George Soros Spends $500,000 to Keep Police Numbers Down as Murders Soar
Far-left billionaire pumps cash into blocking increase in police staffing in Austin, Texas
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Far-left billionaire George Soros has pumped $500,000 into a leftist campaign to block a ballot proposition that sought to increase police numbers in Austin, Texas as murder rates skyrocket.
Homicides have been soaring in the Democrat-controlled city since officials slashed the Austin Police Department's budget.
As Neon Nettle previously reported, Austin made the largest cut to its police budget of any major city in America.
"Austin implemented one of the biggest police budget cuts,” journalist Zaid Jilani revealed earlier this week before a Tuesday vote on whether to pass a measure to increase police numbers to tackle the rising murders and violent crime.
"Their homicide rate soared over the next year, and today the surge is larger than most of the country," he added.
"Now, voters will decide whether to boost the ranks of the police.”
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Since the police budget was cut, Austin has gotten much less safe.
According to statistics compiled by the data analysis firm AH Datalytics, the city has seen a nearly 71% increase in homicides over the past year.
While homicides have increased nationwide since 2020, Austin’s increase is one of the largest the firm has tracked.
On Tuesday, voters rejected a ballot proposition that would have increased police staffing.
According to the Austin American-Statesmen, Soros invested $500,000 in defeating the measure.
Soros’ contribution means his Open Society group forked over almost half the money used by Equity PAC in its effort to reject the Austin staffing increase, according to Fox News.
The proposal to hire police at a rate of 2 officers for every 1,000 residents was defeated 68 percent to 31 percent, based on figures quoted by the Austin American-Statesman.
Mayor Steve Adler rejoiced in the defeat of police funding, according to Western Journal.
“Austin’s culture and values were on the ballot tonight,” Adler said, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
“This election reaffirms our community’s belief that public safety for all requires a comprehensive system that includes properly staffing our police, but also our fire, EMS and mental health responses as well,” he said.
"At our core, we are an innovative, caring and creative community.
"We see that yet again in this election and that makes me proud to live in this magical place."
There is nothing magic in the city’s murders, however; Austin has set a city record with 77 murders this year, Fox reported.
The spike came after the city cut the police budget last year.
Staffing shortages, made worse by the city’s decision to partially defund the police last year, have contributed to the rise in crime.
“We are now at 1,540 available police officers, down from 1,959 authorized strength and 1,800 available just two years ago,” said Matt Mackowiak, co-founder of Save Austin Now, the group that supported the proposal, according to The Center Square.
“We will be at 1998 police staffing levels by the end of the year when our city was 25 percent as large as we are today.”
National left wing interests are trying to destroy public safety in Austin.
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) October 1, 2021
Help us ensure adequate police staffing, increase community policing, double police training and enact sensible police reforms.
Donate here: https://t.co/Ai8l8KGH20. https://t.co/FHmsqZkdeE
Fraternal Order of Police National VP, Joe Gamaldi told Fox News Wednesday that “morale is in the tank” among police.
“When you do a postmortem on what happened in Austin, I think it’s important to recognize that the mayor and city council there have basically been giving the finger to the hardworking men and women of law enforcement in the Austin Police Department for quite some time,” Gamaldi said.
"And what they did is they scared the public,” he continued.
"They told them we’re going to cut services across the board to try to fund public safety, but what the public should really be scared of is the fact that the murder rate is up 88% in Austin.
"Austin was once a mecca for the arts and music, and now it’s a dangerous community, and nobody even wants to walk through with their families."
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Soros was not alone in fighting the proposal to boost police staffing.
Several other prominent liberal groups opposed the proposal, as did unions representing Austin’s municipal employees, teachers, EMS workers, and firefighters.
Fox reported that the City of Austin Employees Association contributed $25,000, the Texas American Federation of Teachers contributed $10,000, Education Austin PAC contributed $5,000 and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union contributed $25,000 to defeat the proposition.
Oh we are Mayor!For YEARS we’ve come to CH share concerns w/o bribes of gift cards, pizza to speak about crime.U & Council have sd it’s fear mongering,lies & do NOTHING!
— JSM (@JSM_ATX) October 21, 2021
This mailer IS fear mongering & lies in hopes of dismantling @Austin_Police!SHAMEFUL!
Friends VOTE! #YESPropA pic.twitter.com/Y8shKz4N5r
Some of the opposition was reflective of the city’s position that if the proposition passed, massive cuts to every other section of the city budget would be implemented.
Supporters of the proposal called those claims misinformation.
