Debra Saunders has this column in Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle on the Albert Brown execution debacle and the gubernatorial candidates' statements on the death penalty in last week's debate.  Interestingly, on the Chron's site (sfgate.com), the piece is headlined "We need an injection of common sense," but elsewhere on the Web (e.g., here) it is titled "California Death Penalty Once Again Thwarted by Thug Huggers."  Different editors attached different headlines in various venues.  I'm partial to the "thug hugger" one.

Saunders notes that AG Brown is quite wrong when he says, " 'under the Constitution, these men who are condemned have a right to first-class representation.' (Actually, [Chief Justice] George told me, 'The operative word is effective representation, not first-class.') "  She quotes this post for the proposition that "He seems to have swallowed the defense spin on the issue, hook, line, and sinker." Saunders is also critical of Whitman's emphasis on the financial aspects of the problem.

This isn't an issue of prison construction costs. The anti-death-penalty lobby is committed to burning through so much time and taxpayer money that voters cry uncle and give up on the death penalty because they're sick of bankrolling frivolous appeals that successfully thwart capital punishment even though the U.S. and California supreme courts have ruled it to be constitutional.

When they've won on the death penalty, they'll start trying to shave time from life-without-parole sentences, which they also consider to be inhumane - on your dime as well.

The next governor needs to understand these forces and not give in to the siren song of inertia. But I don't think either Jerry Brown or Meg Whitman understands what is at stake.