(Some of these races only cover my immediate local area.)
GOVERNOR Phil Angelides LT. GOVERNOR John Garamendi
SECRETARY OF STATE Debra Bowen. This is vitally important for election protection. Deborah Bowen is STRONG on issues of voting rights. Do we want California to be spelled O-HI-O? No? Good. If you will be voting on any race, vote for Debra. PLEASE. CONTROLLER John Chiang
TREASURER Bill Lockyer
ATTORNEY GENERAL Jerry Brown
INSURANCE COMMISSIONER Cruz M. Bustamante (hold your nose)
BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, 4th Dist. Judy Chu
U. S. SENATOR Dianne Feinstein. Reluctantly, with held nose. She will win. But her bullshit votes over the past few years really make this a hard task.
UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE
28th CD – Byron DeLear. This is a safe seat for Berman. He will win this. There is room for a protest. Howard Berman is bought and paid for by the RIAA/MPAA. Byron DeLear is too radical for me, but his chance to win this is worse than the Republican candidate, whom I don't even know.
STATE SENATOR 20th SD - Alex Padilla. God, I wish Cindy Montanez was the candidate. Alex really did a screw job on Cindy. Still, kicking him upstairs to State Senate might create an opening for Cindy Montanez on the LA City Council, where she can do some good.
MEMBER OF THE ASSEMBLY
39th AD – Richard Alarcon (Hold your nose and vote.)
STATE MEASURES
CALIFORNIA PROPOSITIONS :
1A – Transportation Fund Protection. YES
1B – Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality and Port Security. YES. I am for limiting our bonded indebtedness until we get our financial house in order. However, port security is very important and Homeland Security doesn't consider it a priority.
We should. This is actually a worthy investment.
1C – Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006 NO. No more bonds except in dire emergency. No more borrow and binge Bush-shit. It's time to get our fiscal house in order and reform revenue-generating.
1D – Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities NO. No more freaking bonds except in dire emergency. We've passed enough education bonds as it is.
1E – Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention OK, this is a dire emergency. The Sacramento Delta Levees are as endangered as the New Orleans Levees. YES.
83 – Sex Offenders, Sexually Violent Predators, Punishment, Residence Restrictions and Monitoring (Initiative Statute) Why don't we just freaking GET REAL and build colonies for violent sex offenders in the Mojave? This is going to cost a shipload of money and it will never be enough for the families of children victimized for sex offenders. Just get it over with and give LIFE IN PRISON TO CHILD MOLESTERS. One strike, you're out. If you can live with such a draconian law on the books, DO IT. PULL THE TRIGGER ON IT. No more half-measures. NO.
84 – Water Quality, Safety and Supply. Flood Control. Natural Resource Protection. Park Improvements. YES. Yeah, it's a bond. Yeah, it's a dire emergency. Fix the Sacramento Delta Levees, once and for all.
85 – Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy.
HELL NO. We voted this down last year. If we have to vote it down again and again every year we'll do it. California is a Pro-Choice State. Deal with it.
86 – Tax on Cigarettes. NO. Bad idea. We will have the highest excise taxes on cigarettes in the country. Currently New York State has the highest, and cigarette smuggling is a whole new category of crime Law Enforcement has to deal with. We need real comprehensive health care reform. We need to deal with our revenue crunch by making the tax code fairer and making the rich and big corporations pay their fair share.
Arnold vetoed "Health Care for California" which would have made Prop 86 redundant and given us a single-payer health care system which would have been the envy of the rest of the US. Arnold showed his true colors: bought and paid for by Big Pharma and Big Insurance.
Also...isn't anyone concerned that
we are slouching towards prohibition of tobacco? We know what prohibition of alcohol, the "great experiment" did...it basically turned the Mafia into a growing concern and made the fortunes of people like Al Capone and the Five Families of New York. Yes, tobacco is a filthy habit. Yes, it endangers non-smokers too through second-hand smoke. But prohibition is never the answer.
87 – Alternative Energy. Research, Production, Incentives. Tax on California Oil Producers. NO. I'm sorry, nobody gave me a good reason TO vote for it. And I follow the maxim "when in doubt, don't." We need to look into encouraging alternative energy. But this is not a great way to do it. California hit Peak Oil in 1985, for crying out loud. We aren't producing a great deal of oil, and weren't even when we did. If we throw a disincentive into eking out the last bit of oil from existing wells, the oil companies won't bother.
88 – Education Funding. Real Property Parcel Tax. Not progressive enough. The tax would weigh heaviest on those poor folks and senior citizens who are fortunate enough to own a home. We need to start looking at revenue enhancement. But this is not the way. NO.
89 – Political Campaigns. Public Financing. Corporate Tax Increase. Campaign Contribution and Expenditure Limits.
HELL YEAH. "Clean Elections" laws work in places like Arizona and Maine. We need to get people who aren't zillionaires back into public office. This horrible election cycle with its hideous expenditures should be ample proof we need public funding of elections. Financial Institutions and Corporations spend big sums of money on candidates they believe will advance their agenda. It would be poetic justice if they were required to spend big sums of money on candidates that advance the people's agenda. Again,
HELL YEAH. 90 – Government Acquisition, Regulation of Private Property.
HELL NO. This is a proposition only Tom McClintock could love. Dishonest, deceptive, just plain wrong. We need to do something about Eminent Domain overreach. This is not the way to do it.
CITY OF LOS ANGELES MEASURES :
H – Affordable Housing Bond. NO. LA City is suffering the same kind of bond trouble the State of CA is in. We need to look at increasing revenue, not saddling ourselves with bonded indebtedness.
J – Regional Fire Station Sites. YES, this fixes a problem with another measure that passed to build new fire stations. The measure is being held up because of the mistake in the wording of the measure. If we don't fix this mistake the City will have to deal with wielding the Eminent Domain axe and spending the money to compensate those who have to vacate properties. Modern communications technology and modern firefighting technology means that we can have small satellite stations and big regional fire stations.
R – Councilmember Term Limits of Three Terms; City Lobbying, Campaign Finance and Ethics Laws.
HELL NO. We need to have campaign finance reform. We need to look scientifically and dispassionately on whether term limits make our Council less effective. But this was done in a very sneaky way and it has clauses that will make Neighborhood Councils even weaker than they already are. This is a power grab. Tell them
NO.
