Hold Your Nose and Vote on Tuesday, November 6, 2018

[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.

Voter-Nominated Offices

State

Contests for statewide office explained by the San Jose Mercury.

• Governor
  • Gavin Newsom. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. ACLU Smart Justice. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times, California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California.
  • John H. Cox. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. ACLU Smart Justice. Endorsed by the Orange County Register. Has plenty of gimmicks and no actual experience for doing the job. Has blown $5m of his own money on the campaign.
• Lieutenant Governor
  • Eleni Kounalakis. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by San Jose Mercury, Sacramento Bee, Orange County Register California League of Conservation Voters. Has spent $4m of her own money on a campaign for an office with very little power. What is her angle?
  • Ed Hernandez. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters.
• Secretary of State:
  • Mark P. Meuser. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Has a priority of “cleaning up” our voter rolls. If he is elected, you can count on voter suppression coming to California.
  • Alex Padilla. Democrat. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters. He’s paying attention to election security.
• Controller
  • Betty T. Yee. Democrat. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters.
  • Konstantinos Roditis. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Has blown a quarter million dollars of his own money on his own campaign. What’s his angle?
• Treasurer
  • Fiona Ma. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, California League of Conservation Voters, San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters.
  • Greg Conlon. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.
• Attorney General
  • Xavier Becerra. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, Sierra Club California, San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters.
  • Steven C. Bailey. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Currently facing 11 counts of misconduct brought by the Commission on Judicial Performance.
• Insurance Commissioner
  • Steve Poizner. Former Republican, now nonpartisan. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register. He did a good job the last time he held this position, but he was willing to throw immigrants under the bus in 2010 when he was running for governor; he claims he won’t do it again, but I am reminded of the words of Maya Angelou: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Why has he blown a million dollars of his own money for this campaign? And why do none of the endorsement editorials address that?
  • Ricardo Lara. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge, California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters. He has plenty of endorsements, including that of Dave Jones, a previous insurance commissioner.
• Member, State Board of Equalization, District 2
  • Malia Cohen. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters.
  • Mark Burns. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.

United States Senator

This is a difficult decision for me, because I’ve been very irked with Feinstein in the past: she voted for the Iraq War at a time when her colleague Barbara Boxer had the sense not to, and has supported mass surveillance of American citizens, released a draft bill that was deeply ignorant of the realities of encryption, and prefers to toe the line for the MPAA rather than her constituents. On the other hand, she has seniority in the Senate and a seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and if we replace her, we’ll have two fairly junior senators. Meanwhile, de León removed the top staff from a Senate committee that, in a previous session, blocked one of his priority bills, headed the committee that killed a bill to provide whistleblower protections to legislative employees, and given that his roommate had a sexual harrassment scandal suggests he might have skeletons in his closet. It may be sufficient that she feel the pressure from her own state— she has changed her positions, recently switched to opposing the death penalty, for instance, and softened her stance on recreational marijuana, and she unilaterally released the Fusion GPS testimony. For all my misgivings about Feinstein, my misgivings about de León are greater, so I’ll vote for Feinstein.

• Kevin de León. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. ACLU Smart Justice. Endorsed by the San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters.
• Dianne Feinstein. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. ACLU Smart Justice. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, Los Angeles Times, Orange County Register, Planned Parenthood. 100% scores from Planned Parenthood and Human Rights Campaign. Has spent $14.5m of her own money on her campaign. What’s her angle? How much of it came from her husband’s income from government contracts?

United States Representative

• Ro Khanna. Democrat. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. ACLU Smart Justice. Endorsed by the San Jose Mercury, California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club Loma Prieta, Democratic Club of Sunnyvale. 100% scores from Planned Parenthood and Human Rights Campaign.
• Ron Cohen. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. ACLU Smart Justice. A hardcore Trump supporter.

Member of the State Assembly

• Marc Berman. Democrat. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. ACLU Smart Justice. Got 100% on the ACLU scorecard. Endorsed by the California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, Democratic Club of Sunnyvale.
• Alex Glew. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. ACLU Smart Justice.

Nonpartisan Offices

Judicial

The LA Times says the Supreme Court justices should be confirmed.

• Carol A. Corrigan, associate justice of the Supreme Court. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Ballotpedia references a study that places her just into the “strong Conservative” category. Her Wikipedia entry has some details on her rulings. San Diego Democrats for Equality opposes her because she opposed marriage equality twice. (They don’t link to the majority opinion she signed onto regarding Prop 8, so here are excerpts in the LA Times.) While she is conservative, she does not appear to have caught the fever currently gripping the Republican Party. I was going to vote for her, out of respect for the thoughtful conservatives in the state [some of them are my friends, so save the snarky comments], but then the news came out that the current administration is targeting the rights of transgender folk, and I cannot, in good conscience, take the risk that she will contribute to that.
• Leondra R. Kruger, associate justice of the Supreme Court. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. She hasn’t been on the court long enough to get a rating. Her Wikipedia entry has some details on her rulings.
• Mary J. Greenwood, presiding justice, Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.
• Allison Marston Danner, associate justice, Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. She does show up in a few stories: judging the case of an abusive Silicon Valley CEO (more details here and here and here) which stirred up some controversy, but makes sense in light of the plea deal involved; setting bail for the Santa Clara County deputies charged with murdering an inmate.
• Nathan D. Mihara, associate justice, Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. He upheld the bulk of a judge’s reasoning making paint manufacturers pay for their contributions to the problem of lead paint.

School

• Superintendent of Public Instruction. Coverage in Mother Jones.
  • Tony K. Thurmond. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times, California League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club California, San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters.
  • Marshall Tuck. Voter’s Edge. Ballotpedia. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, Orange County Register. Tuck is more of a reformer than Thurmond; I prefer his approach.
• Fremont Union High School District, Governing Board Member. Vote for no more than three.
  • Meena Juttukonda-Gajula. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by Ro Khanna.
  • Benaifer Dastoor. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by Nancy Hirstein Smith and Tara Martin-Milius, both of whom I respect.
  • Rosa Kim. Voter’s Edge.
  • Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto. Voter’s Edge.
  • William (Bill) Wilson. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.
  • Don Sun. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by Ro Khanna and Glenn Hendricks.
• Sunnyvale School District, Governing Board Member. Vote for no more than three.
  • Jeff Arnett. Incumbent. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Democratic Club of Sunnyvale. He demonstrated a good knowledge of policy details when he came out to talk to the club.
  • Anita Herrmann. Incumbent. Voter’s Edge. I can’t find any information online and she didn’t bother to come out to talk to us like two of her colleagues; I heard she withdrew from the race.
  • Bridget Watson. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Democratic Club of Sunnyvale. When she came out to the club, she spoke well about the need to help students of low socioeconomic status; she has a special needs kid of her own and places importance on safety and belonging.
  • Michelle Maginot. Voter’s Edge. Has a number of competent people vouching for her.

County

• Sheriff
  • John Hirokawa. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the San Jose Mercury, Santa Clara County Democratic Party, Democratic Club of Sunnyvale.
  • Laurie Smith. Republican. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Took the effort to speak to the Sunnyvale Democratic Club during the primary, even though we couldn’t endorse her.

City

Some good background on the city council election by Richard Mehlinger Jr. The Silicon Valley Voice reports on the financing of the race. For me, climate change is the biggest issue; I have lived in Sunnyvale for 20 years, and hope to do so for another 50, and I’m voting for the people that I think will make the best long-term plans to deal with it.

• Member, Sunnyvale City Council, Seat 1. Richard Mehlinger Jr. on this race.
  • Henry Alexander III. Voter’s Edge. Had the poor judgment to support the very badly designed 2016 Measure M. He wants to halt development, which is exactly the wrong way to deal with our problems with traffic.
  • Gustav Larsson. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the San Jose Mercury, Democratic Club of Sunnyvale, Santa Clara County Democratic Party, Santa Clara County League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club Loma Prieta. He understands that we need to build more housing if we want to make Sunnyvale a better place to live.
• Member, Sunnyvale City Council, Seat 2. Richard Mehlinger Jr. on this race.
  • Glenn Hendricks. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Santa Clara County Republican Party, San Jose Mercury, Santa Clara County League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club Loma Prieta. Hendricks has been a competent mayor and earned the endorsement of Democrats like Ro Khanna, Anna Eshoo, Jerry Hill, and Marc Berman.
  • Josh Grossman. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Santa Clara County Democratic Party. Another shortsighted “no growth” candidate who would create problems rather than solve them.
• Member, Sunnyvale City Council, Seat 3. Richard Mehlinger Jr. on this race. The candidates are dual-endorsed by the Democratic Club of Sunnyvale. This is a difficult choice, as I like both of them, but I am leaning toward Fong because he is more of a wonk and I like wonks. Honestly this is a win/win for Sunnyvale.
  • John Cordes. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Santa Clara County League of Conservation Voters.
  • Mason Fong. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the San Jose Mercury, Santa Clara County Democratic Party.

District

• Director, El Camino Healthcare District. Vote for no more than two.
  • Peter C. Fung. Incumbent. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Santa Clara County Republican Party.
  • James Davis. Voter’s Edge.
  • Mike Kasperzak. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Democratic Club of Sunnyvale. When he came out to the club, he said his concerns were maintaining community control over the hospital (a for-profit company that bought three hospitals in the area filed for bankruptcy and he doesn’t want that happening here); he wants to make sure it can ride out the upcoming recession and maintain control for people rather than corporate interests; to make sure the hospital is prepared for Medicare-for-All when it happens; and to operate with as much transparency as possible. (The last 2 CEOs left and no one can talk about why because it happened in closed session.) He has endorsements from the mayors all four constituent citie,.
  • George D. Ting. Voter’s Edge. I like the principles stated on his web site.

Measures Submitted to the Voters

State

The propositions explained by the San Jose Mercury and Mother Jones. The Courage Voter Guide has a grid covering the propositions.

• Proposition 1: Housing Programs and Veterans' Loans Bond. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.

  Supported by	Opposed by
  VetsAndAffordableHousingAct.org San Francisco Chronicle San Jose Mercury Los Angeles Times Sacramento Bee League of Women Voters of California California League of Conservation Voters Sierra Club California Pete Rates the Propositions California Democratic Party Green Party of California San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters	Orange County Register San Diego Union-Tribune

  Yes.
• Proposition 2: Use Millionaire’s Tax Revenue for Homelessness Prevention Housing Bonds Measure. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Back in 2004, Proposition 63, the Mental Health Services Acct, was passed to fund county programs to help the mentally ill. Since then, we’ve learned that such programs are more effective if the mentally ill have stable housing. In 2016, the legislature enacted the No Place Like Home program to provide that, but it hasn’t gone into effect because of court challenges— it wasn’t clear that the revenue from the tax created by Proposition 63 could be spent that way. This clarifies that.

  Supported by	Opposed by
  Yes on Props 1&2 Coalition San Francisco Chronicle San Jose Mercury Sacramento Bee Los Angeles Times League of Women Voters of California California League of Conservation Voters Pete Rates the Propositions California Democratic Party Republican Party of California San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters	Orange County Register Green Party of California

  Yes.
• Proposition 3: Water Infrastructure and Watershed Conservation Bond Initiative. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Authorizes $8.9bn in bonds to fund water projects. Coverage in the Mercury News. The California League of Conservation Voters has no position.

  Supported by	Opposed by
  Californians for Safe Drinking Water and a Clean and Reliable Water Supply San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters	San Francisco Chronicle San Jose Mercury Los Angeles Times Sacramento Bee Orange County Register League of Women Voters of California Sierra Club California Pete Rates the Propositions Green Party of California

  Normally, I’m all for investing in water infrastructure; climate change is going to create huge amounts of stress and we should address it as early as possible. We just passed Proposition 68 in June, which was $4.1bn for parks and water, and in 2014 we had Proposition 1 for $7.5bn. This one, though, has a lot of giveaways to special interests like corporate agribusiness. No.
• Proposition 4: Children's Hospital Bonds Initiative. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.

  Supported by	Opposed by
  Yes on Proposition 4 San Francisco Chronicle San Jose Mercury Sacramento Bee Los Angeles Times Pete Rates the Propositions California Democratic Party Republican Party of California Green Party of California San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters	Orange County Register League of Women Voters of California

  Yes.
• Proposition 5: Property Tax Transfer Initiative. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. This is a Proposition 13-style bad idea will result in property tax losses starting at $150m/year, gradually increasing to $1bn/year.

  Supported by	Opposed by
  Orange County Register Republican Party of California	San Francisco Chronicle San Jose Mercury Los Angeles Times Sacramento Bee League of Women Voters of California California League of Conservation Voters Pete Rates the Propositions California Democratic Party Green Party of California San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters

  No.
• Proposition 6: Voter Approval for Future Gas and Vehicle Taxes and 2017 Tax Repeal Initiative. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. This is an attempt to repeal SB 1, which adjusted our fuel taxes for inflation (as they hadn’t changed since 1994). This would cut $5.1bn/year from the budget for highway, road repair, and mass transit, and make it harder to pass new fuel taxes and fees, so costs would have to be imposed on all taxpayers rather than the users of roads. It’s being pushed by the national GOP as a way to boost turnout in November, and they’re fond of quoting a dubious study that asserts that the cost of building and maintaining California roads is 2.5× the national average— without controlling for the fact that California highways are much wider than the ones being used for comparison, or accounting for the fact that three of the nation’s top five busiest ports are in California and 40% of the nation’s freight moves through our state.

  Supported by	Opposed by
  Give Voters a Voice Orange County Register Republican Party of California	No on Prop. 6 San Francisco Chronicle San Jose Mercury Los Angeles Times Sacramento Bee Los Angeles Times League of Women Voters of California California League of Conservation Voters Sierra Club California Pete Rates the Propositions California Democratic Party Green Party of California San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters

  Neglecting infrastructure is a terrible idea. No.
• Proposition 7: Permanent Daylight Saving Time Measure. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. This allows the legislature to extend Daylight Savings Time to the entire year with a ⅔ vote and agreement from the federal government. It would end the annoyance of time changes, though it does mean that in the winter, sunrise could be as late as 8:25 am at the latitude of San Francisco. Which is worse: jerking our schedules around with the time change, or most people being out the door for school and work before the sun is over the horizon?

  Supported by	Opposed by
  Los Angeles Times Pete Rates the Propositions California Democratic Party Republican Party of California Green Party of California San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters	San Francisco Chronicle San Jose Mercury Sacramento Bee

  There are significant hurdles to this bill actually doing anything, so it’s a good way to signal that there is voter appetite for abolishing the practice of jerking our bodily clocks around. (Yes, kids might have to go to school in the dark. I had to do that when AP Chemistry was at 7:30 in the morning, and that was before cheap, low-energy LED lights were everywhere.) I’m voting Yes because I think it’s a good way to signal our legislature and the rest of the nation that we should take this proposal seriously, and weigh the pros and cons accordingly. I would ponder this a lot more heavily if this proposition forced the issue.
• Proposition 8: Limits on Dialysis Clinics' Revenue and Required Refunds Initiative. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. This is a move by SEIU-UHW in attempting to unionize the workers at for-profity dialysis clinics.

  Supported by	Opposed by
  Californians for Kidney Dialysis Patient Protection California Democratic Party Green Party of California San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters	No on Prop. 8: Stop the Dangerous Dialysis Proposition San Francisco Chronicle San Jose Mercury Los Angeles Times Sacramento Bee Pete Rates the Propositions Republican Party of California

  This is a very real problem that should not be solved at the ballot box; it should be handled by the legislature. No.
• Proposition 10: Local Rent Control Initiative. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Explainers in the Mercury News and Vox. This repeals a 1995 law regulating rent control, which will free cities to make better policies, or worse ones. (For instance, if this passes, a city could pass rent control for single-family homes, which would lower the income prospects of people rich enough to rent out that kind of property.)

  Supported by	Opposed by
  Yes on 10 Sacramento Bee Los Angeles Times League of Women Voters of California Sierra Club California Pete Rates the Propositions California Democratic Party Green Party of California San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters	No on Prop. 10 San Francisco Chronicle San Jose Mercury Orange County Register Republican Party of California

  If you think the cities of California are going to rush into stupid policies that end up turfing people out because owners sell their properties rather than put up with rent control, vote no. If you think the existing examples of bad ideas are enough that cities aren’t going to rush into ill-advised decisions and that people can be trusted with local control, vote yes. Neither vote will fix the housing crisis; the only thing that will work is creating more housing. I’m voting Yes.
• Proposition 11: Ambulance Employees Paid On-Call Breaks, Training, and Mental Health Services Initiative. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle.

  Supported by	Opposed by
  Yes on 11 San Jose Mercury Sacramento Bee Los Angeles Times Orange County Register Republican Party of California	San Francisco Chronicle Pete Rates the Propositions California Democratic Party Green Party of California San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters

  I am disinclined to give a freebie to a large corporation that violated state law by keeping its employees on call during their breaks. No.
• Proposition 12: Farm Animal Confinement Initiative. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle, Mercury News, and Mother Jones. The Mercury News has pro and con opinions.

  Supported by	Opposed by
  Prevent Cruelty California San Jose Mercury Los Angeles Times Sierra Club California Pete Rates the Propositions California Democratic Party Green Party of California San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters	Californians Against Cruelty, Cages, and Fraud San Francisco Chronicle Sacramento Bee Republican Party of California

  This is a good idea that should be implemented with nuance by the legislature, not the blunt instrument of a ballot initiative. No.

County

• Measure A: Sales Tax Renewal. Ballotpedia.

  Supported by	Opposed by
  San Jose Mercury Santa Clara County Democratic Party

  This keeps the status quo. Yes.

City

• Measure K: Hotel Tax Increase. Ballotpedia.

  Supported by	Opposed by

  This would raise Sunnyvale’s tax from 10.5% to 12.5%, matching our neighboring cities. Yes.
• Measure L: City Council Vacancy Procedures Charter Amendment. Ballotpedia. When David Whittum resigned his council seat, the timing was such that the city was forced by its own laws to call a special election in August, even though his seat was up for election in November, costing the city $800k. This allows the City Council to appoint someone should that kind of expensive fiasco occur again.

  Supported by	Opposed by
  Democratic Club of Sunnyvale

  Yes.

School

• Measure CC: Fremont Union High School District Bond Issue. Ballotpedia.

  Supported by	Opposed by
  San Jose Mercury Santa Clara County Democratic Party

  I can pay 1.6¢ per $100 of assessed valuation on my house in exchange for better schools. Even if I take a completely selfish perspective on it, it’ll improve the value of my house more than it costs in taxes. Yes.
• Measure GG: Sunnyvale School District Bond Issue. Ballotpedia.

  Supported by	Opposed by
  San Jose Mercury Santa Clara County Democratic Party

  Another 1¢ per $100 to improve local schools? No problem. Yes.

Comments

[calimac]

I'm afraid I disagree with you more than I have in the past. I'm puzzled at your distrust of those who have the money to spend on their campaigns doing so. All rich candidates do this; it isn't baffling. Kounalakis obviously wants to become Lt Gov for the same reason that Newsom did eight years ago. It's a reasonable ambition.

I'm sorry you fell for the propaganda regarding city council. As the opposition candidates explained at the LWV forum, which I think you missed, they don't want no growth, they want smart growth, smarter than what we're getting now. They oppose giving favored developers waivers of the General Plan. They oppose the current ratio of office development to housing development, finding housing more desirable. They oppose creating developments without fuller consideration of their effect on traffic and schools. These strike me as valid concerns which, at the least, deserve more representation on Council.

[emberleo]

"Follow the money" is always wise. Asking why someone is spending it in certain ways is also wise. Not being able to find acceptable answers is in itself a kind of answer.

But perhaps more importantly, merely having money to throw at the campaign is not itself a sign of qualification. If all signs point to there being two candidates, and one got there by being liked and endorsed by enough people who thought they were good, and the other got there by throwing money they happened to have at advertising, only one of the two is showing themselves to be qualified by the process that got them there.

Is money in itself enough to *disqualify* someone? Obviously not.

But I don't blame anyone for tracking it.

-E-

[mithriltabby]

Richard Mehlinger Jr. debunks fearmongering over crime rates.

[roseembolism]

Thank you- I just wish someone did this for San Jose city elections

[emberleo]

Can you elaborate on why you prefer Tuck’s approach? His opponent is supported by the vast majority of school employee groups, which seems like a pretty strong position...?

-E-

[mithriltabby]

School employee groups have a vested interest in keeping the status quo, so it’s not surprising that they would go with Thurmond, who has a more incrementalist approach. Thurmond backed the unions when it came to granting teachers tenure after a mere 18 months on the job, for instance. Having sat through my share of bad teachers in public schools, I’m okay with being a little more bold than that.

[emberleo]

Hm, ok.

Thank you!

-E-

[taeriel]

I have a silly, naive question. What does it mean when a school bond measure says "... College district's measure authorizing $X in bonds, levying $13/$100,000 assessed value..."? Is this like a parcel tax, with money coming from home owners via their property tax bill? Maybe I am misunderstanding the math, but it seems if someone had a home with $500,000 assessed value that this would levy $6,500 from them?? I have to assume I have really gotten something wrong here.

Sorry for the silly question, but you were the first person I thought of when the question came up for me.

[mithriltabby]

$13 per $100,000 assessed value means that if you have a $500,000 assessed value, you pay $65 more per year on property taxes. I tend to vote for those because proximity to good schools increases the value of my home a lot more than the cost in property tax.

[taeriel]

Ah, thanks! You're right, I did my math wrong earlier. The previous measure had been $x per $1000. I applied the same formula and didn't catch that this one was per $100,000 until after copying out the text for the above post. I've always supported the school bonds as well - it just didn't make sense to me that this one seemed to be several thousand/parcel! Thanks for clearing it up for me!

[mithriltabby]

Note for next time: Progressive Punch.