The Signal editorial board published an editorial in the newspaper Saturday, May 10. It was justly critical of the shameful display by our Assemblywoman, Pilar Schiavo, regarding Assembly Bill 379.
Pilar, who appears very thin-skinned, complained to the paper. The paper took the OpEd down temporarily, but then placed it back up a with a slight correction — Pilar didn’t vote to remove the felony language from AB379, but she did vote against amending the bill to reinstate the felony language that was disgracefully removed.
Same difference, in my opinion.
Let’s be clear about something: As a Dad, a child abuse prosecutor, and just a basic human being living on this planet, ALL children should be protected from sex traffickers, and anyone trying to buy or purchase them for sex. Children INCLUDE 16- and 17-year-olds.
This isn’t up for debate, Ms. Schiavo. As a society, we should want to prosecute sex traffickers of children and anyone buying children for sex to the fullest extent of the law by holding them fully accountable for destroying a child’s life and innocence.
Schiavo claimed that since she isn’t on the Assembly Public Safety Committee, she didn’t remove the language making it an automatic felony to buy a 16- or 17-year-old for sex from the bill, the Public Safety Committee did, and therefore she was never able to vote for that, so she’s not responsible for this entire situation.
Her response is so ludicrous it is not even worthy of a reply. But, here goes:
I will start off by saying I am a Democrat. I’m pro-business, pro-law-and-order, less government, less taxes, pro-public-safety, military veteran, married to an L.A. County Sheriff’s Department detective, pro-family, and a L.A. County District Attorney’s Office prosecutor Democrat.
Yes, there aren’t many of those left here in California, but I’m one of them. And, I will always side with the protection of children, public safety, and the protection of my Santa Clarita community over my party or any political party. Every time.
This is also the exact problem we have here in California. We have no leadership. No one in a leadership role wants to admit when they are wrong. No one in leadership wants to lead by example. No one in leadership has moral courage. They would rather vote the party line, get the party money when they run for re-election, keep their powerful positions in the Assembly or Senate, and sacrifice the safety of children, who can’t vote anyway.
They are more concerned with themselves and their next political job. They are political party over the people. That, in my opinion, is Schiavo.
AB379 originally had a provision in the bill that made it an automatic felony for an adult to buy or purchase a 16- or 17-year-old child for sex. It was already a felony regarding 15-year-olds and younger and a misdemeanor for 16- and 17-year-olds, but one of the authors of the bill, Democratic Assemblywoman Maggie Krell, rightly believed that we must have the strongest protections against anyone trying to sexually victimize minors, not just 15-year-olds and under, but ALL minors.
The Assembly Public Safety Committee, led by Democrat Assemblyman Nick Schultz, disagreed and announced that the committee voted to remove that felony language before the bill was voted on by the entire Assembly.
All the Republicans spoke out in favor of protecting all children and against this removal of the felony language. Some Democrats, including Maggie Krell, spoke out as well.
Did Schiavo speak out in protection of all children? No. Not once. Did she say anything in support of making the purchase of children for sex an automatic felony? No. Did she speak out against the amendment by the Public Safety Committee? No. She stayed quiet.
The Democrats’ reasoning for not making it an automatic felony: (1) 18-year-olds routinely buy 16- and 17-year-olds for sex in high school in exchange for $20, french fries, prom tickets, or dinner. We don’t want to give these 18-year-olds a felony; (2) we need more “informational hearings” and need to have a more thorough “deep dive” on this issue of adults buying children for sex before we can make that an automatic felony; (3) we need to have a better understanding of the criminal and the criminal’s feelings; (4) we need to understand how this will adversely affect people of color and people belonging to the LGBTQ+ community if we made buying a 16- or 17-year-old for sex an automatic felony; (5) we already have laws on the books covering this and all the outrage on this is people just spreading “misinformation.”
All complete and utter nonsense.
So, did Schiavo just publicly say: “Dating relationships in high school don’t involve the exchange of money or french fries for sex and even in a universe where this does happen in every high school across California, no adult should be paying a minor for sex. Period.”
Nope.
Did Schiavo publicly say: “Victims of sex trafficking involve all races, genders, nationalities, etc.”
Nope.
Did Schiavo say: “We don’t need any more hearings on this — it’s common sense, protect all children.”
Nope.
She stayed quiet.
Days before the bill came up for a vote, Assemblywoman Maggie Krell publicly announced she was joining the Republicans and would vote to amend AB379 and add back the language saying that any adult buying or purchasing a 16- or 17-year-old for sex would be an automatic felony. She publicly issued a written release. Did Schiavo do that? No.
On May 1, the day of the vote, when Krell and the Republicans tried to insert the language back into the bill on the floor, Pilar never publicly supported it. She didn’t do anything. She could have easily made a statement on the floor supporting ALL children. She didn’t.
Schultz removed the felony language and also removed Krell from the bill. The bill did NOT fully protect 16- and 17-year-old victims. Period. End of debate.
Krell voted against it. All the Republicans voted against it. Gov. Gavin Newsom and the lieutenant governor even were against it.
Pilar sided with Sen. Scott Weiner and Schultz and the other radicals. She sided with her political party over children.
After days of public outrage where Pilar said absolutely NOTHING, the Democrats changed course.
Thursday, on a 74-0 vote, an adult buying sex from a 16- or 17-year-old being an automatic felony passed the Assembly. Pilar, of course, took credit and even issued a press release.
Facts should matter. Pilar is an elected Assembly person representing ALL the children and parents of children in Santa Clarita.
Before all the public outrage, she had the ability to propose an amendment on the floor herself. She could have publicly spoke out. She could have made a speech on the floor. She could have voted NO on the bill and sided with Krell. She didn’t. She lacked courage to go against her party. Period.
She is now claiming credit for the Assembly finally passing the bill making it an automatic felony for an adult buying a 16- or 17-year-old for sex. That is also disgraceful.
I am not calling Schiavo a “pervert.” But she doesn’t represent me, she doesn’t represent the children of Santa Clarita, and she’s “not like us.”
Jonathan Hatami is a child abuse prosecutor in the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office, and has been a Santa Clarita resident for more than 35 years.
