Hold your nose and vote on Tuesday, November 2, 2010: Elected Offices

[mithriltabby]

Vote Easy is a Flash application from Project Vote Smart that matches you up with candidates by your policy preferences. If you find that a third party candidate matches your views better than a Democrat or Republican, consider supporting the Center for Voting and Democracy and Californians for Electoral Reform to give the two main parties some serious competition. If the influence of money in politics bothers you, check out Public Campaign and the California Clean Money Campaign.

Federal Office

I do not endorse parties in general, as both major parties we have in this country have serious problems with corruption— e.g. John Ensign, Charlie Rangel, Bob Ney, William Jefferson, Duke Cunningham, Maxine Waters— and I do not wish to give the impression that the sponsorship of either party should be considered to be a sign of virtue or competence. However, this year I feel it important to dis-endorse the federal level of the Republican Party; I had hoped that losing the Presidency, the House, and the Senate would cause them to rethink their policies that got us into the Great Recession and give the fiscal realists new strength in their party, but the GOP has utterly failed to return to reality. This election is not a reasonable referendum on the efficacy of Democratic policies, because the Republicans have engaged in an unprecedented level of obstructionism to attempt to make Obama’s presidency a failure, no matter the cost to the American people— stalling legislation, blocking record numbers of appointees, and doing their best to prevent the federal government from investing in America to speed the recover, all in hopes of creating dissatisfaction that they could ride back to power, no matter the cost to American citizens. After they drove the economy off a cliff with tax cuts, two wars, and an unfunded Medicare expansion, and then doing their best to sabotage the recovery from their fiscal extravagance, the Republicans should not be rewarded for their choice of tactics. If this tactic works once, it will remain in their playbook (and might enter the Democratic one), and it won’t be good for those of us who are too poor for them to care about.

It’s not like returning them to power is going to improve anything for those of us with net worth less than a million dollars. Their supposedly best policymaker, Paul Ryan, worries even The Economist with his policy ideas. We are much too far down the Laffer Curve for tax cuts to pay for themselves; the common GOP profession of faith that tax cuts do not increase deficits is just a fantasy. We need more reality-based fiscal conservatives in Washington, but I sincerely doubt you’ll find any among the Republicans standing for election to federal office; even if one were to make it past their party apparatus, they would likely hand the Speaker’s gavel to John Boehner, who would just use it to help the rich get richer and the rest of us get poorer. We’re still recovering from a recession (thanks to stimulus measures), and the only policy ideas the Republicans have would send us right back into one; this nation cannot afford to have incompetents like this steering our ship of state. As Barry Ritholtz wrote: “Whereas the Democrats have no economic policy, the Republicans have a very bad one.”

GOP membership is no longer an indicator of what has traditionally been called conservatism; the current leaders would kick out Ronald Reagan for raising taxes, signing the UN Convention Against Torture, and daring to dream of a world free of nuclear weapons. Unless you think a Republican candidate will be willing to buck their own party quite strongly like in Tennessee to act for the good of the nation, I strongly recommend giving the national level of the GOP more time in the wilderness. Candidates for state and local offices should still be given consideration.

There’s a good perspective in this op-ed from the San Francisco Chronicle that hit print under the headline Consumer Reports for Voters.

• United States Senator. SmartVoter. Easy Voter. Open Secrets. The San Francisco Chronicle declines to endorse either candidate.
  • Marsha Feinland, Peace and Freedom Party. Vote Smart.
  • Carly Fiorina, Republican Party. Vote Smart. Offering to bring the experience of her failure at Hewlett-Packard to California; she was #19 on Portfolio Magazine’s list of the worst 20 American CEOs of all time. Back in primary season, she wanted to scrap AB32, which is a flip-flop from 2008. She has enthused about saving money by taking steps that were already implemented in 1995. Her “Hot Air” anti-Boxer ad is rated false, and the one about national security was rated Pants-On-Fire Wrong. I just don’t think she’s competent to do the job.
  • Edward C. Noonan, American Independent Party. Vote Smart.
  • Duane Roberts, Green Party. Vote Smart.
  • Barbara Boxer, Democratic Party. Vote Smart. MAPLight.org. Open Secrets. Open Congress. Endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood Action, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Bay Guardian, update: San Jose Mercury, Calitics. Fact checking: The “hospitals might stop taking Medicare” ad from the Crossroads GPS front group is deceptive. ACLU lifetime score of 82%. League of Conservation Voters score of 88%-96%-92%-93%-89%-100%. Her last three Human Rights Campaign scorecards were 88-100-100. She earned an A from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in 2008. The National Education Association gives her an A. Her last NAACP report card is 100%.
  • Gail K. Lightfoot, Libertarian Party. Vote Smart.
• United States Representative, District 14 SmartVoter. Open Secrets.
  • Paul Lazaga, Libertarian Party. Vote Smart.
  • Dave Chapman, Republican Party. Vote Smart.
  • Anna Eshoo, Democratic Party. Vote Smart. MAPLight.org. Open Secrets. Open Congress. Endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood Action, San Jose Mercury, California Labor Federation. ACLU lifetime score of 88%. League of Conservation Voters score of 97%-100%-100%-97%-94%-100%. Her last three Human Rights Campaign scorecards were all 100. She earned an A from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in 2008. The National Education Association gives her an A. Her last NAACP report card is 96%.

Statewide Offices

Follow the Money links are noted with more dollar signs for more money, or $ for none. Links to Vote Smart that have negligible useful information as of this writing are in parentheses.

• Governor. SmartVoter. Easy Voter.
  • Jerry Brown, Democratic Party. Vote Smart. $$$$. Endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Action, California National Organization for Women PAC, California Labor Federation, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury, San Francisco Bay Guardian, update: Calitics. Fact checking: The CNN reporter admits he made a mistake in his 1992 report, and taxes were lower at the end of Brown’s last term; Whitman’s attack ad contains several falsehoods; her claim that Brown turned a surplus into a deficit is really a complaint about Proposition 13; Brown had better performance with budgets than more recent governors.
  • Chelene Nightingale, American Independent Party. Vote Smart. $
  • Carlos Alvarez, Peace and Freedom Party. Vote Smart. $
  • Laura Wells, Green Party. Vote Smart. $
  • Meg Whitman, Republican Party. Vote Smart. $$$$$ Whitman would be very bad for the state’s economy, increasing deficits, destroying jobs, and damaging the environment; she’d cost the state $6–10bn in revenue. I share the concerns of The Economist’s Schumpeter columnist that experience as a CEO is not good preparation for dealing with a legislature. She is the first statewide candidate to decline a meeting with the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle. Her story about PayPal having trouble getting permits in Sunnyvale is pure fantasy. California is already projected to create 1.25m jobs by 2015 without any of her policies, and her plan won’t create very many jobs. She has spent unprecedented amounts of her own money on this campaign, and I don’t think she’d do that if she didn’t think she’d be turning a profit on it— at our expense.
  • Dale F. Ogden, Libertarian Party. Vote Smart. $
• Lieutenant Governor. SmartVoter.
  • Pamela J. Brown, Libertarian Party. Vote Smart. $
  • Gavin Newsom, Democratic Party. Vote Smart. $$$ Endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Action, California Labor Federation, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Bay Guardian, update: Calitics. I’ve been living far enough from San Francisco that I haven’t been following all of Newsom’s antics in detail, but I’ll go with the pro-environment endorsements.
  • Abel Maldonado, Republican Party. Vote Smart. $$ Anti-choice. Endorsed by the Sacramento Bee. If he had used his opportunity to force an issue onto the ballot to give us instant-runoff voting instead of his idiotic open primary law, I would be more inclined to support him.
  • James “Jimi” Castillo, Green Party. Vote Smart. $
  • C. T. Weber, Peace and Freedom Party. Vote Smart. $.
  • Jim King, American Independent Party. (Vote Smart.) $.
• Secretary of State. SmartVoter.
  • Merton D. Short, American Independent Party. (Vote Smart.) $
  • Ann Menasche, Green Party. (Vote Smart.) $
  • Damon Dunn, Republican Party. (Vote Smart.) $$
  • Christina Tobin, Libertarian Party. Vote Smart. $
  • Marylou Cabral, Peace and Freedom Party. (Vote Smart.) $
  • Debra Bowen, Secretary of State. Vote Smart. $$ Endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Action, California National Organization for Women PAC, California Labor Federation, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Bay Guardian, update: Calitics, San Jose Mercury. I’ve been pleased with her work in securing electronic voting machines.
• Controller. SmartVoter.
  • Andrew “Andy” Favor, Libertarian Party. Vote Smart. $
  • Tony Strickland, Republican Party. Vote Smart. $$ Anti-choice.
  • Karen Martinez, Peace and Freedom Party. (Vote Smart.) $
  • John Chiang, Democratic Party. (Vote Smart.) $$$ Endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Action, California National Organization for Women PAC, California Labor Federation, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Bay Guardian, update: Calitics. I appreciate the work he’s done in dealing with the state’s finances while the legislature deadlocked, particularly in not cutting the salaries of my state-employed friends to minimum wage.
  • Lawrence G. Beliz, American Independent Party. (Vote Smart.) $
  • Ross D. Frankel, Green Party. Vote Smart. $
• Treasurer. SmartVoter.
  • Mimi Walters, Republican Party. Vote Smart. $$ Anti-choice.
  • Bill Lockyer, Democratic Party. (Vote Smart.) $$ Endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Action, California National Organization for Women PAC, California Labor Federation, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Bay Guardian, update: Calitics, San Jose Mercury. He’s a fiscal realist, Walters isn’t. He gets my vote.
  • Robert Lauten, American Independent Party. Vote Smart. $
  • Debra L. Reiger, Peace and Freedom Party. (Vote Smart.) $
  • Edward M. Teyssier, Libertarian Party. Vote Smart. $
  • Charles “Kit” Crittenden, Green Party. (Vote Smart.) $
• Attorney General. SmartVoter. Attorney general hopefuls zero in on gifts
  • Peter Allen, Green Party. Vote Smart. $
  • Kamala D. Harris, Democratic Party. (Vote Smart.) $$$ Endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Action, California National Organization for Women PAC, California Labor Federation, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Bay Guardian, update: Calitics.
  • Timothy J. Hannan, Libertarian Party. Vote Smart. $
  • Diane Beall Templin, American Independent Party. Vote Smart. $
  • Steve Cooley, Republican Party. (Vote Smart.) $$$ Endorsed by the Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee. Cooley wants to challenge the constitutionality of health care reform.
  • Robert J. Evans, Peace and Freedom Party. (Vote Smart.) $
• Insurance Commissioner. SmartVoter.
  • Mike Villines, Republican Party. Vote Smart. $$ Anti-choice. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle. He’s competent and a fiscal realist, and I was tempted to vote for him to send a signal that we need more Republicans like that... until I saw he opposed federal health care reform.
  • Clay Pedersen, American Independent Party. (Vote Smart.) $
  • Dina Josephine Padilla, Peace and Freedom Party. Vote Smart. $
  • Richard S. Bronstein, Libertarian Party. (Vote Smart.) $
  • William Balderston, Green Party. Vote Smart. $
  • Dave Jones, Democratic Party. Vote Smart. $$$. Endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Action, California National Organization for Women PAC, California Labor Federation, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Bay Guardian, update: Calitics, San Jose Mercury.
• Judicial: vote yes or no for each office. SmartVoter. Easy Voter.
  • Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye. $ Endorsed by the Los Angeles Times. Yes.
  • Associate Justice of the Supreme Court: Ming W. Chin. $ Endorsed by the Los Angeles Times. update: Opposed by Calitics. Yes.
  • Associate Justice of the Supreme Court: Carlos R. Moreno. $ Endorsed by the Los Angeles Times, update: Calitics. Yes.
  • Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District: Conrad L. Rushing. SmartVoter. $ Yes.
• Superintendent of Public Instruction. SmartVoter.
  • Larry Aceves. Vote Smart. $$ Pro-choice. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, update: San Jose Mercury. Both candidates are competent; I’m leaning toward Aceves, who has more direct experience in education, and is willing to shake things up.
  • Tom Torlakson. Vote Smart. $$ Pro-choice. Endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, California National Organization for Women PAC, California Labor Federation, San Francisco Bay Guardian, update: Calitics.

Local Offices

• Member, State Board of Equalization, District 1. SmartVoter.
  • Kevin R. Scott, Republican Party. $
  • Betty T. Yee, Democratic Party. $$ Endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, California National Organization for Women PAC, California Labor Federation, San Francisco Bay Guardian.
  • Kennita Watson, Libertarian Party. $
  • Sherill Borg, Peace and Freedom Party. $
• Member of the State Assembly, District 22 SmartVoter.
  • T. J. Campbell, Libertarian Party. Vote Smart. $ Leans anti-choice.
  • Paul Fong, Democratic Party. Vote Smart. $$ Endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Action, California Labor Federation, California National Organization for Women PAC. 90% score from the California League of Conservation Voters.
  • Eric Shooter Hickock, Republican Party. (Vote Smart.) $
• Fremont Union High School District: vote for no more than three. SmartVoter. There are a couple of threads on the SunnyvalePolitics mailing list if you want more impressions.
  • Hung Wei. Incumbent.
  • William (Bill) Wilson. Incumbent. Jim Griffith, one of our sensible local councilcritters, is vouching for him.
  • Monet Goldman. Pro-choice.
  • Miyuki Iwata Goldman. Pro-choice.
  • Michael S. Goldman. Pro-choice.
  • Pradeep Jain. Leans anti-choice.
  • Barbara Nunes. Incumbent. Chris Moylan (another sensible councilcritter) and Jim Griffith are vouching for her.

Comments

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I'm a little puzzled by at least one item on the Better Fremont Union (https://sites.google.com/site/betterfremontunion/home) website, number 7 on their to-do list. First they seem to be talking about splitting the high school district and merging the two halves with the relevant elementary school districts. Then, right in the middle of this, they switch without any segue or "on the other hand" to talking about merging both elementary districts with an unsplit high school district. Are they actually saying, "We support the first idea and oppose the second," or are they just confused?

And what's the story with administrative costs? The challenges say they've skyrocketed; Nunes says only that she's reduced administrative positions.

[rhylar.livejournal.com]

From what I could decipher, this is their thoughts:

Proposal A:
Split FHS into Sunnyvale & Cupertino portions, consolidate admin between elementary & High school districts. 3 districts become 2. In Favor

Proposal B:
Combine FHS, Sunnyvale Elem, Cupertino Elem. 3 districts become 1. Oppose

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

That was what I thought, but if so it's phrased so clumsily that it sounds like it could mean something else.

re admin costs

[sandi57.livejournal.com]

A few years ago, the folks at district anticipated that the ongoing budget crisis was likely to get worse. So they started saving--i.e. not spending--to create a reserve fund. But in their accounting, that money has to be tagged with a category. There is no "savings" category, so it is all tagged "administrative". Thus, the "skyrocketing costs" include actual costs plus savings account.

This information has been presented repeatedly over the last year. But the challengers refuse to acknowledge that or to change their presentation.

By the way, many districts, schools, PTAs, & ed foundations have been trying to create a reserve of funds for the last few years. We (I'm a PTA mom) have all been anticipating the budget crisis. I consider this a sign of good management in tough times. That's why I will be voting for the incumbents.

Re: re admin costs

[mithriltabby]

Thanks— that’s very helpful.

Re: re admin costs

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

What slothman said.

Laffer Curve

[rhylar.livejournal.com]

People seriously overestimate the amount of taxes that they pay. Some of the people on the other side of that laffer curve link talked about california having a marginal tax rate of 90%. In fact, I can't come up with people paying more than about 70% (fed 39.6, state 9.3, FICA 15.3, sales tax 10.25% of remainder)

The only way I can even get that high is to stipulate 100% of post-tax spending is subject to sales tax, and being self-employed to get both halves of SSI taxes. Oh, and repeal the bush tax cuts. And live in Avalon, the highest tax jurisdiction of CA. (and treat SSI as a tax, not a poorly-run retirement account. Properly, only the loss due to SSI's poor performance should be treated as a tax.)

In the unlikely event that you bought a nice house at the peak of the housing boom for cash, property tax could add another tax, but if you actually have a mortgage on that house, the property tax is offset by the tax savings from the mortgage.

[mithriltabby]

The Sunlight Foundation came up with another good one: Influence Explorer. Here’s the one for Jerry Brown.

Благодарю за статью

[michaudahose.livejournal.com]

Актуальный блог, свежая инфа, почитываю (http://7wp.ru/)