Votivator – November 8, 2022
Dear friends:
We must be partisan for the Democrats, for a nonpartisan reason: saving democracy. Every other issue pales in comparison. None of the great questions of our time can be addressed meaningfully if democracy is destroyed by the believers, repeaters, and condoners of the Big Lie.
Our country needs at least two political parties, to inject healthy competition into our system of governance. But one of them has gone completely off the rails. So the Republican Party must be humiliated with massive defeat at the polls – and not just by a simple majority, unfortunately - if there is to be any hope of it reforming itself.
So I’m voting a straight Democratic ticket.
I sent money to the campaign of Christy Smith for Congress in the CA 27th (used to be 25th) district (Antelope Valley – Santa Clarita – Simi Valley). https://secure.actblue.com/donate/2021_website_christy Last time she lost by only a few hundred votes to Mike Garcia, a Big Liar who voted against certifying the last presidential election.
Here are my picks for Nov 8:
State Initiatives:
1: Yes – to codifying abortion rights in the CA constitution.
26: No – to an unfair gambling scheme
27: No – to making online gambling more ubiquitous
28: Yes – to more funding for arts in public schools
29: Yes - changed my mind on this one. Michael Hiltzik's article in the LA Times was persuasive: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-10-27/column-dialysis-firms-spend-millions-to-defeat-prop-29-tighter-regulations - if the dialysis for-profits can afford millions for their "no" campaign on this initiative, they can afford to give higher-quality care---
30: No – I’m with Gavin Newsom and the LA Times on this one. It is well-intentioned re: expanding electric vehicle charging stations and funding wildfire prevention… but the devil, as always, is in the details… the governor sees it as over-reach…
31: Yes – to banning flavored tobacco products
Governor: Gavin Newsom
Lt Governor: Elena Kounalakis
Secretary of State: Shirley Weber
Controller: Malia Cohen. She has a good track record as a SF County/City Supervisor and Board of Equalization member. Her opponent, Lanhee Chen, is also very qualified and a reasonable candidate – but I cannot vote for any Republican for any public office today, given the nightmare that this party is now inflicting on our country.
Attorney General: Rob Bonta
Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara
Board of Equalization Dist 2: Sally Lieber
State Superintendent of Schools: Tony Thurmond
US Senate (vote twice for current and next term): Alex Padilla
US Congress, 24th District (Ventura, etc): Salud Carbajal
State Assembly, Dist 38: Steve Bennett
Judicial, State:
State Supreme Court, State Court of Appeal: “Yes” on all candidates. These are the rec’s from the LA Times, which I always take seriously.
Los Angeles:
I’m no longer following much in LA, but I do feel very strongly about electing Karen Bass as mayor and Robert Luna as County Sheriff. I’ve been very impressed with Karen Bass for many years, since she was the Speaker of the State Assembly. I had her speak every year to my Public Policy course I taught at the USC Social Work grad school, and was always so amazed by her candor and competence. Caruso makes a big deal about turning USC around after its scandals, but he was on the USC Board of Trustees, asleep at the wheel, while the scandals were happening. Think of the actual good he could have funded instead of blowing $100 million on his vanity campaign for mayor! Luna should replace the scandal-ridden, gangster-ish current sheriff, Villanueva.
My friend and fell0w member of Mt Hollywood UCC Church in LA, Graciela Martinez, is a very community-active public defender. Here are her picks for the LA judicial offices: Office No. 60 Anna Slotky Reitano - Office No. 67 Elizabeth Lashley Haines - Office No. 70 Holly Hancock - Office No. 151 Patrick Hare - Office 90: Melissa Lyons – Office No. 118: Melissa Hammond
Ventura County:
Ventura Board of Education: Rachel Ulrich, incumbent
Ojai:
School Board: Jim Halverson. A community-active doctor – endorsed by Ventura Democratic Party
Ojai Mayor: Betsy Stix. Her opponent is Anson Williams from “Happy Days” – a vanity candidate. As far as I can tell from my research, Betsy's been doing a fine job.
Ojai Treasurer: Steve Olsen, incumbent, unopposed.
Ojai Measure L: Yes - return to having the mayor chosen by rotation among City Council members – we have a weak mayor system anyway, so electing a mayor is just electing another Council member.
Ojai Measure M: Yes – gives the City the option of having ranked-choice voting for City Council elections. This may well enable us to give up our current districts for City Council, imposed on CA cities by the courts. In a town this small and this un-segregated culturally/racially, districting is counter-productive to the court ruling’s intent of ensuring minority representation on city councils. Ranked-choice voting can enable us to have an at-large Council with more likelihood of minorities being elected.