Dan Walters' Capitol Q&A

Question: It seems to me there was a famous quote from then-Gov. Jerry Brown about gun control that spoke to an admonishment from his father to "not mess" with people's xxx and their guns. Now that he is going to be AG, does this portend a potential retrenchment on gun regulation from where the Lockyer AG administration has gone?
-- Andres Soto, Richmond

Answer: Although the quotation you cite probably was uttered by another politician, Jerry Brown, unusual for a Democrat, has not been a hard-line gun control advocate. He's voiced support or the 2nd Amendment rights of gun owners while endorsing "some reasonable restrictions" but also attacking his Republican opponent, Chuck Poochigian, for voting against controls on .50-caliber rifle. While governor, Brown resisted calls for more gun controls, often mentioning that he was a gun owner himself (he used to hunt waterfowl with his father). Brown is unpredictable, certainly, but my guess would be that he'd be less militant about expanding gun controls that predecessor Bill Lockyer, but also not likely to seek a rollback on existing controls.
-- Dan Walters

Question: Since the governor plans a $10 billion cost for prisons , jails etc., why doesn't he ask the federal government for a $5 billion grant? In checking our prison cost data and discussion with several prison guards, we have almost 50,000 prisoners who have illegal status. The federal gov't is responsible for allowing them in the USA in the first place , so why should we pay with our local costs?
-- Carl Lynch, Napa

Answer: No one really knows how many illegal immigrants are in California prisons because until recently, state prison officials didn't even ask incoming inmates about their status. While the question is being asked now, there's no way to verify whether the responses are accurate. Prison officials say that about 5,000 of the states 170,000-plus inmates do have immigration holds from federal authorities, indicating that they, indeed, are in the country illegally, and will be turned over to the feds after serving their terms. It would be safe to assume that the true number of illegals is something above 5,000 but how far above is uncertain. The number of 25,000 has kicked around political circles, but it's just a guess on someone's part. That's not to say that the state couldn't ask the feds for more money to deal with the impacts of illegal immigration, not only in the prisons but in health care, education and other public services. Estimates of the total impact on public services have ranged beyond $5 billion a year at state and local levels. From time to time, California has received some impact aid, but not anywhere close to the total cost, and other states with large immigrant populations also claim shares of whatever money Congress appropriates. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger once pledged to become the "Collectinator" to get the feds to pony up more, but so far to no avail.
-- Dan Walters