Soros group pours $500k into campaign to oppose reinstating Austin police units that were defunded
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The advocacy group founded by liberal billionaire and financier George Soros has poured $ 500,000 into a campaign to thwart a proposal in Austin, Texas, that would increase the city’s police force.
Proposal A, a nomination in Austin for the November 2nd elections, supported by the Save Austin Now group, would require at least two Austin police officers per 1,000 residents and police officers an additional 40 hours of police training each year on topics such as gun skills and active shooter skills. Scenarios.
AUSTIN, TEXAS, POLICE THAT DO NOT RESPOND TO ANY EMERGENCIES THAT BEGIN TODAY
Last week, Soros’s Open Society Policy Center donated $ 500,000 to Equity Austin, a group working to defeat Proposition A, according to financial records verified by Fox News.
“It makes me sick that out-of-town billionaires can rush to Austin to fight citizen-led election initiatives,” Austin city councilor Mackenzie Kelly said in a statement to Fox News. “The purpose of our city charter is to enable ordinary, everyday people to fight for what they believe in when the city council fails them.”
The co-founders of Save Austin Now used the Soros opposition as a fundraising point with supporters.
“Massive out-of-state funding for our adversaries shows two things: that Austin donors are not going to fund the Anti-Prop-A campaign, and that the stakes in these public safety efforts in Austin couldn’t be any higher,” Matt said Mackowiak and Das announced Cleo Petricek in a joint statement. “We’re going to fight twice as hard now and hope that all of our supporters do too.”
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Following George Floyd’s protests last year, Austin City Council decided to cut up to $ 150 million from the police department budget – just over a third of the total – and reinvest that money in other public services. The division was partially refunded earlier this year, but not all units that were cut came back.
Meanwhile, Austin has seen a sharp increase in the number of murders over the past year and the police staff shortage encourages residents to call 311 instead of 911 to avoid reporting emergencies.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/soros-group-500k-austin-police-defunded