While voters rejected a “defund the police” ballot measure in Minneapolis on Tuesday, the home of the “defund the police” movement, voters in liberal Austin, Texas, voted down a measure to restore some funding to their police force.
Last year Austin’s city council voted to reduce police spending by roughly $150 million, a third of the force’s annual budget (and roughly double the percent cut that NYC’s Bill de Blasio cut from the NYPD). The results have been the same as they’ve been everywhere else police budgets were cut, with homicides up 88% since defunding.
Despite the violent crime wave, activists launched a massive campaign against restoring police funding, which included backing from George Soros.
The ballot measure in question, Prop A, would’ve required Austin to hire at least two police officers for every 1,000 residents and offer increased training.
But as Fox News reports:
The measure failed on Tuesday night as boatloads of big left cash were given to the progressive Equity PAC.
That money included $500,000 out of a total $1.2 million in Equity PAC’s war chest from liberal mega donor George Soros, through the Open Society group, who has spent millions nationwide to promote district attorneys and ballot measures that are lenient on prosecuting crimes and sentencing minimums.
The Fairness Project, which also has ties to Soros, donated $200,000.
All politics is local, and its local politics where George Soros has had the most success in recent years.
Unlike presidential races where even tens of millions of dollars in spending will only amount to a small percent of overall spending, Soros has been able to drown local races in cash, making it virtually impossible for anyone to compete with his desired candidate.
Countless District Attorney’s nationwide won their races with Soros’ backing – including Philadelphia’s Larry Krasner, Los Angeles’ George Gascón, Contra Costa County’s Diane Becton, St. Louis’ Kim Gardner, Chicago’s Kim Foxx, Loudon County’s Buta Biberaj, Portland’s Mike Schmidt, Suffolk County’s Rachel Rollins, and many, many more.
Matt Palumbo is the author of The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros
