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calimac’s look at the Santa Clara County ballot is good reading.
- United States Representative; District 14.
SmartVoter. Open Secrets.
- State Senator; District 13.
SmartVoter.
- Member of the State Assembly; District 22.
SmartVoter.
- Judge – Superior Court; County of Santa Clara; Office 8.
SmartVoter.
- Member; Santa Clara County Board of Education; Trustee Area 1.
SmartVoter.
How to choose a school board candidate.
Coverage in the San Jose Mercury.
- Grace H. Mah.
SmartVoter.
Endorsed by the Santa Clara County Republican Party. Her web site has some nice goals, but nothing that suggests
how she would go about accomplishing them, and a fair number of her
answers to SmartVoter’s questions are rather oblique, which raises
my hackles that she’s more of a politician than a public servant.
- Ellen Santiago.
SmartVoter. I’m currently leaning toward Santiago because she
actually has some sensible principles on her web site showing what
she plans to do, and offered prompt, succinct answers at SmartVoter.
(Yes, it earns points with me to provide information early so I can do
my research early.)
- County Supervisor; Santa Clara County; Supervisorial District 3.
SmartVoter.
- State Propositions.
Overview in the San Francisco Chronicle (including related stories).
Easy Voter Guide.
The Institute of Governmental Studies covers the propositions, including a table of endorsements.
The California Budget Project have
an
overview of bond issues 1A and 3 [PDF].
- Proposition 1A: High Speed Rail.
SmartVoter.
California Online Voter Guide.
Campaign Finance Activity.
Institute of Governmental Studies.
California’s population has been growing and our mass transit needs
to catch up, particularly given the rising cost of fuel.
This
should create 48,000 long-term jobs as well as 100,000–128,000
during construction. This is the kind of infrastructure work that
should help our state pull through the recession. Yes.
- Proposition 2: Standards for Confining Farm Animals.
SmartVoter.
California Online Voter Guide.
Campaign Finance Activity.
Institute of Governmental Studies.
Coverage in Grist.
In addition to the cruelty-to-animals issue, there’s also the effect
on our health of eating products that came from maltreated animals.
Yes.
- Proposition 3: Children’s Hospital Bond Act. Grant Program.
SmartVoter.
California Online Voter Guide.
Campaign Finance Activity.
Institute of Governmental Studies.
It’s worthwhile to invest in health care for children; it removes
obstacles from the path of becoming a productive adult.
Yes.
- Proposition 4: Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy.
SmartVoter.
California Online Voter Guide.
Campaign Finance Activity.
Institute of Governmental Studies.
If haven’t earned your daughter’s trust by the time she’s
old enough to have sex, there are probably very good reasons you
shouldn’t be notified if she gets an abortion. It is not the job
of the state to compensate for bad parenting skills. No.
- Proposition 5: Nonviolent Drug Offenses, Sentencing, Parole and Rehabilitation.
SmartVoter.
California Online Voter Guide.
Campaign Finance Activity.
Institute of Governmental Studies.
The United States imprisons an incredibly high proportion of its
population. Anyone who is actually a menace to society needs to be
kept locked up, but nonviolent drug offenders that can be
rehabilitated and returned to the workforce will decrease the burden
on taxpayers. Yes.
- Proposition 6: Police and Law Enforcement Funding. Criminal Penalties and Laws.
SmartVoter.
California Online Voter Guide.
Campaign Finance Activity.
Institute of Governmental Studies.
Another great big waste of taxpayer dollars. No.
- Proposition 7: Renewable Energy Generation.
SmartVoter.
California Online Voter Guide.
Campaign Finance Activity.
Coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Institute of Governmental Studies.
We need to increase our proportion of electricity derived from renewable
energy as fast as is practical. This proposition will not deliver on
that goal. No.
- Proposition 8: Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry.
SmartVoter.
California Online Voter Guide.
Campaign Finance Activity.
Institute of Governmental Studies.
The president of a Republican-funded think tank came out for Proposition 8, calling himself a “liberal democrat”.
Dale Carpenter of the Volokh Conspiracy debunks the pro-8 claims.
The institution of marriage may be endangered by a lot of things in
our society, but having more consenting adults get married is
not one of them. If the only thing preventing you from rushing out
and getting married to someone of your own gender is a law against it,
your existing marriage is already in trouble. (Now, if someone would
just create a proposition that gets the government entirely out of
defining “marriage” and leaves that up to the churches,
while the legal status of “civil union” or whatever is
gender-blind, that I would vote for.) Gays are more often
dual-income and will tend to be hit by the “marriage
penalty” in taxes; additionally, being one of the few providers
of homosexual marriages in the country increases our tourism dollars,
so on both grounds, fiscal conservatives should oppose this measure.
This isn’t even a California-based initiative; it’s
backed
by Mormons from Utah. No.
- Proposition 9: Criminal Justice System. Victims’ Rights. Parole.
SmartVoter.
California Online Voter Guide.
Campaign Finance Activity.
Institute of Governmental Studies.
Undermining due process is a stupid idea. No.
- Proposition 10: Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy. Bonds.
SmartVoter.
California Online Voter Guide.
Coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Campaign Finance Activity.
Institute of Governmental Studies.
This is largely a giveaway for T. Boone Pickens’ investments,
and not actually much help for our environment. (Its support committee,
Californians for Energy Independence, is almost entirely backed by
money from Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which stands to profit hugely by
this.) No.
- Proposition 11: Redistricting.
SmartVoter.
California Online Voter Guide.
Campaign Finance Activity.
Institute of Governmental Studies.
Coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle.
I am thoroughly against
gerrymandering,
and would like to see our races become more competitive. (Ideally,
I’d like to see clusters of adjacent districts consolidated
and the single
transferable vote used to elect representatives; that would give
members of minority parties more of a voice.) There are better ways
to improve our government, but this is a good start that might make it
easier to elect some people who might be more open to improving the
system further. Yes.
- Proposition 12: Veteran’s Bond Act of 2008.
SmartVoter.
California Online Voter Guide.
Campaign Finance Activity.
Institute of Governmental Studies.
This program actually pays for itself (and has done so since 1921),
and just needs reauthorization. Yes.
- Local Measures.
- Measure A. Hospital Seismic Safety and Medical Facilities.
SmartVoter.
This is earthquake country, and I don’t see any sign that this is
going to waste our tax dollars.
Yes.
- Measure B. BART Extension.
SmartVoter.
Pro and con editorials
in South Bay community papers.
Getting BART down to this end of the Bay Area will help commuters cope
with rising fuel prices. Yes.
- Measure C. Valley Transportation Plan 2035.
SmartVoter.
This is an advisory vote that lets the VTA Board know whether or not
the citizens agree
with the plan for their
comprehensive transit program— a plan whose actual draft
isn’t out yet. No.
- Measure D. Valley Transportation Authority Ordinance.
SmartVoter.
This replaces the every-six-years advisory vote for the VTA with a
requirement that the Citizens’ Watchdog Committee review and
comment on the VTA instead. No.
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