andrews and Stacy Mungo -- vanished on the vote; Mungo (the Council's sole nominal Republican) returned after the agenda item for the remainder of the Council meeting.)

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In presenting her Council agendized item, Councilwoman Gonzales said the Trump administration had "incited negative and divisive debate." Co-agendizer Councilman Roberto Uranga (who has also filed candidate paperwork to seek the state Senate seat) called the President "a thug, a blackmailers and...potentially an extortionist" in threatening to withhold federal funds from CA and cities like Long Beach. In response to a member of the public who spoke in opposition to the Council action on grounds it was important to respect the law and wait in line to immigrate lawfully, co-agendizer Councilman (then-Vice Mayor) Rex Richardson -- recently named by Councilwoman Gonzalez to chair her state Senate election committee -- called comments of that type "incredibly insensitive and privileged."

Councilwoman Gonzalez offered an amendment to the agendized item to parallel amendments to SB 54 then-being considered by SB 54's author, then-state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin deLeon (D, Los Angeles.) SB 54 ultimately underwent a number of changes; its final text as enacted can be viewed here. The amendments didn't quell opposition by then-L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who detailed the grounds for LASD's opposition at this link. While opposing SB 54, Sheriff McDonnell noted that notwithstanding an Executive Order by President Trump, LASD complies with the California Trust Act of 2014 and the Truth Act of 2016 and its "department policy clearly states that our deputies do not ask for one’s immigration status. Immigration enforcement remains a federal responsibility."

Among Sacramento lawmakers who voted "yes" on SB 54 were LB-area state Senator Ricardo Lara (D, LB-Huntington Park), Assemblyman Patrick O'Donnell (D, Long Beach) and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D, NLB-Paramount). Now-former state Senator Janet Nguyen (R, SE LB-west OC) voted "no."

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Stanislaus County Sheriff Christianson has been among the more vocal opponents of SB 54. On May 16, 2018, he was part of a group of CA law enforcement officials who met with President Trump at the White House for an event described as a "California Sanctuary State Summit." To view Sheriff Cristianson's remarks at the conclusion of the event, click here.

As separately reported by LBREPORT.com, Councilwoman Gonzalez's 1st Council district has had LB's largest number of 2018 homicides and since August 2018 the largest number of shootings. Councilwoman Gonzalez was previously a 1st district office staffer for then Councilman/then-Vice Mayor/now-Mayor Robert Garcia, who endorsed her as his successor in the 2014 election cycle. Mayor Garcia then chose Councilwoman Gonzalez to chair the Council's Elections Oversight Committee where she advanced a change in LB law (approved by the Council on a split vote) to let the Mayor and Councilmembers triple amounts they can annually collect in their "officeholder" accounts.

Developing...including your comments below.



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