My Recommendations for the June 2010 Ballot (Alameda area + California)
Election Day for the June Primaries is a month away. As you know, I like to send out my suggestions for upcoming elections based on my experiences and research.
Since many of us vote by mail, I figured it would be a good idea to post my recommendations earlier rather than later. (Please save, bookmark, or print this page until you are ready to fill out your ballot.)
Feel free to excerpt this and forward this to other Californians who care! I've tried to segment out the local stuff so it's easy to extract the state-wide stuff if needed.
THE PROPOSITIONS:
There are only 5 propositions on this ballot. I'm calling this the "Power Grab" election because several of these are about big corporate groups trying to grab power by spending a lot of money.
13: YES. This one's a no-brainer and supported by both the Democratic and Republican Party of California. Allows people to do seismic retrofitting and not trigger a property value reassessment.
14: NO. Change the primary election process to be a so-called "open primary" with the top two overall vote getters duking it out in November. You could easily end up with the top two money-spenders as your two choices in November. Imagine if it came down to Meg Whitman vs. Steve Poizner ... which millionaire would you choose? In local elections, the main problem is that in Red areas, it will generally pit R vs. R; in Blue areas, D vs. D. That doesn't really allow for much diversity in choices, and would make it nearly impossible to "flip" a district. Obviously opposed by the Democrats, but I was surprised to see it's opposed by the CA Republican party for pretty much the same reasons.
15: YES, YES, YES!!! This is a small step toward what we were trying to pass as Proposition 89 in 2006. A pilot program for the Secretary of State's office, it is public financing for campaigns so that candidates with the best ideas and most support -- not the most money -- get to participate in politics. Imagine a world where politicians are free from the campaign contributions of special interests.
More info: http://www.yesfairelections.org/
16: NO!!! This is a big POWER GRAB by PG&E. You've probably gotten a lot of YES flyers - PG&E is putting a lot of money (I read $34.5 million) into this! Passing this would amend the state constitution on behalf of one company, making it extremely difficult for local governments to set up public power agencies - which would take business away from the power giant. As an Alamedan with a local power company, I have a lot of personal reasons to appreciate having our own power company, especially during the Enron days when Alamedans were paying the usual for electricity while the rest of California was being robbed blind. Do you know that nonprofit municipal utility customers pay an average of 20%–25% less for electricity than customers of for-profit electric utilities?
More info: http://www.noprop16.org/
17: NO! This is a power grab funded by one company: Mercury Insurance. It would roll back the insurance regulations that were passed as Proposition 103 many years ago. Their ads make it seem like a nice idea, but it's really a way for this company to get a lot of extra money.
More info: http://www.stopprop17.org/ http://www.consumercal.org/article.php?id=1203
Props 16 and 17 are so disgusting. The initiative process was supposed to empower people, not corporations. Maybe 15 is a small step in the right direction....
Other local/non-partisan items on the ballot:
Alameda County -- Superior Court Judge, Office #9: I'm supporting VICTORIA S. KOLAKOWSKI. I got to hear all three candidates at a panel last month, and she was the only one that impressed me. She's picked up the support of a lot of fellow progressive Democrats as well.
California State Superintendent of Public Instruction: I don't really have any strong feelings here. Tom Torlakson seemed to be the front-runner, at least from those on the Democrat side of the room.
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY:
If you are voting as a Democrat (either you are a registered Dem, or you are independent but have asked for the "Nonpartisan Democratic" ballot), you will have an opportunity to vote for who will represent the Democrats in the November election.
For Governor, the obvious front-runner is come-back kid Edmund G. "Jerry" BROWN. Viewed as too liberal by the conservatives, and not liberal enough by the progressives like me, he will probably do a decent job. I don't think anybody else is as qualified! The only other candidate I've heard of it Peter Shurman, who had a minor presence at the Democratic Convention and is running as a progressive. You could toss your vote to him as a protest vote, I suppose, though I wasn't that impressed by him.
Lieutenant Governor: This is a tough one. The two front-runners are Gavin Newsom and Janice Hahn. I'm somewhat ambivalent, but I am supporting JANICE HAHN only because I think that the ticket needs balancing; I think that Brown/Newsom would have a tough time competing against the Republicans in November; but pairing Brown with a woman, from Southern California, without a lot of the baggage that Newsom has, might be a winning combination.
Incumbents Debra Bowen (Yeayyy!), John Chiang, and Bill Lockyer are running unopposed on the Democratic ticket. I can't think of any reason not to vote for them.
Attorney General is the only state race that is truly an open field. I got to hear many of the candidates, and though I thought the "vote for pedro" T-shirts were cute, I am supporting KAMALA D. HARRIS, a D.A. from San Francisco. She comes across as one of the brightest people I've seen. I really like her "smart" (as opposed to "tough") on crime approach.
Insurance Commissioner: I'm supporting DAVE JONES; I've actually met him a few times here and there and I like his politics. Jones was supported by a supermajority of delegates at the convention, so he got the official Democratic Party endorsement.
State Board of Equalization, District 1 (Coastal California) I'm supporting the incumbent, BETTY T. YEE. I met her a couple of years ago and I've always been impressed by her political passion. (For people in District 2, covering most of inland California and into Santa Barbara, I recommend CHRIS PARKER.)
State Senator: BOXER. A true hero. 'Nuff said.
Since many of us vote by mail, I figured it would be a good idea to post my recommendations earlier rather than later. (Please save, bookmark, or print this page until you are ready to fill out your ballot.)
Feel free to excerpt this and forward this to other Californians who care! I've tried to segment out the local stuff so it's easy to extract the state-wide stuff if needed.
THE PROPOSITIONS:
There are only 5 propositions on this ballot. I'm calling this the "Power Grab" election because several of these are about big corporate groups trying to grab power by spending a lot of money.
13: YES. This one's a no-brainer and supported by both the Democratic and Republican Party of California. Allows people to do seismic retrofitting and not trigger a property value reassessment.
14: NO. Change the primary election process to be a so-called "open primary" with the top two overall vote getters duking it out in November. You could easily end up with the top two money-spenders as your two choices in November. Imagine if it came down to Meg Whitman vs. Steve Poizner ... which millionaire would you choose? In local elections, the main problem is that in Red areas, it will generally pit R vs. R; in Blue areas, D vs. D. That doesn't really allow for much diversity in choices, and would make it nearly impossible to "flip" a district. Obviously opposed by the Democrats, but I was surprised to see it's opposed by the CA Republican party for pretty much the same reasons.
15: YES, YES, YES!!! This is a small step toward what we were trying to pass as Proposition 89 in 2006. A pilot program for the Secretary of State's office, it is public financing for campaigns so that candidates with the best ideas and most support -- not the most money -- get to participate in politics. Imagine a world where politicians are free from the campaign contributions of special interests.
More info: http://www.yesfairelections.org/
16: NO!!! This is a big POWER GRAB by PG&E. You've probably gotten a lot of YES flyers - PG&E is putting a lot of money (I read $34.5 million) into this! Passing this would amend the state constitution on behalf of one company, making it extremely difficult for local governments to set up public power agencies - which would take business away from the power giant. As an Alamedan with a local power company, I have a lot of personal reasons to appreciate having our own power company, especially during the Enron days when Alamedans were paying the usual for electricity while the rest of California was being robbed blind. Do you know that nonprofit municipal utility customers pay an average of 20%–25% less for electricity than customers of for-profit electric utilities?
More info: http://www.noprop16.org/
17: NO! This is a power grab funded by one company: Mercury Insurance. It would roll back the insurance regulations that were passed as Proposition 103 many years ago. Their ads make it seem like a nice idea, but it's really a way for this company to get a lot of extra money.
More info: http://www.stopprop17.org/ http://www.consumercal.org/article.php?id=1203
Props 16 and 17 are so disgusting. The initiative process was supposed to empower people, not corporations. Maybe 15 is a small step in the right direction....
Other local/non-partisan items on the ballot:
Alameda County -- Superior Court Judge, Office #9: I'm supporting VICTORIA S. KOLAKOWSKI. I got to hear all three candidates at a panel last month, and she was the only one that impressed me. She's picked up the support of a lot of fellow progressive Democrats as well.
California State Superintendent of Public Instruction: I don't really have any strong feelings here. Tom Torlakson seemed to be the front-runner, at least from those on the Democrat side of the room.
DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY:
If you are voting as a Democrat (either you are a registered Dem, or you are independent but have asked for the "Nonpartisan Democratic" ballot), you will have an opportunity to vote for who will represent the Democrats in the November election.
For Governor, the obvious front-runner is come-back kid Edmund G. "Jerry" BROWN. Viewed as too liberal by the conservatives, and not liberal enough by the progressives like me, he will probably do a decent job. I don't think anybody else is as qualified! The only other candidate I've heard of it Peter Shurman, who had a minor presence at the Democratic Convention and is running as a progressive. You could toss your vote to him as a protest vote, I suppose, though I wasn't that impressed by him.
Lieutenant Governor: This is a tough one. The two front-runners are Gavin Newsom and Janice Hahn. I'm somewhat ambivalent, but I am supporting JANICE HAHN only because I think that the ticket needs balancing; I think that Brown/Newsom would have a tough time competing against the Republicans in November; but pairing Brown with a woman, from Southern California, without a lot of the baggage that Newsom has, might be a winning combination.
Incumbents Debra Bowen (Yeayyy!), John Chiang, and Bill Lockyer are running unopposed on the Democratic ticket. I can't think of any reason not to vote for them.
Attorney General is the only state race that is truly an open field. I got to hear many of the candidates, and though I thought the "vote for pedro" T-shirts were cute, I am supporting KAMALA D. HARRIS, a D.A. from San Francisco. She comes across as one of the brightest people I've seen. I really like her "smart" (as opposed to "tough") on crime approach.
Insurance Commissioner: I'm supporting DAVE JONES; I've actually met him a few times here and there and I like his politics. Jones was supported by a supermajority of delegates at the convention, so he got the official Democratic Party endorsement.
State Board of Equalization, District 1 (Coastal California) I'm supporting the incumbent, BETTY T. YEE. I met her a couple of years ago and I've always been impressed by her political passion. (For people in District 2, covering most of inland California and into Santa Barbara, I recommend CHRIS PARKER.)
State Senator: BOXER. A true hero. 'Nuff said.
posted by A Progressive Alamedan | 7:30 AM
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