Time for Politics

Some people may just want to skip right over this, as it contains information of a political nature.  :)

And of course, the standard disclaimer.  These are my views and are not intended to represent the views of my employer, friends, family member, associated persons, professional organizations, or anyone else I happen to know or be involved with.  These are only my personal views.  Feel free to disagree and leave hateful comments if that's the sort of thing that makes you happy.

But there is nothing like spending a chunk of my Saturday researching political candidates and ballot initiatives.  But I have done my civic duty and will mail my ballot on Monday, hoping it arrives in time.  As usual, not a lot of candidates that appeal to me that much.  Other than David Alex Levitt for US Senate, most were basically the least offensive choice.

Here is the breakdown on my ballot, in case you don't feel like doing the research and trust that I have done so.  Of course, that assumes that you are also socially liberal and fiscally middle of the road.  Which means if you are a strong Republican supporter, you probably won't agree with these.  It still amazes me how I went from a Reagan Republican to a Independent who leans Democratic without changing my views much, but rather that parties themselves have changed.  The Republicans went WAY to right, and the Democrats moved to center or past it on the right, with only a few ideas left that could be called "liberal".

Anyway, my ballot choices are after the break if you care.  If you don't want to know, I'm trying to save your sensibilities by requiring you click the Read More link.  :)





US Senate - David Alex Levitt
  - Feinstein is basically a slightly moderate Republican.  She's been way too supportive of the Patriot Act, anti-free speech, way too supportive of restrictive copyright laws, and an advocate for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  But she will almost certainly be one of the 2 candidates who emerge from the primary (remember, the new rule is the top 2 vote-getters advance, no matter what party they are from).  After reading through the info I could find on the candidates, I liked Levitt.  An engineer and computer scientist (not another lawyer) with a good mix of business and education background, he seems like a good candidate.

Congressional District 7 - Ami Bera
  - Best of a somewhat bad lot.  I was thinking Taras until I read some of his position stuff closely and realized he probably wasn't what I was looking for.

State Senate District 1 - Julie Griffith-Flatter
  - Baugh and Gaines are far right Republicans who have too many social and tax policies I don't agree with.  Ambrozewicz is for some reason running as a "No Preference" candidate despite running on the Republican ticket last year, with the Auburn Journal saying "you will need a score card to tell them apart" when talking the Republican candidates (which included Gaines).

Assembly District 6 - Regy Bronner
  - Beth Gaines is just as super-conservative as her husband (who is running for State Senate again), and Andy Pugno is the lead attorney defending Prop 8.  So that is two horrible candidates from my perspective, leaving only Bronner as the least bad choice.

Superior Court Judge - Tami Bogert
   - Not a whole lot of info on either, but Bogert is the sitting judge and didn't find any stuff on her that would make me think she's a disaster.  So she is the safest vote.

Board of Education: Area 4 - Eleanor L. Brown
  - Not a lot of info on either.  So again, went with the sitting person.

Board of Supervisors: District 4 - Roberta Macglashan
  - Again, not a lot of info.  Went with the sitting candidate.

Proposition 28 - Yes
  - I'm not sure I'm really in favor of term limits, but if there is going to be a law I would prefer it be better written than the current one.  This cleans up a few loop-holes.  Not great, but better than the current system IMO.

Proposition 29 - No
  - Creates yet another special fund run by yet another special committee for someone's pet purpose.  There are already a couple of propositions on the books funneling money to cancer research.  Given the current state budget, if there is going to be a $1 tax raise on cigarettes, put it in the General Fund and give the Assembly a bit more money to work with.