Scott Fitzgerald: “Mr. Speaker, I have no idea what the gentlewoman is speaking about. This would have no effect on any of the charitable…”

“Mr. Speaker, I have no idea what the gentlewoman is speaking about. This would have no effect on any of the charitable situations that she just described. As for judges, I think if my colleagues wanted to debate jurisdictions, prosecutors, and judges setting weak bail policies, we can certainly have that discussion. I think that is a separate discussion from what would be appropriate for the bill before us. Just this morning, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on a Fairfax County Commonwealth's attorney who seems to care far less about what crime a defendant may have committed than whether they are in the country illegally. The prosecutors apparently have a history of offering these sweetheart deals, which we are all very aware of. You can go across the country--New York, California, Illinois, Maryland, it doesn't matter. All these policies that restrict judges and prosecutors from imposing constraints on criminals are what we should be talking about. This all came about and I got involved in it because of what happened in my own State and in my own district when a judge released a known violent offender, and the individual proceeded to drive through the Waukesha Christmas Parade and killed six innocent bystanders. The best thing we can do is try to check the system to make sure that it is working properly, and that is what this bill aims to do.”