‘Hey, Margaret’: Gov. Brown scolds Fresno County sheriff in voice mail

In his effort to pass a ballot measure to make certain nonviolent felons eligible for early release, Gov. Jerry Brown has turned to direct confrontation – scolding a California sheriff in a voice mail for what he called a “malicious” mailer opposing the measure.

“Hey Margaret, I got that mailing on Prop. 57 that you signed,” Brown said in a message received by Margaret Mims, the sheriff of Fresno County, and obtained by The Sacramento Bee.

In the voice mail, Brown objected to the campaign’s distribution of a card featuring a prisoner that “you said would be released under my proposition.”

“I just want you to know that’s completely false, and that makes that mailer extremely false, and I would even say malicious,” Brown, a Democrat, told the sheriff, a Republican.

He accused Mims of employing “scare tactics that I think are unbecoming of a public official, and certainly will not build the kind of mutual respect and trust that we all need to do our jobs.”

Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse II is leading the charge against Proposition 57, which Morse says the governor is misrepresenting. Morse, along with the Ventura County district attorney and the San Diego mayor, is a chair on the Stop 57 campaign, called Stop Early Release of Violent Criminals.

Morse said he and other SERV proponents were surprised by the news of the voice mail. “All of us are pretty taken aback that the governor is making phone calls that are pretty alarming,” he said. “It takes a lot of chutzpah for a governor to accuse the opponents of Prop. 57 of engaging in scare tactics when he is completely misrepresenting his own initiative.”

Morse said he didn’t receive a call from the governor and does not expect one.

“I’m not expecting a Christmas card from him this year,” Morse said.

Opponents of Brown’s measure have been distributing sports-styled trading cards with photographs of prisoners convicted of heinous crimes under the headline, “Meet your new neighbor.” Though it was unclear what prisoner was featured in the card Brown received, Proposition 57 does not define what constitutes a “nonviolent” crime, and opponents of the measure have sought to highlight criminals convicted of such “nonviolent” crimes as certain kinds of rape.

“It’s pretty frightening that the governor doesn’t seem to understand what his initiative will do,” Morse said after hearing the message. “We’re proud of Margaret.”

The Brown administration has said it anticipates implementing regulations to carry out Proposition 57 that would disqualify from early release inmates who must register as sex offenders, though that language is not written into his measure.

Brown told Mims, “This guy was sentenced to 100 years, and he’s a registered sex offender, and on both accounts would not be getting out.”

Referring to an upcoming meeting of sheriffs, Brown told Mims, “So, that’s all I can say. Maybe I’ll see you up at the sheriffs’ meeting. Thanks.”

Asked about the voice mail on Wednesday, Brown said, “Very thoughtful, I thought.”

Morse said the governor was flat-out wrong. Under the initiative, Morse said, those who have committed any of more than 125 different serious crimes would become eligible for parole and early release.

After the governor’s Aug. 12 voice mail, Mims told The Fresno Bee that she confirmed the governor was incorrect about inmate Arthur Lindsey, a “two-striker” from Los Angeles County who was convicted of a variety of sexual assault charges against an unconscious person, as well as weapons charges. He was sentenced to more than 100 years, she said.

“The first thing I did was find out if this guy was eligible (for release) under Proposition 57, and he was in fact,” Mims said.

After serving eight years in prison, Mims said, Lindsey would qualify for release under Proposition 57.

In a subsequent phone call, Mims said, she told Brown he was wrong about Lindsey.

“This guy is the poster child for why Proposition 57 shouldn’t pass,” she said.

Morse also said Brown was wrong about Lindsey.

“I don’t think the governor is going to be leaving any voice mails henceforward,” Morse said. “I particularly think he’d be embarrassed that he was wrong.”

The governor told Mims there would be regulations to keep convicts such as Lindsey from leaving prison early.

Mims said law enforcement officials are growing increasingly weary of reduced sentences for felons, and Proposition 57’s passage could further endanger Californians.

“It’s too bad the governor doesn’t even know the details of what his initiative would do,” she said.

Mims said Brown expressed concern about rising crime rates and “lifers” getting out of prison.

“We’re going to have to work together,” she added. “He’s concerned about the same things I am, but this is not the fix.”

Morse said the opponents won’t back down: “This is the right thing to do.”

This story was originally published August 25, 2016 at 4:24 PM with the headline "‘Hey, Margaret’: Gov. Brown scolds Fresno County sheriff in voice mail."