What is Petes position on prison reform?
Kevin Mannix, Republican candidate for Governor, authored ballot measure 11, a mandatory minimum sentencing amendment to the Oregon Constitution. As an Oregon State Senator I opposed ballot measure 11. Now that Measure 11 is the law, I think policy makers should be educating the public about the implications of spending millions and millions of dollars on prisons, cutting education and health care, and failing to give judges the discretion they need to appropriately sanction offenders. When Governor Kulongoski released his proposed budget in Demember 2004 I spoke out loudly against his proposed 30 per cent increase in prison construction. We need law enforcement resources, we need drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs and we need county jails funded, not more expensive prisons.
