Hold Your Nose and Vote on Tuesday, November 4, 2014

[mithriltabby]

As usual, I’ve done my research for the upcoming election and written up my notes to share with the rest of the class. I’ve given my conclusions, and invite you to come to your own. Even if we disagree on every issue, I’m happy if this saves you a headache. It’s a midterm election without even a senator on the ballot. That means you especially need to vote, because a lot of people won’t be bothering.

• Voter-Nominated Offices
  • State
    • Governor. SmartVoter.
      • Neel Kashkari. Ballotpedia. $$$$ Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
      • Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown. Ballotpedia. $$$$$ Endorsed by the California Democratic Party, California League of Conservation Voters, Planned Parenthood Advocacy, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, East Bay Express, Los Angeles Times.
    • Lieutenant Governor. SmartVoter.
      • Gavin Newsom. Ballotpedia. $$$$ Endorsed by the California Democratic Party, California League of Conservation Voters, Planned Parenthood Advocacy, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, East Bay Express, Los Angeles Times.
      • Ron Nehring. Ballotpedia. $$ Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
    • Secretary of State. SmartVoter.
      • Pete Peterson. Ballotpedia. $$$ Endorsed by the California Republican Party, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, Los Angeles Times. Peterson understands that voter ID laws are a bad idea and is bucking his party’s trend toward disenfranchising voters. We should show the rest of the GOP that we welcome this.
      • Alex Padilla. Ballotpedia. $$$$ Endorsed by the California Democratic Party, California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Advocacy, East Bay Express.
    • Controller. SmartVoter.
      • Betty T. Yee. Ballotpedia. $$$$ Endorsed by the California Democratic Party, California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Advocacy, San Francisco Chronicle, East Bay Express.
      • Ashley Swearengin. Ballotpedia. $$$ Endorsed by the California Republican Party, San Jose Mercury, Los Angeles Times.
    • Treasurer. SmartVoter.
      • Greg Conlon. Ballotpedia. $$ Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
      • John Chiang. Ballotpedia. $$$$ Endorsed by the California Democratic Party, California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Advocacy, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, East Bay Express, Los Angeles Times.
    • Attorney General. SmartVoter.
      • Ronald Gold. Ballotpedia. $$ Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
      • Kamala D. Harris. Ballotpedia. $$$$ Endorsed by the California Democratic Party, California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Advocacy, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, East Bay Express, Los Angeles Times.
    • Insurance Commissioner. SmartVoter.
      • Ted Gaines. Ballotpedia. $$$ Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
      • Dave Jones. Ballotpedia. $$$$ Endorsed by the California Democratic Party, California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Advocacy, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, Los Angeles Times.
    • Member, State Board of Equalization, District 2. SmartVoter.
      • Fiona Ma. Ballotpedia. Endorsed by the California Democratic Party, East Bay Express.
      • James E. Theis. Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
  • United States Representative, District 17. SmartVoter. The Huffington Post characterize Khanna as being closer to the Hillary Clinton wing of the Democratic Party and Honda as being closer to the Elizabeth Warren wing. My impression from the debate (coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, Calbuzz) is that Khanna’s vision is largely for the educated classes, while Honda’s includes service workers, who largely benefit by trickle-down from the middle class (which is still more sensible than catering to the rich). Khanna spent a lot of his debate time on the attack, while Honda declined to return fire; this made Khanna seem like he’s covering weakness, especially when he got so audibly wound up even in the constrained circumstances of a debate, and he that he was marching through the talking points prepared by his campaign manager instead of adapting his strategy on the fly. I don’t think Khanna has the rhetorical and diplomatic chops to get things done on Capitol Hill, particularly in the current hyperpartisan environment there. Despite the deluge of well-funded attacks (mostly against Honda, based on the contents of my recycling bin), I don’t think either one is a bad choice; I do think Honda is the better one.
    • Ro Khanna. Ballotpedia. $$$$ Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury. Khanna is no stranger to dirty tricks.
    • Mike Honda. Ballotpedia. $$$$ Endorsed by the California Democratic Party, California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Advocacy, East Bay Express. Honda’s campaign are also lacking in clean hands.
  • Member of the State Assembly, District 24. SmartVoter.
    • Richard S. Gordon. $$$ Endorsed by the California Democratic Party, California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California. He has spoken well on his visits to the Sunnyvale Democratic Club.
    • Diane Gabl. $ Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
  • Nonpartisan Offices.
    • Associate Justice of the Supreme Court: SmartVoter. The LA Times recommends all three, as does the Sacramento Bee.
      • Goodwin Liu. Judgepedia. Incumbent. Filibustered out of an appointment to the Ninth Circuit by Republicans.
      • Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar. Judgepedia. Coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury.
      • Kathryn Mickle Werdegar. Judgepedia. Incumbent.
    • Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District: SmartVoter.
      • Eugene Milton Premo. Judgepedia.
      • Adrienne M. Grover. Judgepedia.
      • Patricia Bamattre-Manoukian. Judgepedia.
      • Miguel Márquez. Judgepedia.
      • Franklin D. Elia. Judgepedia.
    • Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 24. SmartVoter.
      • Matthew S. Harris. Judgepedia. Endorsed by the San Jose Mercury, Mountain View Voice, San Jose Inside.
      • Diane Ritchie. Judgepedia. I was impressed that she came out to the Sunnyvale Democratic Club in the middle of election season to talk about the problems caused by underfunding of our court system and didn’t spend any time campaigning while she was there. I liked her blunt style, but I find her track record troubling.
  • School
    • Superintendent of Public Instruction. SmartVoter.
      • Marshall Tuck. Ballotpedia. $$$$ Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, Los Angeles Times. I have been waffling back and forth on this decision because while I like Tuck’s stance on reform, charter schools have their flaws. He seems to be aware of them, so I’ll take the chance.
      • Tom Torlakson. Ballotpedia. $$$$ Endorsed by the California Democratic Party, California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Advocacy, East Bay Express.
  • District
    • El Camino Healthcare District. SmartVoter. Coverage in the Mountain View Voice. Biographies of the current board.
      • David Reeder. Incumbent. Endorsed by Los Altos Online. I’ve heard no reason to replace him.
      • Margaret Abe-Koda. I’m seeing a deluge of material for her campaign: yard signs, mailers.
      • Peter C. Fung. Endorsed by Los Altos Online.
• Measures Submitted to the Voters
  • State: California Choices Endorsement Grid
    • Proposition 1: Water Bond. Funding for Water Quality, Supply, Treatment, and Storage Projects. SmartVoter. CAvotes. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.

      Supported by	Opposed by
      Yes on Propositions 1 and 2 Pete Rates the Propositions California Democratic Party California Republican Party San Francisco Chronicle San Jose Mercury Los Angeles Times California League of Conservation Voters The Nature Conservancy	No on Prop 1 Friends of the River

      Heavens know we’re not going to run short of water crises in the future. This one is contentious among environmental organizations because it doesn’t explicitly forbid using dams to help store water, and those can have troublesome side effects. Since the commission that decides whether or not to build dams is made up of human beings who can be reminded of those problems, I think this is an acceptable risk. Yes.
    • Proposition 2: State Budget. Budget Stabilization Account. Legislative Constitutional Amendment. SmartVoter. CAvotes. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.

      Supported by	Opposed by
      Yes on Propositions 1 and 2 Pete Rates the Propositions California Democratic Party California Republican Party San Francisco Chronicle San Jose Mercury Los Angeles Times $$$	2 Bad For Kids Courage Campaign

      This makes it harder to starve and raid the state’s rainy day fund. Yes.
    • Proposition 45: Healthcare Insurance. Rate Changes. Initiative Statute. SmartVoter. CAvotes. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.

      Supported by	Opposed by
      Consumer Watchdog Campaign Pete Rates the Propositions California Democratic Party San Jose Mercury Consumer Watchdog Courage Campaign $$$	Californians Against Higher Health Care Costs California Republican Party San Francisco Chronicle Los Angeles Times $$$$$

      This gives our elected insurance commissioner a veto ability that the current committee lacks; those rulings can still be challenged in court by either side. While this has the potential to complicate the interaction between insurance companies and Covered California, I think it will be used more often in the hint than the execution, and to the benefit of people covered by insurance; the commissioner’s career performance will depend on using it well. Yes.
    • Proposition 46: Drug and Alcohol Testing of Doctors. Medical Negligence Lawsuits. Initiative Statute. SmartVoter. CAvotes. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. The California Democratic Party is neutral.

      Supported by	Opposed by
      Your Neighbors for Patient Safety Pete Rates the Propositions Consumer Watchdog $$$$	Patients and Providers to Protect Access and Contain Health Costs California Republican Party ACLU of Northern California Planned Parenthood Advocacy East Bay Express (more) San Francisco Chronicle San Jose Mercury Los Angeles Times $$$$$

      Random drug testing for doctors? Maybe we should enact random drug testing for politicians first. On principle, it’s a violation of the Fourth Amendment. At a personal level, I would be insulted if my profession were subjected to such testing, and I expect doctors would be just as offended. Let’s not create incentives for the best doctors to go elsewhere. No.
    • Proposition 47: Criminal Sentences. Misdemeanor Penalties. Initiative Statute. SmartVoter. CAvotes. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.

      Supported by	Opposed by
      Californians for Safe Schools and Neighborhoods Pete Rates the Propositions California Democratic Party ACLU of Northern California San Francisco Chronicle San Jose Mercury Los Angeles Times East Bay Express $$$$	California Police Chiefs California Republican Party Courage Campaign $$

      Finally, we can stop wasting money locking up nonviolent offenders. Yes.
    • Proposition 48: Indian Gaming Compacts. Referendum. SmartVoter. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.

      Supported by	Opposed by
      Pete Rates the Propositions California Democratic Party Los Angeles Times $$$	No on Proposition 48 San Francisco Chronicle $$$$

      This is an issue that was already negotiated between the governor, legislature, and two Native American tribes, one of which is dealing with not having been recognized as such until 1987 (hence interesting land issues). Our elected representatives already figured it out, and we just need to give the thumbs-up. Huge amounts of opposition money are coming from a New York hedge fund. Yes.
  • School
    • Measure J.

      Supported by	Opposed by
      Yes on J & K Santa Clara County Democratic Party

      This just renews the existing $98 parcel tax. The effect of good schools on property values makes this a bargain. Yes.
    • Measure K.

      Supported by	Opposed by
      Yes on J & K Santa Clara County Democratic Party

      This adds an extra $21 to your property tax bill for every $100,000 of assessed value (the one limited by Proposition 13), so you don’t pay any more when your property values go up because the schools got better. Yes.