GOP Lambasts Leno

On the Assembly floor yesterday, Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said, "Now, as a result of further conversations with members of our caucus, I am prepared to take an amendment to lower that 100 down to 25. And in fact it increases the penalty from a misdemeanor to allow for it to be charged on a first time offense, personal use, in one’s own home, to be charged as a felony," according to a press release. The release, from the California Republican Party, goes on: What Chairman Leno does not explain is that those 24 items that only qualify for a misdemeanor crime could be DVDs that hold up to 9,000 images each. That brings the total possession of child pornography allowable as a misdemeanor offense to 216,000 images. There is no logical explanation why the Chairman of the Assembly Public Safety Committee thinks it is appropriate to charge a person in the possession of up to 216,000 pictures of child pornography with a misdemeanor, carrying the same punishment as fraudulently avoiding the payment of a railroad fare. Leno has long been a target of Republican ire as chair of the Public Safety Committee.