With rare exception, crime is usually a local problem. But crime is one of the bedrock GOP issues across the nation when challenging Democrats. How the GOP can still maintain that it supports law and order, and the officers who are charged to oversee the effort, seems difficult to sustain in a world where they ignore their own hypocrisy: the fatality and injury statistics inflicted on the Capitol Police on 1/6/21, as they described the obviously violent horde (including many whom were convicted a felony offenses) “as ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse”… and their wanting defund the FBI. Rising mass shootings? From guns purchased in red states!
It hard to name the GOP “hypocrite in chief,” but these days I believe that honor should be bestowed on former wrestling coach and current House Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Trump-follower Jim Jordan of Ohio (above). “House Republicans took their attack on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to New York City on Monday [4/17], holding a hearing on what they say is a local crime crisis, a move Democrats lambasted as a ‘political stunt’ aimed at protecting former President Donald Trump.
“GOP Rep. Jim Jordan convened the House Judiciary Committee Monday morning at the Jacob Javits Federal Building in Manhattan -- just around the block from the Bragg's office… ‘In this country, justice is supposed to be blind, regardless of race, religion or creed. However, here in Manhattan, the scales of justice are weighed down by politics,’ Jordan said. ‘For the district attorney justice isn't blind; it's about looking for opportunities to advance a political agenda, a radical political agenda.’” ABC News, April 17th.
The theme was simple: Why was Bragg wasting taxpayer money prosecuting law-abiding Donald Trump on a witch hunt using a thin “paying off a porn star” case instead of going after the real perpetrators in crime-infested New York City. The subtext seems to be that, in addition to trying to embarrass Bragg, Jordan was also trying to use congressional subpoena power to retrieve all the documents and internal memoranda relating to the criminal case now pending against Trump. Bragg filed a lawsuit against Jordan and his committee arguing that Congress has no jurisdiction to interfere in a local criminal prosecution. Most agree that should a court uphold Jordan’s efforts; the entire criminal backstory would simply be handed to Trump’s defense lawyers.
But Jordan’s district itself does not fare well in comparison with NYC. Primarily rural vs intensely urban. The only city in his district is Mansfield, Ohio, with a population of under 50,000. One borough of NYC, Manhattan, alone has 1.6 million residents. Where crime statistics are based on “crimes per thousand people,” NYC scores a nasty 25, but Mansfield scores a nastier 37. “But because New York is such a large city, crime numbers can be taken out of context. The best way to assess the incidence of crime is to adjust the numbers to take into account the size of the population.
“Jordan represents a rural district in Ohio, and its biggest city is Mansfield, located midway between Columbus and Cleveland. The population there is below 50,000. But when crime numbers are adjusted for population, in many cases Mansfield does not fare well in comparison to Manhattan. That could be one reason, according to the sister city website, it has the nickname ‘Danger City’ in addition to its official nickname of ‘The Fun Center of Ohio.’… Within Ohio, more than 97% of the communities have a lower crime rate than Mansfield…
“Property Club, a real estate company, lists Mansfield as the seventh-most dangerous city in Ohio. ‘Residents have a 1 in 22 chance of becoming the victim of a crime,” the website said. ‘Located in America’s rust belt, Mansfield has been dramatically affected by the decline of manufacturing and retail jobs. Mansfield has a staggering unemployment rate of 10.3% and a poverty rate of 24.5%.’… By contrast, Property Club said, ‘New York City is one of the safest large cities in the world. Although crime has gone up with the onset of the pandemic, it still pales in comparison to other major cities.’” Washington Post, April 13th. Republicans love to trash big blue cities. If it isn’t NYC, will have to be a West Coast City like Portland, Los Angeles, but mostly San Francisco. And no, we West Coasters do not live in constant fear of violent crime.
SF tech entrepreneur Bob Lee was stabbed to death in a deserted neighborhood late at night. His murder “was almost instantaneously taken as confirmation of an emerging narrative about the city — dirty, dangerous, unlivable. Lee’s friends and business acquaintances knew whom to blame: San Francisco’s liberal politicians.
“‘[DA] Chesa Boudin, & the criminal-loving city council that enabled him & a lawless SF for years, have Bob’s literal blood on their hands,’ tweeted venture investor Matt Ocko, naming the progressive district attorney who was turned out of office in a recall vote last year… Elon Musk’s take on the incident, aimed at Boudin’s ‘tough on crime” successor as D.A., was widely quoted. ‘Many people I know have been severely assaulted,’ he tweeted. ‘Violent crime in SF is horrific and even if attackers are caught, they are often released immediately. Is the city taking stronger action to incarcerate repeat violent offenders @BrookeJenkinsSF ?’
“Newspapers and cable news programs piled on. Not all jumped to the same conclusion as Ocko and Musk, but instead exploited the killing to remind readers and viewers of the ‘concerns’ that had been aired over violent crime in the city, and how those had ostensibly led to Boudin’s recall… As it turned out, of course, Lee’s stabbing death seems to have had nothing to do with street crime or prosecutorial laxity or coddled criminals or ‘repeat violent offenders.’ The April 13 arrest of a fellow tech worker in connection with the crime suggests that the assault was the outcome of a dispute between Lee (who had moved to Miami) and the alleged assailant (an Emeryville resident) over Lee’s relationship with the latter’s sister.” Michael Hiltzik for the April 19th Los Angeles Times. And no, San Francisco doesn’t have a massive crime wave. It’s as a very liberal city, represented in Congress by ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, so Republicans just assume…
“Never mind that the narrative itself is untrue. As my colleague Summer Lin reported, violent crime in San Francisco — homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — peaked in 2013, and by 2020, the last year for which statistics have been released, cases had fallen by about 32%... The city recorded 56 homicides in 2022, according to the Major Cities Police Chiefs Assn. But that was fewer than in other cities of a similar size, including Denver (88 homicides), Nashville (108) and Columbus, Ohio (140)… In fact, says civil rights lawyer Alec Karakatsanis, a close analyst of law enforcement narratives through his indispensable Copaganda Newsletter on Substack, San Francisco is one of the safest big cities in America.” LA Times.
As we read about the rising tide of mass shootings in red states with lax gun laws, guess which regions really have the worst violent crime problems. How many of those violent crimes were committed by guns that used to be banned? And should we forget about the allegations against Jim Jordan that he conveniently overlooked purported sex abuse issues within his own Ohio State University sports department? Is this a case of the pot calling the kettle black?
I’m Peter Dekom, and as long as facts do not matter, Republicans from horrific crime-ridden areas will continue to blame Dems for being soft on crime.
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