Monday last I walked into Garlic City Coffee and Tea for my
cappuccino and found Patty puzzling over her ballot.
”
What do you think about measures A, B, and C?
”
she asked.
Monday last I walked into Garlic City Coffee and Tea for my cappuccino and found Patty puzzling over her ballot.
“What do you think about measures A, B, and C?” she asked.
“Well,” I said, “Just reading them, it looks as though the supervisors and the public employees union had a dispute. It looks as though the Supes put measures A and B on the ballot to gain an advantage, and the unions put C on the ballot to gain an advantage. I would like to know your opinion when you finish reading. So far, I plan to vote no, no, and no.”
Patty sighed. “Negotiations are always difficult,” she said, and resumed reading. A little while later she commented, “This argument is ridiculous … she’s saying that Measure C will help the nursing shortage. I am a nurse, and the reasons for the shortage are more complex than that.”
“So how are you voting?”
She smiled wryly. “No, no, and no.” I was thrilled, because Patty is almost as far over on the left side of the political spectrum as I am on the right. If she and I can reach the same conclusion, then it might be the correct one.
Here are the rest of my picks:
• Prop 1A: Yes. Requires that local property tax and sales tax revenues remain with local government, unless the governor and two-thirds of the legislature declare a fiscal necessity.
• Prop 59: Yes. Amends the state Constitution to make government open and accessible to the public, in the broadest possible sense.
• Prop 60: Yes. Any party that puts a candidate in the primary will be guaranteed a spot in the general election.
• Prop 60A: Yes. Requires that any proceeds from the sale of California surplus property will be used to pay off California’s prop 57 bond debt. This makes good fiscal sense.
• Prop 61: No. Incurs bond debt to renovate children’s hospitals. Governments have a bad habit of asking for bonds and taxes to pay for popular causes such as police, fire, parks, water, and sick children. Then they can use general funds for marble bathrooms and Taj Mahals.
• Prop 62: NO! Limits voters’ choice by only allowing the top two vote getters of a primary to face off in the general election.
• Prop 63: No. Another tax for a good cause; see prop 61.
• Prop 64: Yes. Only California allows lawyers to file frivolous lawsuits against small businesses without any evidence of harm, without even a client. Scumbag lawyers use this to shake down small businesses; read Humberto Galvez’s story in your Voter Information Guide.
• Prop 65: No, replaced by 1A.
• Prop 66: The toughest call on the whole ballot. Stories abound of how people are sent to prison for life for smoking dope or shoplifting. Prop 66 would require that a third strike be for a serious or violent felony, not mere burglary. Unfortunately, Prop 66 also redefines several felonies to be non-serious. I personally think that burning down an office building or significantly injuring someone during the commission of a felony, even if the felon did not mean to, are serious felonies. So I will vote no.
• Prop 67: No, another back-door tax.
• Prop 68: No. Here the government is shaking down Indian casinos: “Give us 25 percent or we will establish 16 non-tribal casinos and racetracks.” It is a grotesque attempt at extortion, even if one approves of casinos.
• Prop 69. No. In five years, anyone arrested for – that’s arrested, not convicted – any felony will have his DNA collected and stored in a data base, a gross violation of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
• Prop 70: No. From a social conservative point of view, this prop would award 99-year leases to various Indian tribes. From a civil libertarian point of view, these contracts discriminate against the property rights of non-Indians.
• Prop 71: No. Embryonic stem cell research kills human embryos. If it were promising, companies would be pursuing it without government funding. And it is yet another bond.
• Prop 72. No. this measure would drive still more companies out of California, resulting in fewer jobs, particularly entry level jobs, and less state tax revenue.
• School board: Heisey and Bress – and now nobody can say that I only vote for Republicans!
