Walters: Once California’s biggest political issue, crime makes a comeback

There was a time, four-plus decades ago, when crime was California’s most powerful political issue.

The state was experiencing a serious spike in crime but the Legislature, controlled by Democrats, ignored pleas to do something about it. Republicans sensed an opportunity and for more than a decade, while accusing Democrats of being soft on crime, scored a series of electoral victories.

GOP challengers knocked off several Democratic legislators. George Deukmejian, the state’s tough-on-crime Republican attorney general...