Thread by @DivestSPD

Getting back to basics w/ more profiles of SPF leadership

Meet John Carlson: right-wing media personality, Washington Policy Center co-founder & Seattle Police Foundation board member.

(THREAD)

A member of the SPF board since 2016, Carlson used his radio platform to raise $50k for the foundation in August to buy protective eyewear for SPD.

(1/17)

Carlson has been a champion of tough-on-crime policies since the 80s.
(2/17)

After a stint in the Reagan Administration, Carlson co-founded the Washington Policy Center (then called the Washington Institute for Policy Studies), serving as its president from 1985 – 1993, and later as its Board Chairman.

(3/17)

The WPC is part of the State Policy Network, a Koch-linked web of state-level think tanks that promote free-market fundamentalism.

Though it claims to be nonpartisan, the WPC pushes a reactionary agenda.

(4/17)

Over the past decade, multiple WPC board members have collectively donated tens of thousands to the police foundation and some have also served on the board simultaneously, such as Mark Pinkowski, who was chairman from 2016-2017.

(5/17)

While working with the WPC, Carlson co-authored two bills that helped fuel the mass incarceration wave of the 1990s here in Washington:

First, Carlson co-authored the first “three strikes” initiative in 1993 (he coined the term!).

(6/17)

Now enforced in 30 states, 3 strikes laws impose stiff penalties following the 3rd “serious” offense. Popular in the 90s, these gimmicky laws have led to grave injustices.

In one famous case in CA, a man was sentenced to two decades for stealing a slice of pizza.

(7/17)

More info on three strikes laws in WA here:
tinyurl.com/yxdcmw63

(8/17)

Carlson also co-authored a 1995 bill called Hard Time for Armed Crime, which created harsh mandatory sentencing enhancements for almost all felonies committed using a deadly weapon that don’t allow for judges to exercise any discretion.

(9/17)

This has led to some absurdly disproportionate sentences. For example, Jacob Korum was sentenced to 100 yrs under the law for a series of armed home invasions targeting drug dealers that he committed at age 19.

tinyurl.com/y2lwynzn

(10/17)

In 1998, Carlson, (along with local libertarian goon Tim Eyman) led the campaign to pass Initiative 200, which banned affirmative action in WA in public education, public employment, and public contracting.

(11/17)

The law passed in a landslide, largely due to confusing phrasing that made it sound like an anti-discrimination law:

(12/17)

The aftermath of the passage of I-200 was a drop in college enrollment for Black, indigenous & Latinx students- in the case of indigenous students, enrollment fell from 52% to 46%

(13/17)

Since the early 2000s, Carlson seems to have focused his energy on right-wing radio, television, and news media. Some ideas he’s championed include:

Arming teachers to prevent school shootings
tinyurl.com/y6ebtcjt

(14/17)

The death penalty

(CW: grahic descriptions of violence and sexual assault)
(Note the reliance on emotional appeals and the complete lack of data)
tinyurl.com/yxqdksej

(15/17)

And continuing to sweep unhoused encampments, as well as harsher treatment of unhoused substance users

tinyurl.com/y56yfl35

(16/17)

To sum up, John Carlson promotes "small-government" libertarianism for the wealthy while expanding the power of the carceral state to punish poor Black, brown and indigenous people.

(17/17)

For more reading on SPF's ties to the libertarian movement and Tim Eyman, check out our previous thread on Fremont Land Baroness & SPF Board member Suzie Burke:

https://twitter.com/divestspd/status/1295476494131539973?lang=en

Also, check out our thread on how rightwing donors use the Seattle Foundation to launder dark money contributions to SPN affiliates like the Washington Policy Center

https://twitter.com/DivestSPD/status/1306674599938019328?s=20