Here are my recommendations for the June 5, 2018 California ballot. Below the list of my positions are explanations. In several races, there is more than one worthy candidate, at least in my opinion.
I urge you to take my advice with plenty of salt, and research the issues and candidates on your own. There are two websites I find particularly helpful: Voter’s Edge, sponsored by MapLight and the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund, and Ballotpedia. Both sites enable you to look up your own ballot and find information about the various candidates and issues on the ballot.
Whatever you do, make sure you vote!
I urge you to take my advice with plenty of salt, and research the issues and candidates on your own. There are two websites I find particularly helpful: Voter’s Edge, sponsored by MapLight and the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund, and Ballotpedia. Both sites enable you to look up your own ballot and find information about the various candidates and issues on the ballot.
Whatever you do, make sure you vote!
Statewide
Governor: GAVIN NEWSOM or DELAINE EASTIN
Lieutenant Governor: JEFF BLEICH
Secretary of State: ALEX PADILLA
Controller: BETTY YEE
Treasurer: VIVEK VISWANATHAN
Attorney General: DAVE JONES
Insurance Commissioner: ASIF MAHMOOD
State Board of Equalization, District 2: MALIA COHEN
United States Senate: KEVIN DE LEON
State Superintendent of Public Instruction: TONY THURMOND
Local
United States Representative, 2nd District: JARED HUFFMAN
State Senator, 2nd District: MIKE MCGUIRE
Member of the State Assembly, 10th District: DAN MONTE
Marin County Superintendent of Schools: MARY JANE BURKE
Marin County Assessor-Recorder-Clerk: SHELLY SCOTT
Marin County District Attorney: ANNA PLETCHER
Marin County Sheriff-Coroner: ROBERT DOYLE
State Ballot Measures
Prop 68 - Bonds for Parks, Natural Resources Protection, etc.: YES
Prop 69 - Transportation Revenues Must Be Used For Transportation Purposes: YES
Prop 70 - Requires Supermajority Vote To Use Cap-And-Trade Funds: NO
Prop 71 - Sets Effective Date For Ballot Measures: YES
Prop 72 - Property Tax Exemption For Newly Constructed Rain-Capture Systems: YES
Local Ballot Measures
Bay Area Toll Authority - Regional Measure 3: YES
Marin County Measure E - Renew Parcel Tax For Schools: YES
Governor: GAVIN NEWSOM or DELAINE EASTIN
Lieutenant Governor: JEFF BLEICH
Secretary of State: ALEX PADILLA
Controller: BETTY YEE
Treasurer: VIVEK VISWANATHAN
Attorney General: DAVE JONES
Insurance Commissioner: ASIF MAHMOOD
State Board of Equalization, District 2: MALIA COHEN
United States Senate: KEVIN DE LEON
State Superintendent of Public Instruction: TONY THURMOND
Local
United States Representative, 2nd District: JARED HUFFMAN
State Senator, 2nd District: MIKE MCGUIRE
Member of the State Assembly, 10th District: DAN MONTE
Marin County Superintendent of Schools: MARY JANE BURKE
Marin County Assessor-Recorder-Clerk: SHELLY SCOTT
Marin County District Attorney: ANNA PLETCHER
Marin County Sheriff-Coroner: ROBERT DOYLE
State Ballot Measures
Prop 68 - Bonds for Parks, Natural Resources Protection, etc.: YES
Prop 69 - Transportation Revenues Must Be Used For Transportation Purposes: YES
Prop 70 - Requires Supermajority Vote To Use Cap-And-Trade Funds: NO
Prop 71 - Sets Effective Date For Ballot Measures: YES
Prop 72 - Property Tax Exemption For Newly Constructed Rain-Capture Systems: YES
Local Ballot Measures
Bay Area Toll Authority - Regional Measure 3: YES
Marin County Measure E - Renew Parcel Tax For Schools: YES
Explanations
Governor: GAVIN NEWSOM or DELAINE EASTIN
There are four solid Democrats running for Governor: Lieutenant Governor and former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, California Treasurer John Chiang, and former State School Superintendent and Assemblymember Delaine Eastin. For me, the two who stand out are Newsom and Eastin. I would be very happy to see either of them as our Governor.
Gavin Newsom is smart and articulate and very good on the issues. I give him a lot of credit for being way ahead of the curve on same-sex marriage, which he authorized in San Francisco in 2004.
It was not the politically safe thing to do. At the time, less than a third of Californians supported marriage equality. But Newsom thought it was the right thing to do, and he risked his political future for the courage of his convictions. That is a refreshing trait for a politician these days.
I watched the gubernatorial debate held in San Jose and, while I was impressed with Gavin Newsom, I was even more impressed with Delaine Eastin.
Eastin is an accomplished lawmaker, and she also has a knack for really connecting with people. She gets at the core of many issues in a way we all can relate to. She exhibits and elicits an emotional connection that I just don’t get from the other candidates.
I’ve spoken to a couple of very politically involved friends who both greatly admire Delaine Eastin and think she’s the best candidate. But they point to her poor standing in the polls (as of this writing she’s at 4 or 5%, depending on which poll you look at) and say she has no chance. They’re voting for Newsom.
I’ve slowly come around to the same conclusion, though I’m going to check the polls again before I vote.
I can’t end this section without a few words about the two leading Republican candidates for Governor, Travis Allen and John Cox.
Travis Allen comes to us directly from the Stone Age. His plan to end homelessness is to lock homeless people up for vagrancy. John Cox doesn’t seem to be quite as cruel, but his answer to virtually any issue goes something like this: “I’m a businessman. Politicians are all bad and they’re screwing everything up. As a businessman, I know how to fix things.” No mention of how that’s worked out for us on the national level!
Vote for GAVIN NEWSOM or DELAINE EASTIN.
Lieutenant Governor: JEFF BLEICH
There are four candidates in this race whom I’d be happy to support: State Senator Ed Hernandez, former Ambassador to Hungary Eleni Kounalakis, former Obama senior advisor and Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich, and former Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin. The first three are Democrats; McLaughlin is running as an Independent and is endorsed by Bernie Sanders’ Our Revolution.
They all came across well in the debate I watched, while the lone Republican in the debate, Lydia Ortega, left me stunned, and not in a good way.
Ortega arrogantly claimed she’s the ONLY person qualified for the job and knows exactly what to do to fix our problems — solutions she didn’t deign to let us in on. Her opening and closing statements were the most incoherent pitches I’ve heard in any of the debates I’ve watched.
The bulk of her open involved touting and re-touting and then touting again a change she brought about as a Professor at San Jose State University (something she described as practically earth shattering; it sounded like a nice thing to me, but nowhere near the monumental achievement she made it out to be). That caused her time to run out, so she said nothing about what she hoped to do as Lieutenant Governor.
Her close was even worse — an unhinged rant about the Second Amendment and Venezuela and Hugo Chavez, and California will be next if we don’t watch out!
OK, back to the four who might actually do something to help our state.
The bottom line is, while I think they all have something to offer, I feel that Jeff Bleich has the widest breadth of experience relative to the job and the most detailed ideas of how to achieve the things he hopes to accomplish.
The San Jose Mercury News endorsement gives more details.
VOTE FOR JEFF BLEICH.
Secretary of State: ALEX PADILLA
While Republicans across the country have been working hard to restrict voting rights and access to the polls, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla has done the opposite. He’s increasing registration and making it easier to vote. And he has stood up to Trump’s fraudulent voting commission. He deserves reelection.
VOTE FOR ALEX PADILLA.
Controller: BETTY YEE
Betty Yee is the incumbent and she’s doing a very good job fighting waste, fraud, and corruption, including going after the Board of Equalization for mismanagement. She also deserves to be reelected.
VOTE FOR BETTY YEE.
Treasurer: VIVEK VISWANATHAN
I’m bucking the political establishment on this one. Fiona Ma has an enormous list of major endorsements, a huge edge in fundraising, and she will probably win.
It’s not that I think Ma would make a bad Treasurer; on the contrary, I think she’d be very good. It’s just that I think Vivek Viswanathan would make an ever better Treasurer.
Viswanathan is a policy wonk who has an amazing command of the issues and has solid progressive values. He was a policy advisor for Hillary Clinton’s campaign and then served as a special advisor to Governor Jerry Brown.
I don’t think you could ask him a question pertaining to the office of Treasurer that he couldn’t immediately and easily answer in great detail. If you don’t believe me, check out some of his Facebook Live Town Halls. Here’s one of them.
VOTE FOR VIVEK VISWANATHAN.
Attorney General: DAVE JONES
When I started working on these recommendations, I assumed I’d be supporting appointed incumbent Attorney General Xavier Becerra. I admire his doggedness in standing up to the Trump administration. He’s filed something like 32 lawsuits against them. He came to the job after serving in Congress for nearly a quarter century.
But as I looked into the contest more and watched a debate between the four candidates, Insurance Commissioner Doug Jones, the other Democrat in the race, started looking better and better to me.
Jones agrees on the need to protect California from Trump and says he would have also filed those lawsuits. But he criticizes Becerra for neglecting other parts of the job of Attorney General. He also takes Becerra to task for accepting campaign donations from oil companies and the tobacco industry.
Much more than the attacks on Becerra, what draws me to Jones is that he seems to have a much stronger grasp of the details of the job. I found a lot of Becerra’s answers broad and grandiose. While I think he and Jones have mostly the same goals, Jones was able to describe more specifically how he could accomplish those goals.
After I came to this conclusion, I read this editorial in the San Jose Mercury News, which affirmed my thoughts, just as their endorsement of Jeff Bleich did for the Lieutenant Governor race.
VOTE FOR DAVE JONES.
Insurance Commissioner: ASIF MAHMOOD
I thought this race was going to be a no-brainer and that I would support Ricardo Lara, who has an excellent record as a State Senator, including spearheading the move towards single-payer healthcare in California.
But in watching him on video and perusing his website, I wonder if Lara understands what the Insurance Commissioner’s job actually is. A number of issues are addressed on his website, none of which really falls under the Commissioner’s purview.
I see and hear virtually nothing about insurance or insurance companies coming from him.
So despite the long list of Democratic endorsements for Lara and his legislative accomplishments, I can’t bring myself to join the pack.
I also can’t bring myself to support Steve Poizner, a Republican-turned-Independent who held the job from 2007-2011. He had a reputation as a moderate until he drank the anti-immigration Kool-Aid during his 2010 run for Governor, and turned into a frothing xenophobe. He says he now regrets that, but he’s lost any credibility he may have had with me.
Fortunately, there’s another option: Dr. Asif Mahmood, a pulmonary physician, who has solid Democratic credentials and does understand the duties of the Insurance Commissioner. He’s also picked up endorsements of some prominent elected Democrats.
VOTE FOR ASIF MAHMOOD.
State Board of Equalization, District 2: MALIA COHEN
The Board of Equalization’s responsibilities were recently drastically reduced in the wake of major scandals, and its staff was cut by about 95%. It may be on a path to extinction.
But for now, it still does oversee property tax collection. And the clear choice in this race is San Francisco Supervisor Malia Cohen, who seems to most comprehend the job and who is campaigning on “transparency, accountability, and fairness,” which is exactly what a member of the Board of Equalization should be focused on.
VOTE FOR MALIA COHEN.
United States Senate: KEVIN DE LEON
Incumbent Dianne Feinstein has served in the U.S. Senate since 1992. She’s great on some issues, most notably gun control, for which she has drawn on personal experience to make a compelling case for reasonable gun control measures.
She’s not so great on some other issues. She voted for the Iraq War and for the Bush tax cuts. She has a tendency to protect big business and the very wealthy over average people. She opposes “Medicare for All.”
Feinstein’s most prominent opponent is State Senator Kevin de Leon, who served as the California Senate’s President pro tempore until earlier this year. He is much more progressive than Feinstein. Where she’s been cautious at best, de Leon has been way out in front on a number of issues.
He wrote landmark legislation to require California utilities to get a third of their electricity from renewables by 2020 (they’re now most of the way toward that goal), rising to half by 2030.
He shepherded nearly a dozen gun violence prevention bills through the State Senate and was also responsible for meaningful anti-pollution legislation as well as a measure investing in parks in low-income areas.
On the issues, the choice of de Leon is clear. There’s also the fact that on June 22, Dianne Feinstein will turn 85. That means that if she serves another full term in the Senate, she will be 91 years old by the end of it.
With an irresponsible, incurious, impulsive, irrational maniac in the White House, our senators need to constantly be on their toes. This is not a job for the faint of heart and — call me ageist if you must — it’s not a job for a nonagenarian.
VOTE FOR KEVIN DE LEON!
State Superintendent of Public Instruction: TONY THURMOND
This Sacramento Bee editorial sums it up well.
VOTE FOR TONY THURMOND.
United States Representative, 2nd District: JARED HUFFMAN
I believe we’re being well served in Washington, D.C. by incumbent Jared Huffman. I also appreciate that he holds informal events in the district to meet with constituents as much as possible. He should definitely be reelected.
VOTE FOR JARED HUFFMAN.
State Senator, 2nd District: MIKE MCGUIRE
There are only two candidates for this office, so this is a race that will be replayed in November.
Democrat Mike McGuire is the incumbent. He’s being challenged by another Democrat, former Santa Rosa Councilwoman Veronica “Roni” Jacobi.
This is somewhat similar to the State Assembly race (see below), where the Democratic incumbent is being challenged from the left. The difference, in my opinion, is that McGuire is a somewhat stronger candidate than Marc Levine and Roni Jacobi is a somewhat weaker candidate than Dan Monte.
Jacobi challenged Marc Levine two years ago. I stand by what I wrote about her then:
The issue Jacobi puts front and center is fighting climate change, and she certainly practices what she preaches. She goes to great lengths to lower her own carbon footprint. In fact, she took the bus from Santa Rosa to attend the candidate debate I watched.
Unfortunately, Jacobi lost me with her less than lackluster performance at the debate. Her heart is clearly in the right place. She would likely have a very good voting record. But I don’t see her as a potential leader and I’m afraid she would not be able to deliver for the district.
An argument could certainly be made to vote for Jacobi in the primary in an attempt to push McGuire a little more to the left, or maybe to try to get him to stop taking corporate campaign contributions.
My recommendation is to VOTE FOR MIKE MCGUIRE but to also write him a letter regarding the campaign contribution issue.
Member of the State Assembly, 10th District: DAN MONTE
Just as in the State Senate race, there are only two candidates vying for this State Assembly seat, so they will both go at it again in November. And, like the State Senate race, this one also features two Democrats.
Incumbent Marc Levine is being challenged by Dan Monte, an active environmentalist who is very passionate about making sure all Californians have access to healthcare and a quality education.
Levine mostly has a pretty good voting record, particularly on social issues. But when it comes to protecting consumers vs. going along with big business, his record is a mixed bag at best.
That’s not surprising when you look at his campaign contributors, who include Walmart, Comcast, pharmaceutical companies, and the California Charter School Association.
Monte, meanwhile, is not accepting corporate contributions.
I watched an interview with Dan Monte. He came across well, though there are some issues about which he needs to educate himself. I hope he is in the process of doing that.
Those gaps notwithstanding, I think we should send a message to Marc Levine that he can’t take our votes for granted.
I recommend a VOTE FOR DAN MONTE, knowing we can reevaluate this race in November.
Marin County Superintendent of Schools: MARY JANE BURKE
Mary Jane Burke has been Marin’s Superintendent of Schools for a long time, and from what I can tell, she has done a very good job.
Also, my wife has had dealings with her through a nonprofit that helps low-income, underserved students — largely English language learners — acquire literacy skills. My wife is on the Board of Directors and Mary Jane Burke is on the Advisory Council. My wife has found her to be very accessible, responsive, and helpful.
Burke is being challenged by Matt Nagle, who has extensive experience as a teacher and school principal. He has some good ideas, but he needs to learn to be more tactful, particularly with those who would serve under him if he were to become Superintendent (this comes from an incident at a recent forum with the two candidates).
VOTE FOR MARY JANE BURKE.
Marin County Assessor-Recorder-Clerk: SHELLY SCOTT
At least two of the three candidates for Assessor-Recorder-Clerk appear well-qualified. Brian Karr and Shelly Scott both currently work in the Assessor’s office and have extensive experience. The third, realtor Jenny Mattson, might be fine, too.
When it comes to community involvement and endorsements, Scott has an enormous edge. She’s been on several commissions and boards, and she has been endorsed by many key officeholders. Her opponents have no major endorsements and have not mentioned any extracurricular local involvement.
I recommend a VOTE FOR SHELLY SCOTT.
Marin County District Attorney: ANNA PLETCHER
Most of my information about this particular race comes from my friend Sandy Handsher, who has long been involved in justice issues in Marin and has attended five(!) forums featuring all three candidates for D.A.
For progressives, the choice is between A.J. Brady and Anna Pletcher. Lori Frugoli is the conservative of the group, plus she was the least prepared to deal with the different groups of Marin citizens who put on the various forums.
While Frugoli mentions “restorative justice” in her ballot statement, it is really Brady and Pletcher who are most committed to the idea, which seeks to find ways convicted criminals can provide relief to victims (such as restitution for theft), while, where appropriate, finding alternative punishments to incarceration.
Anna Pletcher touts her outsider status as a plus, and in this case it probably is. If elected, she would be the county’s first District Attorney in seventy years not to come from the D.A.’s office.
Despite that, Pletcher has plenty of experience that makes her extremely qualified for the job, including ten years as a federal prosecutor, which involved managing a large group of lawyers. As someone who played for many years on a lawyers’ league softball team, I can tell you that is no easy task!
What really tips the scales in Pletcher’s favor for both Sandy and me is her push to change the way cases of rape are handled in Marin. Currently, victims must travel to Kaiser in Vallejo in order to get a rape kit examination.
Pletcher wants to have trained forensic examiners come to the victims rather than the other way around. This will have two benefits: minimizing further traumatization of the victims and insuring that more rape cases get prosecuted.
I recommend a VOTE FOR ANNA PLETCHER.
Marin County Sheriff-Coroner: ROBERT DOYLE
Unfortunately, the incumbent Sheriff-Coroner is running unopposed.
State Ballot Measures
Prop 68 - Bonds for Parks, Natural Resources Protection, etc.: YES
This measure authorizes the sale of bonds for natural resource conservation and resiliency projects, parks and recreation, and water projects, including flood protection and cleaning up polluted local drinking water systems. Among other things, it will bring a long overdue infusion of funds to our wonderful (but fiscally neglected in recent years) state park system. The main opponents to this measure are the usual suspects, such as the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, who tend to oppose anything, no matter how beneficial, that costs money.
Meanwhile, Prop 68 is endorsed by the state’s major newspapers and its principal financial backers are a who’s who of worthy organizations, including The Nature Conservancy, The Trust for Public Land, and Save The Redwoods League. I’m proud to stand with them in support of Prop 68.
VOTE YES ON 68!
Prop 69 - Transportation Revenues Must Be Used For Transportation Purposes: YES
Generally, I am skeptical of measures that limit lawmakers’ abilities to do their jobs. We elect them to make decisions. If we don’t like the decisions they make, we can vote against them the next time around.
This is one of those measures.
It has to do with the revenues generated by recent increases in gasoline and diesel taxes, as well as other automobile related fees. Most of those taxes and fees are already required to be spent for transportation purposes. Prop 69 extends that requirement to ALL the funds generated.
I scratched my head over this one for a while, wondering why the legislature even put it on the ballot. I eventually came up with a theory.
It looks like there will be an initiative on the November ballot to repeal the above mentioned gas tax and fee increases. My theory is that by restricting how all the revenues from these increases can be spent, it might make it a little harder for the repeal to succeed. That might also explain the irrational arguments against Prop 69 in the Voter Information Guide.
We do need to use these monies to repair our roads and bridges, and to improve public transportation. If this measure helps keep that revenue stream intact, I’m all for it.
While I feel less strongly about this proposition than the others, I encourage you to VOTE YES ON 69.
Prop 70 - Requires Supermajority Vote To Use Cap-And-Trade Funds: NO
Starting in 2024, Prop 70 would require a 2/3 vote of both houses of the state legislature before funds from California’s cap-and-trade program could be spent.
The cap-and-trade program collects fees from certain companies that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, providing an incentive for those businesses to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions and providing money the state can use to invest in projects designed to reduce our carbon footprints.
When I read the description of this measure, I wondered why Democrats in the state legislature would support something that would make it much harder to allocate funds generated by California’s cap-and-trade program. It would make it possible for Republicans to block spending those funds altogether.
It turns out that it was part of a deal struck between Governor Brown and Chad Mayes, then-leader of Assembly Republicans. In exchange for Mayes delivering enough Republican votes to extend the cap-and-trade program until 2030, this measure would be placed on the ballot.
OK, it’s on the ballot. That doesn’t mean we have to vote for it.
VOTE NO ON 70!
Prop 71 - Sets Effective Date For Ballot Measures: YES
This is a no-brainer. It simply recognizes the reality that a lot more people vote by absentee ballot than they used to. As a result, it takes longer to count ballots and certify the results.
To accommodate that fact, this proposition moves the date that a successful ballot measure takes effect, from the day after the election to five days after the Secretary of State certifies the results.
Prop 71 passed both houses of the state legislature unanimously. The only voice against it seems to come from longtime crackpot ballot argument author Gary Wesley, who has yet to find a good idea he doesn’t oppose.
VOTE YES ON 71.
Prop 72 - Property Tax Exemption For Newly Constructed Rain-Capture Systems: YES
This is another commonsense measure. Encouraging people to install rain-capture systems is a good thing for all of us, and exempting those systems from property taxes is a reasonable form of encouragement (or at least it removes potential discouragement). Using captured rainwater for gardens and other household needs will help alleviate demand on our natural water resources.
Prop 72 also passed both the State Assembly and the State Senate unanimously, and nobody, not even Gary Wesley, submitted an argument against it.
VOTE YES ON 72.
Bay Area Toll Authority - Regional Measure 3: YES
This measure raises tolls on Bay Area bridges (except the Golden Gate) to fund a variety of projects designed to relieve traffic congestion.
I am not unmoved by my friend David Schonbrunn’s argument against Measure 3. I don’t think this is a perfect plan. Some of the projects are more worthy than others. And I don’t believe this will solve all of our traffic problems. But neither will simply making better use of our HOV lanes.
I think we need to do both, and probably much more.
VOTE YES ON MEASURE 3.
Marin County Measure E - Renew Parcel Tax For Schools: YES
Measure E renews the existing parcel tax for Ross Valley schools, which currently provides 17% of the district’s budget. This will enable the RVSD to continue to fund important programs, keep class sizes small, etc.
The money cannot be used for administrative costs or pensions.
Amazingly, there was no ballot argument filed against Measure E. Still, this is a measure that needs a 2/3 yes vote to pass, which is always a tough threshold.
I don’t think there’s a more important investment we can make than in our children. And even though my wife and I have no children of our own, we are happy to support our schools.
VOTE YES ON MEASURE E!
Governor: GAVIN NEWSOM or DELAINE EASTIN
There are four solid Democrats running for Governor: Lieutenant Governor and former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, California Treasurer John Chiang, and former State School Superintendent and Assemblymember Delaine Eastin. For me, the two who stand out are Newsom and Eastin. I would be very happy to see either of them as our Governor.
Gavin Newsom is smart and articulate and very good on the issues. I give him a lot of credit for being way ahead of the curve on same-sex marriage, which he authorized in San Francisco in 2004.
It was not the politically safe thing to do. At the time, less than a third of Californians supported marriage equality. But Newsom thought it was the right thing to do, and he risked his political future for the courage of his convictions. That is a refreshing trait for a politician these days.
I watched the gubernatorial debate held in San Jose and, while I was impressed with Gavin Newsom, I was even more impressed with Delaine Eastin.
Eastin is an accomplished lawmaker, and she also has a knack for really connecting with people. She gets at the core of many issues in a way we all can relate to. She exhibits and elicits an emotional connection that I just don’t get from the other candidates.
I’ve spoken to a couple of very politically involved friends who both greatly admire Delaine Eastin and think she’s the best candidate. But they point to her poor standing in the polls (as of this writing she’s at 4 or 5%, depending on which poll you look at) and say she has no chance. They’re voting for Newsom.
I’ve slowly come around to the same conclusion, though I’m going to check the polls again before I vote.
I can’t end this section without a few words about the two leading Republican candidates for Governor, Travis Allen and John Cox.
Travis Allen comes to us directly from the Stone Age. His plan to end homelessness is to lock homeless people up for vagrancy. John Cox doesn’t seem to be quite as cruel, but his answer to virtually any issue goes something like this: “I’m a businessman. Politicians are all bad and they’re screwing everything up. As a businessman, I know how to fix things.” No mention of how that’s worked out for us on the national level!
Vote for GAVIN NEWSOM or DELAINE EASTIN.
Lieutenant Governor: JEFF BLEICH
There are four candidates in this race whom I’d be happy to support: State Senator Ed Hernandez, former Ambassador to Hungary Eleni Kounalakis, former Obama senior advisor and Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich, and former Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin. The first three are Democrats; McLaughlin is running as an Independent and is endorsed by Bernie Sanders’ Our Revolution.
They all came across well in the debate I watched, while the lone Republican in the debate, Lydia Ortega, left me stunned, and not in a good way.
Ortega arrogantly claimed she’s the ONLY person qualified for the job and knows exactly what to do to fix our problems — solutions she didn’t deign to let us in on. Her opening and closing statements were the most incoherent pitches I’ve heard in any of the debates I’ve watched.
The bulk of her open involved touting and re-touting and then touting again a change she brought about as a Professor at San Jose State University (something she described as practically earth shattering; it sounded like a nice thing to me, but nowhere near the monumental achievement she made it out to be). That caused her time to run out, so she said nothing about what she hoped to do as Lieutenant Governor.
Her close was even worse — an unhinged rant about the Second Amendment and Venezuela and Hugo Chavez, and California will be next if we don’t watch out!
OK, back to the four who might actually do something to help our state.
The bottom line is, while I think they all have something to offer, I feel that Jeff Bleich has the widest breadth of experience relative to the job and the most detailed ideas of how to achieve the things he hopes to accomplish.
The San Jose Mercury News endorsement gives more details.
VOTE FOR JEFF BLEICH.
Secretary of State: ALEX PADILLA
While Republicans across the country have been working hard to restrict voting rights and access to the polls, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla has done the opposite. He’s increasing registration and making it easier to vote. And he has stood up to Trump’s fraudulent voting commission. He deserves reelection.
VOTE FOR ALEX PADILLA.
Controller: BETTY YEE
Betty Yee is the incumbent and she’s doing a very good job fighting waste, fraud, and corruption, including going after the Board of Equalization for mismanagement. She also deserves to be reelected.
VOTE FOR BETTY YEE.
Treasurer: VIVEK VISWANATHAN
I’m bucking the political establishment on this one. Fiona Ma has an enormous list of major endorsements, a huge edge in fundraising, and she will probably win.
It’s not that I think Ma would make a bad Treasurer; on the contrary, I think she’d be very good. It’s just that I think Vivek Viswanathan would make an ever better Treasurer.
Viswanathan is a policy wonk who has an amazing command of the issues and has solid progressive values. He was a policy advisor for Hillary Clinton’s campaign and then served as a special advisor to Governor Jerry Brown.
I don’t think you could ask him a question pertaining to the office of Treasurer that he couldn’t immediately and easily answer in great detail. If you don’t believe me, check out some of his Facebook Live Town Halls. Here’s one of them.
VOTE FOR VIVEK VISWANATHAN.
Attorney General: DAVE JONES
When I started working on these recommendations, I assumed I’d be supporting appointed incumbent Attorney General Xavier Becerra. I admire his doggedness in standing up to the Trump administration. He’s filed something like 32 lawsuits against them. He came to the job after serving in Congress for nearly a quarter century.
But as I looked into the contest more and watched a debate between the four candidates, Insurance Commissioner Doug Jones, the other Democrat in the race, started looking better and better to me.
Jones agrees on the need to protect California from Trump and says he would have also filed those lawsuits. But he criticizes Becerra for neglecting other parts of the job of Attorney General. He also takes Becerra to task for accepting campaign donations from oil companies and the tobacco industry.
Much more than the attacks on Becerra, what draws me to Jones is that he seems to have a much stronger grasp of the details of the job. I found a lot of Becerra’s answers broad and grandiose. While I think he and Jones have mostly the same goals, Jones was able to describe more specifically how he could accomplish those goals.
After I came to this conclusion, I read this editorial in the San Jose Mercury News, which affirmed my thoughts, just as their endorsement of Jeff Bleich did for the Lieutenant Governor race.
VOTE FOR DAVE JONES.
Insurance Commissioner: ASIF MAHMOOD
I thought this race was going to be a no-brainer and that I would support Ricardo Lara, who has an excellent record as a State Senator, including spearheading the move towards single-payer healthcare in California.
But in watching him on video and perusing his website, I wonder if Lara understands what the Insurance Commissioner’s job actually is. A number of issues are addressed on his website, none of which really falls under the Commissioner’s purview.
I see and hear virtually nothing about insurance or insurance companies coming from him.
So despite the long list of Democratic endorsements for Lara and his legislative accomplishments, I can’t bring myself to join the pack.
I also can’t bring myself to support Steve Poizner, a Republican-turned-Independent who held the job from 2007-2011. He had a reputation as a moderate until he drank the anti-immigration Kool-Aid during his 2010 run for Governor, and turned into a frothing xenophobe. He says he now regrets that, but he’s lost any credibility he may have had with me.
Fortunately, there’s another option: Dr. Asif Mahmood, a pulmonary physician, who has solid Democratic credentials and does understand the duties of the Insurance Commissioner. He’s also picked up endorsements of some prominent elected Democrats.
VOTE FOR ASIF MAHMOOD.
State Board of Equalization, District 2: MALIA COHEN
The Board of Equalization’s responsibilities were recently drastically reduced in the wake of major scandals, and its staff was cut by about 95%. It may be on a path to extinction.
But for now, it still does oversee property tax collection. And the clear choice in this race is San Francisco Supervisor Malia Cohen, who seems to most comprehend the job and who is campaigning on “transparency, accountability, and fairness,” which is exactly what a member of the Board of Equalization should be focused on.
VOTE FOR MALIA COHEN.
United States Senate: KEVIN DE LEON
Incumbent Dianne Feinstein has served in the U.S. Senate since 1992. She’s great on some issues, most notably gun control, for which she has drawn on personal experience to make a compelling case for reasonable gun control measures.
She’s not so great on some other issues. She voted for the Iraq War and for the Bush tax cuts. She has a tendency to protect big business and the very wealthy over average people. She opposes “Medicare for All.”
Feinstein’s most prominent opponent is State Senator Kevin de Leon, who served as the California Senate’s President pro tempore until earlier this year. He is much more progressive than Feinstein. Where she’s been cautious at best, de Leon has been way out in front on a number of issues.
He wrote landmark legislation to require California utilities to get a third of their electricity from renewables by 2020 (they’re now most of the way toward that goal), rising to half by 2030.
He shepherded nearly a dozen gun violence prevention bills through the State Senate and was also responsible for meaningful anti-pollution legislation as well as a measure investing in parks in low-income areas.
On the issues, the choice of de Leon is clear. There’s also the fact that on June 22, Dianne Feinstein will turn 85. That means that if she serves another full term in the Senate, she will be 91 years old by the end of it.
With an irresponsible, incurious, impulsive, irrational maniac in the White House, our senators need to constantly be on their toes. This is not a job for the faint of heart and — call me ageist if you must — it’s not a job for a nonagenarian.
VOTE FOR KEVIN DE LEON!
State Superintendent of Public Instruction: TONY THURMOND
This Sacramento Bee editorial sums it up well.
VOTE FOR TONY THURMOND.
United States Representative, 2nd District: JARED HUFFMAN
I believe we’re being well served in Washington, D.C. by incumbent Jared Huffman. I also appreciate that he holds informal events in the district to meet with constituents as much as possible. He should definitely be reelected.
VOTE FOR JARED HUFFMAN.
State Senator, 2nd District: MIKE MCGUIRE
There are only two candidates for this office, so this is a race that will be replayed in November.
Democrat Mike McGuire is the incumbent. He’s being challenged by another Democrat, former Santa Rosa Councilwoman Veronica “Roni” Jacobi.
This is somewhat similar to the State Assembly race (see below), where the Democratic incumbent is being challenged from the left. The difference, in my opinion, is that McGuire is a somewhat stronger candidate than Marc Levine and Roni Jacobi is a somewhat weaker candidate than Dan Monte.
Jacobi challenged Marc Levine two years ago. I stand by what I wrote about her then:
The issue Jacobi puts front and center is fighting climate change, and she certainly practices what she preaches. She goes to great lengths to lower her own carbon footprint. In fact, she took the bus from Santa Rosa to attend the candidate debate I watched.
Unfortunately, Jacobi lost me with her less than lackluster performance at the debate. Her heart is clearly in the right place. She would likely have a very good voting record. But I don’t see her as a potential leader and I’m afraid she would not be able to deliver for the district.
An argument could certainly be made to vote for Jacobi in the primary in an attempt to push McGuire a little more to the left, or maybe to try to get him to stop taking corporate campaign contributions.
My recommendation is to VOTE FOR MIKE MCGUIRE but to also write him a letter regarding the campaign contribution issue.
Member of the State Assembly, 10th District: DAN MONTE
Just as in the State Senate race, there are only two candidates vying for this State Assembly seat, so they will both go at it again in November. And, like the State Senate race, this one also features two Democrats.
Incumbent Marc Levine is being challenged by Dan Monte, an active environmentalist who is very passionate about making sure all Californians have access to healthcare and a quality education.
Levine mostly has a pretty good voting record, particularly on social issues. But when it comes to protecting consumers vs. going along with big business, his record is a mixed bag at best.
That’s not surprising when you look at his campaign contributors, who include Walmart, Comcast, pharmaceutical companies, and the California Charter School Association.
Monte, meanwhile, is not accepting corporate contributions.
I watched an interview with Dan Monte. He came across well, though there are some issues about which he needs to educate himself. I hope he is in the process of doing that.
Those gaps notwithstanding, I think we should send a message to Marc Levine that he can’t take our votes for granted.
I recommend a VOTE FOR DAN MONTE, knowing we can reevaluate this race in November.
Marin County Superintendent of Schools: MARY JANE BURKE
Mary Jane Burke has been Marin’s Superintendent of Schools for a long time, and from what I can tell, she has done a very good job.
Also, my wife has had dealings with her through a nonprofit that helps low-income, underserved students — largely English language learners — acquire literacy skills. My wife is on the Board of Directors and Mary Jane Burke is on the Advisory Council. My wife has found her to be very accessible, responsive, and helpful.
Burke is being challenged by Matt Nagle, who has extensive experience as a teacher and school principal. He has some good ideas, but he needs to learn to be more tactful, particularly with those who would serve under him if he were to become Superintendent (this comes from an incident at a recent forum with the two candidates).
VOTE FOR MARY JANE BURKE.
Marin County Assessor-Recorder-Clerk: SHELLY SCOTT
At least two of the three candidates for Assessor-Recorder-Clerk appear well-qualified. Brian Karr and Shelly Scott both currently work in the Assessor’s office and have extensive experience. The third, realtor Jenny Mattson, might be fine, too.
When it comes to community involvement and endorsements, Scott has an enormous edge. She’s been on several commissions and boards, and she has been endorsed by many key officeholders. Her opponents have no major endorsements and have not mentioned any extracurricular local involvement.
I recommend a VOTE FOR SHELLY SCOTT.
Marin County District Attorney: ANNA PLETCHER
Most of my information about this particular race comes from my friend Sandy Handsher, who has long been involved in justice issues in Marin and has attended five(!) forums featuring all three candidates for D.A.
For progressives, the choice is between A.J. Brady and Anna Pletcher. Lori Frugoli is the conservative of the group, plus she was the least prepared to deal with the different groups of Marin citizens who put on the various forums.
While Frugoli mentions “restorative justice” in her ballot statement, it is really Brady and Pletcher who are most committed to the idea, which seeks to find ways convicted criminals can provide relief to victims (such as restitution for theft), while, where appropriate, finding alternative punishments to incarceration.
Anna Pletcher touts her outsider status as a plus, and in this case it probably is. If elected, she would be the county’s first District Attorney in seventy years not to come from the D.A.’s office.
Despite that, Pletcher has plenty of experience that makes her extremely qualified for the job, including ten years as a federal prosecutor, which involved managing a large group of lawyers. As someone who played for many years on a lawyers’ league softball team, I can tell you that is no easy task!
What really tips the scales in Pletcher’s favor for both Sandy and me is her push to change the way cases of rape are handled in Marin. Currently, victims must travel to Kaiser in Vallejo in order to get a rape kit examination.
Pletcher wants to have trained forensic examiners come to the victims rather than the other way around. This will have two benefits: minimizing further traumatization of the victims and insuring that more rape cases get prosecuted.
I recommend a VOTE FOR ANNA PLETCHER.
Marin County Sheriff-Coroner: ROBERT DOYLE
Unfortunately, the incumbent Sheriff-Coroner is running unopposed.
State Ballot Measures
Prop 68 - Bonds for Parks, Natural Resources Protection, etc.: YES
This measure authorizes the sale of bonds for natural resource conservation and resiliency projects, parks and recreation, and water projects, including flood protection and cleaning up polluted local drinking water systems. Among other things, it will bring a long overdue infusion of funds to our wonderful (but fiscally neglected in recent years) state park system. The main opponents to this measure are the usual suspects, such as the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, who tend to oppose anything, no matter how beneficial, that costs money.
Meanwhile, Prop 68 is endorsed by the state’s major newspapers and its principal financial backers are a who’s who of worthy organizations, including The Nature Conservancy, The Trust for Public Land, and Save The Redwoods League. I’m proud to stand with them in support of Prop 68.
VOTE YES ON 68!
Prop 69 - Transportation Revenues Must Be Used For Transportation Purposes: YES
Generally, I am skeptical of measures that limit lawmakers’ abilities to do their jobs. We elect them to make decisions. If we don’t like the decisions they make, we can vote against them the next time around.
This is one of those measures.
It has to do with the revenues generated by recent increases in gasoline and diesel taxes, as well as other automobile related fees. Most of those taxes and fees are already required to be spent for transportation purposes. Prop 69 extends that requirement to ALL the funds generated.
I scratched my head over this one for a while, wondering why the legislature even put it on the ballot. I eventually came up with a theory.
It looks like there will be an initiative on the November ballot to repeal the above mentioned gas tax and fee increases. My theory is that by restricting how all the revenues from these increases can be spent, it might make it a little harder for the repeal to succeed. That might also explain the irrational arguments against Prop 69 in the Voter Information Guide.
We do need to use these monies to repair our roads and bridges, and to improve public transportation. If this measure helps keep that revenue stream intact, I’m all for it.
While I feel less strongly about this proposition than the others, I encourage you to VOTE YES ON 69.
Prop 70 - Requires Supermajority Vote To Use Cap-And-Trade Funds: NO
Starting in 2024, Prop 70 would require a 2/3 vote of both houses of the state legislature before funds from California’s cap-and-trade program could be spent.
The cap-and-trade program collects fees from certain companies that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, providing an incentive for those businesses to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions and providing money the state can use to invest in projects designed to reduce our carbon footprints.
When I read the description of this measure, I wondered why Democrats in the state legislature would support something that would make it much harder to allocate funds generated by California’s cap-and-trade program. It would make it possible for Republicans to block spending those funds altogether.
It turns out that it was part of a deal struck between Governor Brown and Chad Mayes, then-leader of Assembly Republicans. In exchange for Mayes delivering enough Republican votes to extend the cap-and-trade program until 2030, this measure would be placed on the ballot.
OK, it’s on the ballot. That doesn’t mean we have to vote for it.
VOTE NO ON 70!
Prop 71 - Sets Effective Date For Ballot Measures: YES
This is a no-brainer. It simply recognizes the reality that a lot more people vote by absentee ballot than they used to. As a result, it takes longer to count ballots and certify the results.
To accommodate that fact, this proposition moves the date that a successful ballot measure takes effect, from the day after the election to five days after the Secretary of State certifies the results.
Prop 71 passed both houses of the state legislature unanimously. The only voice against it seems to come from longtime crackpot ballot argument author Gary Wesley, who has yet to find a good idea he doesn’t oppose.
VOTE YES ON 71.
Prop 72 - Property Tax Exemption For Newly Constructed Rain-Capture Systems: YES
This is another commonsense measure. Encouraging people to install rain-capture systems is a good thing for all of us, and exempting those systems from property taxes is a reasonable form of encouragement (or at least it removes potential discouragement). Using captured rainwater for gardens and other household needs will help alleviate demand on our natural water resources.
Prop 72 also passed both the State Assembly and the State Senate unanimously, and nobody, not even Gary Wesley, submitted an argument against it.
VOTE YES ON 72.
Bay Area Toll Authority - Regional Measure 3: YES
This measure raises tolls on Bay Area bridges (except the Golden Gate) to fund a variety of projects designed to relieve traffic congestion.
I am not unmoved by my friend David Schonbrunn’s argument against Measure 3. I don’t think this is a perfect plan. Some of the projects are more worthy than others. And I don’t believe this will solve all of our traffic problems. But neither will simply making better use of our HOV lanes.
I think we need to do both, and probably much more.
VOTE YES ON MEASURE 3.
Marin County Measure E - Renew Parcel Tax For Schools: YES
Measure E renews the existing parcel tax for Ross Valley schools, which currently provides 17% of the district’s budget. This will enable the RVSD to continue to fund important programs, keep class sizes small, etc.
The money cannot be used for administrative costs or pensions.
Amazingly, there was no ballot argument filed against Measure E. Still, this is a measure that needs a 2/3 yes vote to pass, which is always a tough threshold.
I don’t think there’s a more important investment we can make than in our children. And even though my wife and I have no children of our own, we are happy to support our schools.
VOTE YES ON MEASURE E!