March 5, 2024 Primary Election Guide – Part II.

So, having gotten past my preliminary rant, what are my thoughts on the contests and candidates?

The Presidency

Let’s start at the top – with the Presidency. Everyone knows that the main party candidates will be Biden for the Democrats and Trump for the Republican. Maybe you’re happy with those choices, and maybe you’re not, but it doesn’t really matter. Nor, here in California, does it really matter who you vote for. Given California’s overwhelmingly Democratic registration (although No Party Preference runs fairly close behind the lagging Republicans, and Democrats are still not a majority of voters), Biden will certainly carry the state, both now and in November. Consequently, for better or for worse, presidential campaigning in California won’t be for votes, but for money. The good news is that, since it won’t matter, you can vote for whomever you want, as long as they’re on your ballot.

U.S. Senator

The first contest on the March ballot that does matter is U.S. Senator. There are actually two elections for that office – one for the unfinished term of Diane Feinstein and the other for the new term of that seat, starting in January. The main candidates are the same for both. Under California’s “top-two” system, everyone get to vote for any candidate, regardless of party, and the top two will fight it out in November.

There’s only one significant Republican candidate – Steve Garvey – a retired major league baseball player. What are his qualifications? 1. He’s well-known, 2. He’s a republican, 3. He claims to have a brain in his head.

How about the Democrats? There are three major candidates. All three currently represent parts of California in the U.S. House of Representatives. They are: Barbara Lee, Katie Porter, and Adam Schiff.

Adam Schiff is best know for having headed up the committee that recommended impeaching Donald Trump. He’s generally been a reliable vote for Democratic leadership measures. As a state senator in the 1990s, he authored several “tough on crime” bills (which was not unusual for Democrats at that time), but none were enacted.

Barbara Lee has represented the East Bay’s Twelfth Congressional District since the 1990s, when she replaced her mentor, Ron Dellums after his retirement. She’s been a stalwart “Progressive” and holds the distinction of having been the only member of Congress to vote against the authorization for military intervention after 9-11, which led to the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Currently, she has opposed Israel’s invasion of Gaza as an overreaction to the Hamas attack of October 7th, and supported a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Katie Porter is generally considered more liberal than Schiff but not a strong “Progressive” like Lee. she has developed a reputation as a “muckraker” in Congress, conducting sharp questioning of corporate banking officials and members of the Trump Administration, including the then-head of the Center for Disease Control and the Postmaster General.

Right now, polls show Schiff in the lead. (He has by far the most campaign funds of any candidate.) He’s followed by Garvey and Porter, running neck-and-neck, with Lee running somewhat behind the other three. Under the “top-two” system, Schiff will undoubtedly be on the ballot in November, but it’s unclear who the other contestant will be. If it’s Garvey, Schiff will almost certainly win in November. If it’s another Democrat, the answer is less clear.

If you’re happy with Schiff, by all means vote for him. If you’d prefer Lee or Porter, you might want to wait until the last polls come out showing who’s likely to come in second. Then, your vote might help make the difference whether that’s Garvey or another Democrat. zin that case, vote for that other Democrat.

House of Representatives – 12th District

This has been Barbara Lee’s seat for more than twenty years. It’s now an “open seat” with nine candidates running. There are two Republicans: Ned Nuerge and Steve Slauson. Given the District’s strong Democratic registration, they can be ignored.

Among the Democrats (there are no third party candidates), NONE have prior legislative experience at the state level. Only two have even held elective office: Tony Daysog – Alameda City Councilmember and Lateefah Simon – BART Board of Directors.

IMHO, ANY of the candidates will be out of their depth as a Congressmember in Washington! It’s interesting that, despite her lack of experience, Simon has racked up a slew of endorsements from prominent California Democrats, when BART has not impressed anybody with how it’s been run over the past few years. The endorsements, to my mind, just reflect the ability of someone tied in with the Democratic political establishment to pull strings and call in past favors. Nor do the policy positions of any of the candidates show the depth of thought or analysis one would want to see in someone who’d be representing us in the U.S. House.

Tony Daysog does at least have significant local government experience, and his policy proposals weren’t totally off the wall. Maybe vote for him and hope for better choices in two years???

State Senate – 77th Senate District

This has been Nancy Skinner’s seat for a long time, but she is finally termed out, and there are six candidates running to replace her. One of them, Jeanne Solnordal, is a Republican. [What kind of masochist do you have to be, as a Republican, to run for a seat where the voters are overwhelmingly Democrats?] There are also five Democratic candidates, and each of them has as good or better credentials than the candidates for the 12th District House seat!

The Democratic candidates are: (in alphabetical order) Jesse Arreguin, Jovanka Beckles, Dan Kalb, Kathryn Lybarger, and Sandre Swanson. All of the Democrats have support from one or more labor organizations, as well as other political groups. Lybarger is the President of the California Labor Federation. All the others are current or former local elected officials, and Swanson represented the 16th State Assembly District for three terms (2006-2012). Support from organized labor can be a mixed bag. Unions can provide both money and feet on the ground for a campaign, and since many voters in this district are union member or sympathizers, labor endorsements help win votes – and elections. However, organized labor is also a powerful lobbying force in the Legislature. One must be concerned to what extent a senator will reflect the wishes of his/her constituents versus those of union lobbyists. For example, Sen. Scott Wiener often includes in his affordable housing bill a provision requiring the use of union construction workers. Yes, this guarantees well-paying jobs, but it also may increase the cost of the housing being built, and can sometimes slow construction. There are trade-offs, and these show in the candidates’ answers to policy questions. (Labor support can also draw fire from anti-labor forces. For example, Lybarger has been targeted by numerous “independent expenditure” smear pieces paid for in large part by the California Building Industry Association (CalBIA). CalBIA is made up of for-profit developers, who don’t like being forced to use union labor because of legislators like Wiener.)

Lybarger wants to raise wages and increase union access and enforcement of labor laws. Won’t these raise the cost of new housing? Arreguin and Lybarger promote government owned and managed housing. What will be the cost of that new bureacracy, and will it lead to graft and corruption, as happened with redevelopement agencies (which Swanson wants to re-establish)?

On other issues, of the five, only Swanson wants to rescind Prop. 47. That 2014 initiative law reduced some crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, with the aim of reducing incarceration costs and investing the savings in programs to divert potential criminals from that pathway. Arreguin supports Gov. Newsom’s plan to restore felony status to some crimes that have attracted crime rings. The other three candidates feel that Prop 47’s aims of rehabilitation and diversion need more time to show results.

There are no “bad” candidates here (and in fact I’ve supported several of the candidates in the past). Of the five, I’d say Kalb is my favorite, but I also like some of Swanson’s and Beckles’ ideas. I fear that Lybarger is more focused on supporting unions than the interests of her district and the state as a whole. As for Arreguin, I’m troubled by the degree to which he has bought into the ideas put out by the YIMBIES and for-profit developers; notably their claim that “all housing is good housing.” The data compiled by the state’s own Department of Housing and Community Development shows that, despite all the bills pushed through the Legislature by YIMBY supporters since 2018, we’re still building far too little affordable housing, but producing a huge overabundance of market-rate housing. Much of that new market rate housing sits vacant, while being used as an investment vehicle for off-shore speculators.

State Assembly – District 14

This race is far more straightforward than many others. There are only three candidates: Utkarsh Jain, a Republican, Buffy Wicks, the Democratic incumbent, and Margot Smith, a Democratic challenger.

Let’s ignore the Republican. (No Republican has been elected to this district for many, many years.) This would be Buffy Wicks’ fourth two-year term. She has aligned herself strongly with the pro-YIMBY group of legislators led by Scott Wiener and Nancy Skinner. That group has pushed through a series of laws that override local control of zoning to promote taller and denser housing in urban areas. She has also supported Sen. Skinner’s efforts to strengthen the “Housing Accountability Act.” That law punishes local municipalities for turning down a housing project containing affordable units unless the municipality can show certain specific strong reasons for rejecting the project. With its latest modifications, the Housing Accountability Act has been “weaponized” for developers as a way to threaten municipalities unless their projects are rapidly approved. As noted, these bills haven’t changed the deficit in affordable housing or the superabundance of market rate housing in Oakland, the Bay Area, or California. They have given for-profit developers some hefty profits.

Margot Smith, Wicks’ Democratic opponent, is running on a platform with several planks: 1) promote more affordable housing, with local control; 2) reform Pro. 13 so business properties get assessed at their real values; 3) provide affordable healthcare; 4) strengthen environmental laws to address climate change and related issues. Her answers to a questionnaire from Ballotpedia (and an associated video) can be found here.

I strongly support Dr. Smith’s candidacy.

Alameda County Supervisor – District 5

Moving on to the local races, we have county supervisor for District 5. This seat opened up by surprise when long-time supervisor Keith Carson (who, like Barbara Lee, used to work for Ron Dellums) announced he would not seek re-election. Nine candidates hurriedly rushed in to file and fill the gap. (Note – The County, unlike the City of Oakland, doesn’t used ranked choice voting [that’s why there are no city offices on this ballot; they’ll all be decided in November].) Here they are:

Greg Hodge, John Bauters, Nikki Fortunato Bas, Ben Bartlett, Ken Berrick, Omar Farmer (since withdrawn, but still on the ballot), Lorrel Plimier, Gerald Pechenuk, and Chris Moore.

The first four are current or former elected officials. The other Five have held no elected office. Of the eight active candidates, seven are Democrats and one (Pechenuk) is Republican [in a campaign photo, he’s shown wearing a Trump baseball cap]. Another differentiation is their attitude towards the campaign to recall the County’s District Attorney, Pamela Price, who was elected in 2022 on a platform of reform and restorative justice. Hodge, Bas, Bartlett and Plimier are opposed to the recall. Berrick and Bauters are noncommital, saying the process will play itself out, while Pechernuk and Moore support the recall. (Pechenuk supports the recall of both Price and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. Moore has been a leader of the Price recall campaign.)

The candidates’ attitudes on drugs and crime also differ widely. Perhaps predictably, both Moore and Pechenuk take a hard line on crime and drugs. Pechenuk blames Oakland’s crime problems on the import of drugs from Mexico and Latin America. He would try to revitalize the war on drugs. Moore is a landlord and serves on the board of the East Bay Rental Housing Assn.

The other six candidates all believe that the issues of crime, drug use, homelessness and mental health are all linked and require a holistic solution that may, to some extent, involve the police, but would better be dealt with through a combination of social services and education.

As can be seen, several of the candidates advocate for similar programs to address county issues. The issue then becomes which have best demonstrated being able to “walk the walk” as well as talk the talk. As Oakland City Council President, Bas has been in a position to execute policies, and seems to have done so with some success. On that basis, she’s getting my vote, although Greg Hodge is also impressive and gets points from me for acknowledging that, though the YIMBIES may have good intentions, their efforts have resulted in building far more market-rate housing units than the affordable units that we really need.

Alameda County Judgeships

There are two Alameda County Superior Court judge positions also on the ballot. One position is uncontested, with Terry Wiley being the only candidate. The other position pits Attorney and temporary judge Michael Johnson again Court Commissioner Mark Fickes. Both have sufficient legal background to be a judge, but Johnson appears to have been more corporate-oriented in his legal practice (which I consider a minus). Also, Johnson has harshly criticized Fickes for admitting,under questioning by the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, that he had voted for Pamela Price for District Attorney. Presumably, Johnson felt Fickes should have ducked the question. I guess I disagree. Saying how you voted is, to my mind, a far cry from electioneering. (Not surprisingly, Johnson did duck the same question.) The Mercury-News, a newspaper with a corporate/conservative bent, has endorsed Johnson. I beg to differ.

As an aside, I will repeat my frequent criticism that voters don’t really have sufficient knowledge to decide whether a candidate has the proper “judicial temperment” to make a good judge. Judicial temperment means being able to put aside one’s personal preferences and decide cases based on their legal merits, although that still leaves room for evaluating the fairness and appropriateness of a particular verdict or sentence.

Ballot Measures

Thankfully, there aren’t a lot of ballot measures on this ballot: one statewide measure, two county measures and one City of Oakland measures. Here they are with my analysis and recommendations.

State Measure 1

This measure would approve $6.38 in bond funds to build mental health treatment facilities and housing for the homeless. It would also shift $140 million annually for mental health treatment from the counties to the state for administration. I’m somewhat dismayed by yet another attempt by the Legislature to have the state take control of previously locally administered programs. However, I can see an argument for the state being better able to coordinate programs. More importantly, the additional bond funds are sorely needed and if this is what we need to do to get them, so be it. YES

County Measure A

This measure would reduced the mandatory notification period for civil service exams from 25 days to 14 days. I don’t see any reason why the notification period needs to be so long. YES

County Measure B

This measure brings the county recall provisions in line with those set by state statute. Again, I don’t see any reason for insisting on different recall provisions for the county. YES

Oakland City Measure D

This measure will allow the City to expend funds previously authorized by the voters, and is only required because of Prop. 13. There’s no good reason for withholding the funding, other than the desire to starve local agencies of needed and already voter-approved funds. YES

Finally, there’s one Oakland office that’s subject to ranked choice voting – city auditor. This is potentially an important office. Not only can the auditor sniff out financial malfeasance and mismanagement, but they can also do functional audits that evaluate an office does at doing its job efficiently and properly. Seems to me there’s plenty of room for that kind of investigation of Oakland’s bureaucracy. However, there’s only one candidate – the current acting auditor, so there is no choice. Why is this even on the ballot?

March 5, 2024 Primary Election Guide – Part I.

As I usually do, I will take the opportunity to opine on the March 2024 Primary Election ballot. Those who regularly read these pre-election blog posts will probably not be too surprised at my comments. Does this mean that I’m getting stuck in a rut and, with age, have become overly predictable? I hope not, but you’ll have to be the judge of that. Let’s just say that, over time, I’ve become more and more disenchanted with how the whole election “machine” seems to work in this country, this state, this county, and even this city. It brings to mind a famous strip from The wizard of Id:

In our society, where the U.S. Supreme Court has ridiculously said that $$$ = free speech, it means that whoever can contribute the most money to a candidate, party, or cause will almost always [yes, there is a caveat – the exception that proves the rule] control what happens in an election. (The corollary is that neither Congress nor any other governmental entity can restrict how much money can be spent to influence an election, either by contributions to a candidate or party or, perhaps even more importantly, by paying for political messaging for or against a candidate, party, or issue. That, in California, is called an “independent expenditure” – which is really hardly ever really independent.) Of course, there are differences between candidates and parties, but each of the two major national parties (and their various more local subunits) will parrot the “line” of those who pay the bills. For Republicans, that’s Donald Trump and his anointed surrogates. For Democrats, that’s the Democratic National Committee and its endorsees – and, at a more local level, the state and county committees and those who control them (hint, think corporations, labor unions, and other monied “special interests.”) Does that seem an overly cynical view? Well, IMHO you need look no further than California’s “top two” primary system, which automatically limits a final November election to just two candidates – as if voters were too dumb to figure out whom to vote for if there were more than two names on the ballot.

So there you have my first rant for this election cycle. As a protest against that rigged system, I have registered with the Green Party. (You still have two days – until 2/20/2024 – to go to the Secretary of State’s website [https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration] and change your voter registration.) Make sure you keep and print out your receipt – and take it to the polls – in case your registration change didn’t make it onto the voter rolls prior to election day.)

More to follow in my next installment.

November 2022 Election (part 3)

This is my final segment (prior to election day) on the November election. It’ll cover local elected offices and ballot measures (almost all of which are from the City of Oakland). Just to shake things up a little, I’ll start with the ballot measures.

Unlike the statewide ballot measures, most of the local measures were placed on the ballot by local governing bodies, primarily the Oakland City Council. This is interesting because in the past the Council has usully not been united enough to agree on pllacing a measure on the ballot.

Measure D – Amendment to measure protecting agricultural areas in the unincorporated parts of the County to modify some of the restrictions and requirements in agricultural areas. The original Measure D was an initiative measure placed on the ballot and supported by local environmental groups. A majority of the County Board of Supervisors opposed the measure. However, it appears times have changed. This amendment was placed on the ballot by the Board of Supervisors. It is also supported by one of the authors (Dick Schneider) of the original Measure D, and is not opposed by any environmental group. The basic purpose of Measure D – protecting agricultural lands and limiting urban uses to incorporated areas – remains unchanged. It’s still a good idea, and the amendments are “tweaks” to the measure to make it more workable. YES.

Measure H – Oakland Unified School District Parcel Tax Renewal. This measure, places on the ballot by the OUSD trustees, would renew a $120 per year parcel tax to benefit the school district and provide funding for teacher salaries, college preparatory programs, tutoring, and other student programs. OUSD has been perennially underfunded. This wont solve the District’s funding problems, but will at least help to keep them from getting worse. YES

Measure Q – Authorization for the City of Oakland to construct up to 13,000 low income residential rental units. This measure, placed on the ballot, would satisfy a long-standing constitutional requirement that low income public rental housing (“social housing”) be approved by the voters. The Legislature has passed a measure to repeal that requirement, but it won’t be on the ballot until next election, so for now the vote is still needed. The constitutional requirement was an anti-housing measure that is an embarrassment. YES!!

Measure R – Gender-neutral charter language. This measure has no real substance. All it does is make the City’s charter “gender neutral” by eliminating all the terms the referenced “he” or “him.” There’s no good reason to vote no. YES

Measure S – Allows non-citizen parents of OUSD student to vote in OUSD trustee elections. While this was placed on the ballot by the City Counncil, it modifies the City’s election laws to allow noncitizen parents to vote for school board. The main argument against it is that it will be hard to implement, as only noncitizens parents of OUSD students would be eligible, and only for the OUSD trustee offices.While it’s a nice idea, it appears to me it would be expensive and impractical to implement. Reluctantly, NO

Measure T – Progressive business tax. Right now, Oakland’s business tax has different rate for different types of businesses, but has a uniform tax rate for each business type, regardless of the business’ size or gross revenue. This measure would provide that bigger businesses would have higher tax rates, recognizing that small businesses don’t have the economies of scale of bigger businesses, so the same tax rate is a bigger burden on a small business. I also think it’s important to not let Oakland be overrun by large corporations that don’t have as much of a personal interest in the City’s welfare. YES

Measure U – $850 million general obligation bond measure for affordable housing, addressing homelessness, and maintaining and improving local infrastructure. This sounds like a good idea until you realize that it’s far more expensive to issue, and then pay off bonds than it is to use a “pay as you go” approach. Half of the money will be used to pay off bond investors. Also, there’s already one bond out there, so this will further increase the City’s indebtedness and reduce its credit rating (raising the cost of future bonds. reluctantly, NO

Measures V – Strengthening the protections of the City’s “Just Cause” eviction law. Oakland had a “just cause” eviction law that restricts when a landlord can evict a tenant by requiring there be a good reason for the eviction. This measure, recognizing the harm eviction does,especially in these days of soaring rental prices, adds additional protectios about when and how tenants can be evicted. The down side is it may make builders less willing to build more rental housing, but right now most of the rental housing being built in Oakland is market rate, and the law is less likely to affect those tenants. Having been a tenant, I am sympathetic to their plight of being at the mercy of landlords. YES

Measure W – Election Public Financing and Campaign reform. This may help somewhat in making Oakland’s elections fairer. It may also somewhat decrease the oversize influence of bog money campaign contributors. YES

Measure X – Term Limits and other reforms to elected City of Oakland officials. I have mixed feelings about term limits. They keep elected officials from becoming entrenched, but they also sometimes force out knowledgeable and effective officials.Overall, however, I think the effects of the measure would be beneficial. With mixed feelings, YES

Measure Y – Oakland Zoo parcel tax. The Oakland Zoo is a private nonprofit organization. This measure, placed on the ballot by an initiative sponsored by zoo supporters, would establish – and lock in for twenty years, a $68 parcel tax to help it run. (The tax would also increase annually based on the cost of living increase.) I have major qualms about taxing property in the City to guarantee funding for a private organization. I’d rather require that private organizations get any public funding through the City’s budget process, with periodic review and the ability to reduce or eliminate funding when money gets tight. This measure, to my mind, is way too inflexible. NO

Local Elected Officials

OK, this is is in some ways the most difficult part of the ballot. It’s also the most parochial. If you don’t live in Alameda County, you can skip this section, unless you’re one of those people who likes looking over the fence to see what’s happening in your neighbor’s back yard. In fact, while the first few offices cover all or part of Alameda County, the two remaining elected offices on my ballot (which is what I work off of) are for Oakland alone. I’m not going to comment on other cities, as even trying to cover Berkeley or Emeryville elected offices would drive me crazy.

Alameda County District Attorney – When they think of the DA, most people just think of criminal prosecution; and there’s no question that prosecuting crimes is the the main thing the DA’s office does. However, the DA is also responsible for enforcing consumer protection and local environmental laws (think public nuisance, or dumping garbage). The DA is also responsible for local enforcement of some laws governing local agencies and political candidates (for example, conflict of interest laws and requirements). Those often get short shrift, since most DAs’ careers start with being prosecutors.

That brings me to the race facing Alameda County voters. The current DA isn’t seeking reelection, so we have two non-incumbents with very different backgrounds asking for your vote. Terry Wiley is the standard candidate. He’s currently the Chief Assistant DA for the County. In other words, he represents the status quo. If you like how the DA’s office is working, he’s your man. His opponent, Pamela Price, has been a candidate before. She’s an attorney in private practice, specializing in defending people’s civil rights. She’s experienced the criminal justice system both as an attorney and as a juvenile justice defendant growing up in Ohio. To say the least, her approach to being DA would be very different from that of Mr. Wiley.

Does the DA’s office need to change its approach? My feeling is yes. The County DA hasn’t changed its attitude towards prosecution in many years. The prior DA was the daughter of a long-time judge, and the one before her was very traditional. My feeling is the office needs to be shaken up. There are new concepts, like restorative justice, that ought to be used much more often. My recommendation is to vote for change. PAMELA PRICE

AC Transit Director At Large. AC Transit, the public agency providing bus service through much of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties (and service across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco), has a hybrid board – part district based and part elected at-large. This is an at-large seat. The election pits the incumbent, Joel Young, against a challenger carrying the progressive banner, Alfred Twu. There are places where being a progressive makes a big distance – like the County DA. I don’t think of AC Transit as being one of those places. Of course there are places for progressive change at AC Transit. Many such changes, such as the current transition first to diesel/electric hybrid bus and now to battery or fuel-cell fully electric buses, are already in progress. Others, such as realigning routes to work cooperatively with transit-oriented development, maybe need more emphasis, but IMHO, being the first asian-american on the AC Transit board and having endorsements from a lot of “progressive” politicians may be nice, but it’s not something I’d focus on. To my mind, Mr. Twu doesn’t make a convincing case for replacing the incumbent. Joel Young

East Bay MUD Director (Ward 3) – Water & Wastewater Agency Board of Directors. The East Bay Municipal Utility District (East Bay MUD or EBMUD for short) provides drinking (and firefighting) water for much of the East Bay. It also provides wastewater treatment for Northern Alameda County and much of Western Contra Costa County through its Special District #1. As some of you may know, I served on the EBMUD board in this seat from 1990 through 1994, when I was narrowly defeated by a pro-growth candidate. Someof the controversies at that time are now largely settled. There have not been any recent attempts to expand EBMUD’s service area to support sprawl development. EBMUD remains a leader in promoting efficient water use and in promoting the use of recycled water.

Right now, the biggest challenge to EBMUD in the long term will be adapting to the effects of climate change. EBMUD’s water supply is almost entirely from Sierra snow melt captured at Pardee Dam in the Sierra foothills and transported to the District’s area by huge aqueduct pipes. As climate change continues, snowmelt will happen more quickly, and some of what is now snowfall will become rainfall in the Sierra. This will outstrip Pardee Dam’s storage capacity and require new alternative storage. While I was on the Board, EBMUD began looking to conjunctive use – water storage in large groundwater basins under the Central Valley. More recently, that storage has begun to be a reality, with a cooperative agreement with public agencies in San Joaquin County.

There are two candidates running in Ward 3: Marguerite Young, the incumbent, and Mark Seedall. Both candidates have lot of experience in water issues: Mr. Seedall as a staff person at Contra Costa Water District and Ms. Young working at a public interest nonprofit, but, as the incumbent, Ms. Young obviously has more experience with EBMUD’s specific isues. Mr. Seedall talks generally about making EBMUD work more cost-effectively. more quickly, and more sustainable, but provides no details of what that might mean. Ms. Young provides more details about what EBMUD has done during her board tenure and what she hopes to accomplish in her next term, if elected. To my mind, what one needs in a board member is less the technical expertise, wich EBMUD staff can provide, and more the vision and responsiveness to the concerns of EBMUD’s customers. In that regard, I think Marguerite Young is by far the better choice.

Oakland Elected Officials

The two other offices on the ballot are Oakland elected officials: Mayor and City Auditor. The City Auditor position is uncontested. The only Candidate is the incumbent – Courtney Ruby. Consequently, I won’t discuss that position.

The other, and extremely important, position is Mayor of Oakland. The current mayor is termed out under Oakland’s term limit law, so there is no incumbent on the ballot. However, there are ten candidates seeking to replace the incumbent. Among the candidates are three current city council members: Loren Taylor, Sheng Thao, and Treva Reid. Ms. Reid, it might be mentioned is the daughter of a former city council member from the district she represents. There is also a long-time former city council member, Ignacio De La Fuente, and a former school board member, Gregory Hodge. The other candidates are: Seneca Scott (small business owner), Peter Liu (entertainer), Alyssa Villanueva (civil rights attorney), John Reimann (retired carpenter), and Tyron Jordan (legal assistant). Needless to say, the three council members and one former council member have significant experience in the running of Oakland’s city government. The former school board member also has some experience, as the school district interacts extensively with the City government.

I’ve watched a couple of mayoral candidate forums, as well as reading through the candidate statements. First there are three candidates to whom I can’t give serious consideration. Peter Liu is an entertainer, not a public official, and it shows. His answers to questions could not be taken seriously. Sadly, likewise for Tyron Jordan and Seneca Scott. While Mr. Reimann’s answers were more interesting – a critique of the capitalist system that has given use many of the messes we have in Oakland, his proposal to move the City towards socialism has to be called unrealistic. (If you want, you could give him a ranked choice vote, because he almost certainly will be eliminated.) That leaves six candidates that I take seriously.

All six of these candidates agree that public safety is a serious concern, but they differ in dealing with it. At the two extremes, De La Fuente take a very traditional approach – hire more cops, get them on the street, and get tougher on arresting people. By contrast, Sheng Thao and Alyssa Villanueva take the approach of emphasizing violence prevention programs and pulling dealing with mental health issues out of the normal police duties and instead using a program involving mental health professionals. Sheng Thao also mentioned moving some administrative duties, such as issuing special permits, out of the police department altogether so the police can focus on doing police work. The remaining three seem to lean more to Mr. De La Fuente’s approach of more police, bute in a more nuanced way.

On housing, again, all the serious candidates consider this an important issue, but IMHO, none of them had a clear answer of how to pay for and implement a plan to provided permanent and adequate housing for those who currently are struggling, or have already lost their housing. Certainly the homeless problem is huge, but just as big is the problem of those barely able to meet their basic budget need and, as the saying goes, “being one paycheck away from homelessness. None of the answers were truly adequate, but I think Sheng Thao and Alyssa Villanueva came closest.

Bynd that, there was the elephant in the room that nobody addressed – the enormous burden on the city of the various employee pension plans, especially for the police. These plans, while very attractive, are unsustainable, and thus far the City has been unable to negotiate a way out from under the tremendous financial burden. Could the only answer be to declare bankruptcy and then negotiate an equitable compromise? As I say, this question wasn’t brought up.

So, where do I come down on ranked choice” Here are my five: First -Alyssa Villanueva; Second – Sheng Thao; Third – Greg Hodge; Fourth and Fifth – I have no firm choice, but I probably would not pick Ignacio De La Fuente because I fear he would exacerbate the friction between the mayor and the Council on policy issues.

November 2022 Elections (Part 2 – Statewide Ballot Measures)

November election ballots now seem to have a plethora of statewide ballot measures on them, often sponsored by special interests. This year is no exception.

There are seven statewide measures on the ballot, including one state constitutional amendment for voter ratification. A lot of them are initiatives qualified through the efforts (and money) of one or more special interest groups. To my mind, this makes them subject to extra scrutiny, as what’s best for a special interest group is not necessarily best for the Stat of California. In fact, more often than not, the measures will benefit the special interest at the expense of the state and its people. Again, this year is no exception. Here are my evaluations:

Proposition 1 – State Constitutional Amendment – would enshrine in the California Constitution as part of Article I, the California Declaration of Rights, as Section 1.1, the right to reproductive freedom including the righ to have an abortion and the right to use, or refuse to use, contraceptives. It was approved by 29/8 in the State Senate (3 not voting) and by 58/17 in the State Assembly (5 not voting), exceeding the required 2/3 majority by a comfortable margin (including some Republican votes in the Senate). While the State Constitution has already been held by the courts to guarantee the rights to abortion and birth control under the constitution’s right of privacy, this amendment would lock that in regardless of any change in the California judiciary. (Recall that the rights of abortion had been protected in the federal constitution under an implied right of privacy – until the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that – for abortion only, at least for the moment. It’s an open question whether federal legislation outlawing abortion (or birth control) would preempt any state constitutional guarantees of those rights. With this U.S. Supreme Court, it’s anybody’s guess, as it would pit against each other two bedrock conservative causes – the “right to life” and states’ rights.

At any rate, for anyone who believes that abortion and birth control should, at least for the most part, be matters to be decided by the woman (or man) involved, this is a no-brainer; YES

Proposition 26 – Expanding legal gambling in tribal casinos. This would legalize sports gambling (e.g., on professional or college football games, professional boxing and wrestling, etc). It is primarily sponsored by a few tribes that already have casinos. Not only would this entice more people into gambling, but it would further open the door to other currently illegal activities such as “fixing” the results of sporting events by bribing players or coaches. IMHO, this would make an already bad problem that much worse. NO

Proposition 27 – An alternative approach to expanding legal gambling in the state. This would allow on-line sports betting, with a small portion of the proceeds to be used to assist in dealing with the state’s very large homeless problem. It’s primarily sponsored by Nevada gambling interests. See my discussion of the previous measure for why this is a bad idea. NO

Proposition 28 – Additional Funding for arts and music in public schools – This would allocate additional state general fund money (derived from unrestricted state revenue) towards funding art and music education. In the afternath of Prop. 13 and the replacement of local property tax revenue to fund schools by a uniform state funding formula, many school districts dropped their art and music programs in favor of more “fundamental” subjects. This would incentivize restoring those programs. While art and music may not be “necessary” – at least to get most jobs – IMHO they’re part of what makes us civilized. YES

Proposition 29 – Require Medical Professional at Dialysis Facilities – This measure would require having a doctor, nurse-practitioner, or physician assistant on duty at dialysis facilities whenever they’re open. It was put on the ballot by an employee union of dialysis center employees as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the major centers. According to my wife – who, as a geriatrician, has a lot of experience with dialysis centers, this is [pardon the expression] overkill and unneeded. NO

Proposition 30 – 1.75% surtax on very high-income California residents (over $2 million per year) to finance more electrical vehicle charging stations and efforts to reduce wildfire risk. According to opponents, this was put on the ballot by LYFT to reduce the difficulty of it requiring electric vehicles. That may or may not be true. It appears to me that both projects – more electric vehicle chargers and reducing wildfire risk – are worthwhile. The counterargument is that it would drive more high-income residents to leave California, and we’d lose all their tax revenue. This is a judgment call, however I feel that when you earn over $2 million a year, an additional 1.75% tax is not that likely to break your bank and push you over the line to move elsewhere. Bear in mind that California’s high-income tax rate are already quite high, so if high taxes were going to move you elsewhere, they probably already have. YES

Proposition 31 – Referendum against law prohibiting retail sale of flavored tobacco products – This referendum was placed on the ballot by the tobacco industry. Flavored tobacco products – especially for “vaping” suck a lot of young people into tobacco addiction. We really don’t need to be encouraging this harmful addiction. YES (remember that here a yes vote retains the law that the Legislature had passed!)

My Thoughts on the November 2022 Elections (Part One)

OK, so this blog entry is a bit late – well, actually VERY late! In all likelihood, many potential readers have already received, filled out, and mailed in or dropped off their mail-in ballot (which everyone [hopefully] received).

Nevertheless, for those of you still scratching your head about how to mark your ballot, here are my thoughts and recommendations, for what they’re worth.\

First, a couple of general remarks – skip them if you just want to know how I’d recommend voting, but I feel like these are things that need to be said about problems with how we now vote.

IMHO, the biggest problem with the way we now vote in California is the “top two” system for running the primary and general election for all statewide candidate elections. As you may recall, this was instituted as the result of an initiative that attacked some of the weaknesses of the prior partisan primary electoral system. Under the Top Two system, there’s only one primary – as opposed to a primary for each eligible party (a party needed to show it had a certain number of active member, either through party registration or by votes for party candidates in the last election in order to be eligible to holld a primary and have candidates on the ballot for statewide offices). In the prior system, it was common, especially in districts that had a large majority registration for one party, to have the election decided, for all practical purposes, in a primary where, depending on the party’s preference, only voters registered in that party could vote. As a result, the November election was, in many counties, about as much of an election as an election in Russia or Iran.

Under the Top Two system, by contrast, everybody, regardless of party affiliation, runs in one primary election, and the top two candidates, regardless of party affiliation, face off in the November election. When one party has a strong majority registration, that can mean that only candidates from that party (assuming there is more than one candidate from that party) of being on the November ballot, If there’s only one candidate from that party, then a second candidate, with the next highest vote total, is the other candidate, and the November result is a foregone conclusion. In some highly Democratic (or highly Republican) districts, the minority parties don’t even bother fielding a candidate, and an incumbent from the majority party may sail through without any electoral challenge. Nice work if you can get it! Top-down party leadership will often discourage intra-party challenges (no big surprise!), so the status quo often reigns, as for minor parties, they’re as a practical matter almost never going to make it to the November ballot, so their only chance to connect with voters is the low turnout primary election, where than can be a multitude of candidates, including whacko fringe candidates, so they get minimal attention from voters. To my mind, the Top Two system is even worse than what it replaced.

What might work better? How about two rounds of ranked choice voting? The primary would be open to all comers, but would be conducted by ranked choice voting. The top four or five candidates (I think either would work, but five might allow a bit wider choice at the cost of dividing public attention a bit more) would go on to the general election. With ranked choice voters would not have to choose just one candidate, and a candidate who had quite a few second or third place votes might even turn out to be the top candidate in total votes. The second round, with fewer candidates, would allow voters to take a closer look at the remaining candidates. If there were five (or four) or fewer candidates at the time the primary election filing deadline passed, that race would go directly to the November elections, where the candidates would compete – via ranked choice – in a much higher turn-out election than primaries usually have.

OK, now that that’s off my chest, my second gripe is with the election of judges. While in theory having judges be elected ought to be a good idea, making them accountable to voters, in practice almost no voters know enough about any judge or judge candidate – in terms of their knowledge of the law, their treatment of those coming before them, and how the opinions they write might change the law.

(At the trial court level, a judge’s decision almost never changes the law, but at the appellate level – what happens if a trial court party to a case appeals from the trial judge’s decision – the law can often be reinterpreted or actually modified, effectively writing new law because the Legislature wasn’t entirely clear, or even tossing out a law the legislature wrote because it violates the state or federal constitution.)

All the voters get to see is names on the ballot, and possibly short statements from the candidate of why they’re doing a good job, or why they’d do a better job than the judge they’re running against. Often, there is no contest so the judge remains in office automatically. At the appellate level, judges don’t even run against an opponent, and they provide no statement explaining why they should be retained. Only in very rare instances (like when Republicans convinced voters to throw out several very liberal Supreme Court justices appointed by Jerry Brown in his first term as Governor) does an appellate justice get less than a 90% vote for retention. However that means very little, because there’s really no campaign so the voters have no idea whether the justice deserves retention or not. Also, appellate justices are voted on only by voters in their appellate district, even though appellate decisions. even those made in only one appellate district, often have statewide affects, especially in the Third Appellate District, where the laws made in Sacramento often are being challenged. I’m not sure what would work better, but the current system of judicial elections is, to put it bluntly, a farce.

NOW ON TO THE ELECTION!

Starting at the top, we have the election for Governor. Under the Top Two system, there are only two candidates (write-in votes won’t be counted!): Gavin Newsom (D) and Brian Dahle (R). Newsom generally represents the liberal California Democratic Party establishment, and Dahle represents the California Republican Party “establishment” (to the extent that party has an “establishment” position, given that the party is, at this point, virtually powerless to influence policy at the statewide level, so its views are essentially irrelevant). Gavin Newsom didn’t even bother to submit a candidate statement, and Dahle’s statement is virtually meaningless because most of what he’d like to do needs to be done by the Legislature, where a Republican – particularly one with a conservative agenda, would be able to accomplish nothing. Aside from that, Dahle’s program is essentially to undo everything Newsom and the Democratic legislative majority (of more than 2/3 in both Senate and Assembly) have enacted.

I’m not thrilled by the California Democratic establishment or Newsom, but the Republican candidate is not a good alternative. NEWSOM

Next we have several statewide subsidiary position. That’s not to say they’re unimportant. The Secretary of State supervises elections and runs the states office for regulating corporations. The Controller and Treasurer have potentially important roles in managing and evaluating California’s finances. The Attorney General, as the state’s top attorney, writes opinions that can influence how the courts evaluate the state’s law. The Attorney General is also responsible for enforcing state laws and advising and defending the state and its component entities (e.g., boards, commissions and departments within the executive branch) from challenges to how the stte and its agencies are conducting (or not conducting) their business. The AG also generally defends state law passed by the Legislature against legal challenge and has the authority (not often used) to enter litigation to enforce those laws. The AG is also the state’s primary prosecutor of the state’s criminal laws – an extremely important role that arguably should be a separate position. Here are my thought on the electoral choices – again keeping in mind the limitations of the Top Two system.

Lieutenant Governor – a position with few substantive duties. The incumbent, Eleni Kounalakis (D), espouses a variety of “progressive” policy positions, most of which I agree with. Of course her ability to implement any of these policies depends on the other members of the various boards on which she sits. Her opponent, Angela Jacobs (R), didn’t even bother to submit a candidate statement – probably for a similar, although, diametrically opposite, reason as Newsom. Newsom know he’d get elected even if he wrote nothing, so he didn’t bother; Jacobs probably knew she wouldn’t get elected, regardless of anything she might say, so she didn’t bother. Nevertheless, I think Kounalakis is the far better choice.

Secretary of State – The incumbent is Shirley Weber (D). The challenger is Rob Bernosky (R). While Bernosky asserts he’ll help elect the “right” candidates, that’s not what the Secretary of State’s job is. The job is about making sure that the state’s elections are run FAIRLY, accurately, and efficiently. Bernosky’s statements seem to indicate that he. like many Republicans want to “tilt” the electoral playing field to promote candidates who’s views he supports. That’s VERY disturbing! Weber!!

Controller and Treasurer – both of these offices are in some ways almost menial, but in other ways very important. The are both “money offices.” They supervise how the state gets and spend funds, and the treasurer makes important decisions about how the state invests the many billions of dollars it holds. Both of these offices of Democratic incumbents: Malia Cohen as Controller and Fiona Ma as Treasurer. Both incumbents are career Democratic politicians and probably view the office as a stepping stone towards higher and more powerful offices. That bothers me. On the other hand, the Republican candidates, especially Jack Guerrero for Treasurer, make promises that they really can’t fulfill given the nature of the office they’re seeking. On the other hand, Lanhee Chen, the Republican candidate for Controller, points to a number of specific steps he’d take to evaluate California’s finances critically. I cannot in good conscience support either of the Democratic incumbents. I would strongly support Chen for Controller, and offer lukewarm support for Guerrero (alternatively, you can leave your ballot blank for this office as a protest vote.)

Attorney General – As I said, I think this is an extremely important office. I am not impressed by the performance of the incumbent, Rob Bonta (D), who was a legislator before Newsom plucked him out to be AG. I have litigated against Deputy AGs in several public interest cases where, IMHO. the AG was on the wrong side. I don’t see Bonta as having the guts to change this. On the other hand, Nathan Hochman, the Republican challenger, is a “law & order” Republican in the mold of some of the more notorious past Republican AGs. NO THANK YOU! Reluctantly, Bonta.

Insurance Commissioner – This is another important but underappreciated office. Some of you may recall that this was made an elected position by an initiative measure, which also greatly expanded the office’s authority. Now it’s an important office representing consumers against the powerful insurance industry. The incumbent, Ricardo Lara (D) used to be in the Legislature, where he focused on insurance issues. He’s done a reasonable job as commissioner. His opponent, Robert Howell (R) comes with the traditional Republican stance of being a “businessman” who wants to “guard against waste, fraud, and abusively inflated premiums.” That’s fine, but whose side is he going to be on? Sorry, but when it comes to helping consumers against giant corporations, I’m afraid I still prefer a Democrat to a “businessman” Republican. Lara.

Board of Equalization District 2 – The board of equalization is responsible for collecting property taxes and resolving disputes over assessments used for property. The Republican candidate, Peter Coe Verbica, trumpets his family’s inherited wealth and loudly proclaims that he wants to lower taxes. How, then, will government provide the services we all need and expect? What come along with lower taxes is reduced services, which doesn’t bother Mr. Verbica, since he, unlike many of us, can easily afford to pay for whatever services he may need. His opponent, Sally Lieber, pays the mandatory obeisance to Prop. 13, but also promises fair taxation (whatever that means). I may not favor Ms. Lieber, but I certainly disfavor Mr. Verbica. Lieber

Superintendent of Public Instructions – This is the person theoretically in charge of California’s public schools. In reality, he or she does not have a huge amount of power. The Legislature and local school boards, between them, make most of the important decisions about public schools. nevertheless, the Superintendent does occupy the bully pulpit on schools. Our public schools certainly need help. The pandemic badly damaged students’ education, and many families have abandoned the public schools, lowering the amount of money available to run schools for the remaining kids. Charter schools also siphon money off from the public schools. The Republican candidate, Lance Christensen, would pursue open warfare against the state’s teacher unions. The incumbent, Tony Thurmond (D), supports the standard liberal goals and generally take the side of the teachers and of the public school systems, against charter and private schools. The teacher unions are, no question, a special interest, but teachers also have a strong interest in being able to provide teaching and have kids come out of school both literate and educated. To my mind, cooperation and negotiation beat open warfare any day. Thurmond

Supreme Court and Appellate Justice retention votes – as I indicated earlier, I don’t think that retention votes, as currently structured, are helpful in ensuring that California has an intelligent, thoughtful, and well-trained appellate judiciary. Even I, a lawyer with over 30 years of experience, have trouble deciding whether some of our current appellate judges deserve to stay on the bench. Further, there is no assurance that the replacement for any justices that are removed will be any better. Therefore, I make no recommendations on any of the retention votes. In my humble opinion, we need a better system for evaluating whether or appellate justices are doing a good job.

Part Two of my election thoughts, which I will publish tomorrow, takes on the state ballot measures. Part Three, which will follow closely thereafter, will discuss local candidates and ballot measures, – primarily in Oakland.

First Post-election Thoughts (November 2018)

While the dust has not yet settled on the November 2018 general election – With the increasing prominence of vote-by-mail ballots in California, it may be a month before some contests have a clear winner [and that’s not counting recounts!] – nevertheless, I think one can identify some general take-home lessons from this election.

1.  There was a “blue wave” but it was only about six inches high, and felt primarily in “purple” states.

The Democratic Party had entered this election campaign with high hopes of a “blue wave” that would sweep across the country, throwing out Republicans and installing Democrat replacements.  For the most part, it didn’t happen.  Blue states generally stayed blue, and the hue of blue maybe got a little bit deeper.  On the other hand, red states generally stayed as red as ever, and in some cases (like North Dakota and Indiana) maybe even took on a slightly deeper shade of red, with outlier Democrats being picked off by Republican adversaries.

If there was any blue wave, and there probably was, what with the majority of the U.S. House of Representives shifting to the Democrats, it was pretty restricted and not very big.  It semed to show up most strongly in states that might be labeled “purple” – meaning that they were not dominated by either of the two major parties.  That includes as notable examples the states of Virginia, Maine, Nevada, and New Mexico.  In each of those states, some Republican House incumbents either lost or are on life support.  Likewise for some purple state Republican governors.  However, even this trend is not all that strong.  Republicans appear to have retained the governorships of Florida and Georgia – state that are though to be shifting toward Democratic control,

Here in California, a few Republican-held seats shifted to Democrats, and there are still several seats that are still too close to call.  In that regard, the increasing trend of voters to use vote-by-mail ballots, and to often not turn them in until elecion day, means that the “Final” results (100% of precincts reporting) are nowhere near final.  In many California counties, there will be a significant percentage of votes that won’t get counted for days, or even weeks.  This, for example, the Denham/Harder race, where the two candidates are separated by a little more that 1%, could well reverse itself.  (As an aside, the traditional rule has been that vote-by-mail ballots turned in early tend to trend more Republican, while those turned in on election day tend to reflect the actual election day voters at the polls.  I don’t know if those “rules” have been re-examined with the big increase in vote-by-mail ballot usage.)

2.  The election results do not show any major change on the “mood of the voters.”  If anything, they show a further hardening of attitudes.

As I noted, blue states may have gotten a little bluer, and red states, a little redder.  I don’t detect any major trend in the “purple” states, except a slight tendency towards “bluing” in urban and suburban areas.

3.  Democrats, at least at a national level, don’t appear to have any effective strategy for talking to those disaffected former Democrats who have shifted to Trump.

I haven’t examined every race in the industrial Midwest, where it appeared that disaffected Democrats, or former Democrats, shifted to Trump.  However, the general results seem to indicate that a lot of those folks aren’t shifting back to voting for Democrats yet.  The Democratic national strategy still seems focused on addressing voters on the traditional Democratic issues – many of  which are a combination of liberal economic and liberal social issues (e.g., Medicare for all, protecting abortion rights, promoting civil, political, and social rights for women and minorities, helping the poor, etc.).  Republicans seem to have a firm lock on the evangelical Christian voters, as well as on rural voters.  In many red states, that’s all that’s needed for them to keep control.  Untill/unless the Democratic Party can figure out how to pry some of those groups away from the Republican Party, I think we’re destined to see a continued divided Congress, based on the fact that the lower population states have as many senators as do states like California an New York.  No Democrat seems to have found a way to reassemble the “New Deal” coalition that elected Democratic majorities from the 1930s through the 1950s.  Certainly, the Democratic Leadership Conference strategy espoused by centrist Democrats like the Clintons and Obama doesn’t appear to be a winning strategy any more.  Nor, for that matter, has Bernie Sanders’ “left populism” shown itself effective in Florida or Georgia gubernatorial races.  Perhaps a more detailed analysis can point the way?

November 2018 General Election – Part IV – Local/Regional Ballot Measures

OK, so you’ve gone through all the statewide candidates and measures, and the regional/local candidates. Now, all that’s left are the local/regional ballot measures. You’re almost there! Bear with me while we go through them. I promise it won’t take too long.

Regional Measures

Measure FF – East Bay Regional Park District Parcel Tax Extension.

This measure would extend for 20 years an existing parcel tax to fund the East Bay Regional Park Districts ongoing maintenance expenses, as well as improvement expenses. It would NOT pay for new capital expenditures (e.g., new land acquisition). The parcel tax is $12 per year (for a single family dwelling, $8.28 per year for multifamily [i.e., condo or apartment] units), and is put on your annual property tax bill.

This time around there is vocal and well-funded opposition by the folks who don’t want to see any eucalyptus cut down. In reality, the Regional Park District program is aimed at thinning, not removing eucalyptus groves. If the measure fails, eucalyptus seedling will continue to germinate and grow, making the groves thicker and larger – and also a far greater fire hazard. the Park District has tried to stake out a middle-ground in the eucalyptus debate, pointing out that while eucalyptus may be beautiful, smell nice, and provide some wildlife habitat benefits, overgrown groves accumulate highly combustible shedded leaves and bark. Further, while older trees drop their lower branches, isolating their flammable crowns from the ground, if there are smaller trees between them, the combination gives a wildfire a “fuel ladder” to climb up into the towering crowns of older trees, where the burning leaves and branches will generate embers that the wind can carry for literally miles. As a result, the embers can ignite new fire areas, making the fire far more difficult to get under control.

You’d think that, having lived through the 1991 Tunnel Fire that burned over 2,000 homes in the East Bay Hills, East Bay residents would have learned that beauty and safety sometimes need to be balanced. Apparently not. So go ahead, listen to the “euc lovers” and vote this measure down, but don’t come crying when the next big fire – and there WILL be a next big fire – is even more dangerous and damaging that the last. YES!!!

Peralta Community College Funding Measures.

Measure E – Peralta Community College Parcel Tax Extension.

This measure would extend an existing $48 per parcel tax for an additional eight years. The tax proceeds would be used to provide support for academic programs and student support such as tutoring. The Peralta District provided the lowest cost higher education option for East Bay students, and serves as a gateway to the Cal. State and U.C. system for those who might not otherwise be able to make the transition. I know several kids on my street alone who’ve used Peralta courses to pave their way to entering a four-year degree program. $48 a year is a small cost to keep this important part of our public higher education system running. YES.

Measure G – Peralta Community College District Facilities Improvement Bond.

Unlike Measure E, which funds ongoing school expenses, Measure G is a bond measure to fund capital improvements. While some of Peralta’s campuses are relatively new, they’re still aging, and with technology moving forward rapidly, even newer classrooms and facilities need updating to be able to have the kind of electronic resources students and teachers need. The bond, which would be for $800 Million (a small amount compared, for example to the $9.95 BILLION bond measure voters approved for high-speed rail in 2008), would be paid off through property tax assessments of $24.50 per $100,000 of valuation over 40 years. YES.

City of Oakland Measures

Measure V – Oakland Cannabis Business Tax Modification Measure (Council Initiated)

This measure, which must be approved by the voters under Prop. 13, makes changes in how the City collects business tax from cannabis sales businesses to make it easier for those businesses to manage, and to give the City Council flexibility in making further changes, so long as those changes don’t increase the tax rate.

Cannabis businesses are now a fact of life for California and for Oakland. From the City’s standpoint, if cannabis businesses are going to operate, it’s to the City’s benefit that they do so successfully. The alternative is that cannabis sales go back to being an underground criminal activity – profiting gangs instead of the City treasury. YES

Measure W – 20 Year Sunset Vacant Property Tax. (Council Initiated)

This proposed tax has two purposes. One purpose is to provide funds for homeless services, affordable housing, code enforcement against blight and illegal dumping, and administration of the tax. The other, perhaps equally important, purpose is to provide a disincentive to property owners leaving their property vacant and unused. We all know of properties – either buildings, apartments, storefronts, houses, or vacant lots, that have sat idle for years – fulfilling no useful function and often contributing to an atmosphere of blight in the community. There can be various reasons for this, but one of the ones that’s become more common lately is speculators who don’t want the property occupied because they’re waiting to sell it at an increased price. It’s not clear how big a problem this is in Oakland, but in San Francisco it’s been estimated that there are as many as 60,000 vacant apartment and condos being kept off the market by speculating investors. While the proposed tax is not exorbitant ($6,000/year for vacant property, $3,000 per year for a condor ground floor commercial space)– especially given how much Oakland property is sometimes selling and renting for – it would give property owners a prod to DO SOMETHING with their property. YES

Measure X – Graduated Real Estate Transfer Tax (Council Initiated)

Oakland, like most cities, has a real estate transfer tax – essentially a tax on the purchase of real property in the city. This measure would amend Oakland transfer tax so that the tax rate would be graduated, so the rate would be higher on property selling for higher values. The current rate is 1.5% for all properties. For properties valued at less than $300,000, the rate would drop to 1% . For properties from $300,000 to $2, million, it would remain at the current 1.5%; for properties valued from $2 million to $5 million, it would rise modestly to 1.75%; and for properties over $5 million, it would rise to 2.5%. Further, for first-time low or moderate income homebuyers, the rate would be decreased by ½% from the otherwise-applicable rate, but only for property valued at $2 million or less. The measure would also rebate up to 1/3 of the transfer tax to low/moderate income homebuyers for the value of improvements to their newly-bought home to install solar power generation or to make earthquake retrofits within six months of purchase. However, these rebates would also only apply to homes valued at less than $2 million.

Overall, I think this is a good idea. Those buying higher priced homes can presumably afford to pay a bit more for city services.   (The tax proceeds would go into the City’s general fund.) The tax may also, incidentally, get sellers to price their properties below the various breakpoints for the tax.] The tax gives a break to first-time low & moderate income home buyers, which makes sense, because home ownership usually brings with it a more stable and more active relationship with the City. Likewise, the rebates for adding solar power & earthquake retrofits are incentives to do things that help the community as well as the homeowner. YES.

Measure Y – Extending Just Cause Eviction provisions to landlord-occupied duplexes and triplexes. (Council Initiated)

Up until now, Oakland’s Just Cause Eviction ordinance has had an exemption for landlord-occupied duplexes and triplexes, on the theory that these are small landlords who’ll generally do well by their tenants. Well, it turns out that landlords have learned how to “play” this exemption. The landlord [temporarily] moves into one unit of the building and then promptly evicts the tenants in the other unit(s). That’s not fair. Further, the just cause eviction provisions aren’t all that burdensome. It just means that the landlord needs to have a good reason for evicting a tenant – like non-payment or rent or violation of lease provisions. There’s no good reason why those reasons shouldn’t be needed for duplex or triplex owners, especially when there’s far too strong incentives to boot out current tenants and then raise the rent.

Opponents argue that landlords will take the units off the market. Sure, and then do what with them? Leave them vacant? If landlords think they have a better idea, let them bring it forward and have it put on the ballot. YES.

Measure Z – Minimum Wage for hotel workers, plus establishing employee rights and a new city department to enforce those rights. (Council Initiated)

This measure starts off with a good idea – raising the minimum wage in Oakland’s (larger) hotels [50 room minimum]. The large hotels play to the tourist and convention clientele, and consequently charge fairly hefty room rates. Yet they pocket most of that money. However, it’s possible that raising the wages uniformly may force poorer-performing hotels out of business. Seems like there ought to be a way for a hotel to claim hardship and temporarily pay lower wages – if they can substantiate their hardship. Also, why focus on just the hotel business? What about restaurants and conference centers? What about large employers, like UPS and Fed-Ex?

Another concern is establishing an entirely new City department to enforce this ordinance. One can easily see that department proposing more ordinances so it’ll have justification for hiring more employees. To me, this looks like it could easily turn into trying to expand Oakland’s bureaucracy and then figuring out ways to justify the expansion. NO.

Measure AA – Establishes $198 per year parcel tax for early childhood education and programs to promote college entry and completion and workplace readiness. (Initiative Measure)

I get worried about the various taxes and bond measures that get put onto the ballot without an adequate explanation of why they’re needed. This is a case in point. While the measure claims there will be accountability, it doesn’t identify how it’s going to measure the adequacy of progress towards reaching its lofty goals, and what will happen if it doesn’t. This looks far too much like a “throw money at a problem and see if it does anything” approach. I’d like to see something with more back-up, like being able to point to similar projects that have had demonstrable success in improving outcomes. NO

 

November 2018 Election Comments – Part II – State Ballot Measures

Introduction

As I indicated at the beginning of Part I of my comments, I’ll be posting four segments: one for Statewide office candidates, one for Statewide ballot measures, one for local and regional office candidates (including state Legislature), and one for local and regional ballot measures.  This section covers statewide ballot measures.

As usual in California, there’s no paucity of statewide measures for us voters to consider – no less than eleven measures (Proposition 9, which would have started the process of dividing California into three states, was removed from the ballot by the California Supreme Court, on the grounds that it was a constitutional revision – which is beyond the voter’s constitutional power of initiative.)  Of those, two are bond measures placed on the ballot by the Legislature, two are bond measures placed on the ballot by initiative, two are initiative constitutional amendments, and the remainder are statutory initiatives.

Proposition 1. – Legislative General Obligation Bond Measure to fund housing programs.

This is a $4 Billion legislative bond measure to fund a variety of housing programs – $1.8 Billion for affordable multifamily housing programs (both building & renovating), $450 Million for housing and associated infrastructure [water, sewers, parks, transportation facilities, etc] in existing cities, $450 Million for low & moderate income home loan assistance – mostly to assist in down payment or build-it-yourself programs, $300 Million for loans & grants for farmworker housing, and $1 Billion towards the state’s veteran home loan assistance program [with full repayment by borrowers].

As anyone except Rip Van Winkle would know, California is suffering from having too little affordable housing.  People keep moving to California for various reasons, but the growth in housing hasn’t kept up.  As a result, the supply/demand imbalance has caused inflation in housing costs, causing displacement, particularly for lower income renters.  It’s also cause a huge increase in the homeless population.  Will this bond measure solve the problem?  NO, but it’s perhaps a step in the right direction.  (You may remember that last year both Oakland and Alameda County passed local housing bonds, and the Legislature has been very active in applying pressure for more residential building.)

Why not approve it?  Because it will increase California’s overall bond burden, which means we have to pay more taxes to pay bondholders interest on the bonds.  On the other hand, with Prop. 13, it’s far easier to pass a bond than it would be to approve a new statewide tax to fund housing assistance.  If anyone complains to you about the cost of these bonds, ask them if they’re willing to relax Prop. 13 for a housing tax.  YES.

Proposition 2. – Authorize use of Prop. 63 funds to provide housing for the mentally ill and sell $2 Billion in bonds, to be paid off with mental health services funds.

Essentially, this measure would rob Peter to pay Paul.  In 2004, voters passed an income tax increase for high-income individuals to fund mental health services.  The state has tried to use some of those funds to build housing for the mentally ill, but that’s been challenged in court.  This measure would authorize that use.  It would also allow issuance of $2 Billion in bonds specifically for housing for the mentally ill, but those bonds would be paid off using mental health services funds, decreasing the availability of those funds for treating mental illness.

This measure, while it looks good at first glance, bothers me.  it doesn’t commit any additional money overall for assisting the mentally ill.  What it does is shift money from treating mental illness to providing housing for the mentally ill.  While there’s certainly a need for housing, especially for severely mentally ill people, that needs to be coupled to providing services to treat those people’s illness.  However, this measure would DECREASE the money available for treatment.  To me, this doesn’t make sense.  I note that the Contra Costa County chapter of NAMI  (the National Alliance on Mental Illness), a group that I have a lot of respect for, authored the argument against the measure.  While I agree we need money to house mentally ill people, it shouldn’t happen at the expense of providing treatment.  NO.

Proposition 3. – $8.9 Billion  general obligation bond for various water supply/water quality, watershed, fish, wildlife, water conveyance, and groundwater sustainability projects.

This is yet another bond to try to improve California’s overall water situation – which is seriously out of balance and getting worse by the year.  This is NOT to fund Jerry Brown’s Delta Tunnels proposal.  The projects funded by the bond are a mixed bag – they include categories that could be used to build or expand dams, but also projects for groundwater storage and replenishment, as well as projects to restore and improve watershed areas [the areas where rain runoff feeds into creeks & rivers] and improve drinking water quality.

Water agencies generally support the measure, but the environmental community is split.  Save The Bay and the Planning and Conservation League support the measure, but the Sierra Club opposes it.  I note that a Solano County Taxpayer group wrote the arguments against – because the measure doesn’t fund new dams.  For me, that’s a good argument in favor.  YES.

Proposition 4. – $1.5 Billion General Obligation Bond to fund construction of children’s hospitals.

So, yet another General Obligation Bond – this one for $1.5 Billion to fund construction for various public and nonprofit-operated children’s hospitals around California.  The majority (slightly over $1 Billion) would go to hospitals operated by private nonprofit organizations.  The rest would be split between U.C. hospitals ($270 Million) and various other publicly and nonprofit-run hospitals ($150 Million).  We, California taxpayers, would pay the estimated $2.9 Billion needed to pay off the bonds.  Wouldn’t it be cheaper to fund this directly out of tax revenue?  Undoubtedly; but the sponsors of the measure preferred a bond – perhaps because of Prop. 13 or perhaps because it’s less subject to scrutiny?  I might feel better about this if the hospitals involved were all publicly run in a transparent manner.  Further, I don’t know that there’s any study indicating that this is a high priority use of public funds.    Call me Scrooge, but ever since the High-Speed Rail Bond Measure, I’ve become more and more reluctant to support general obligation bonds.  NO.

Proposition 5. – Allows transfer of property tax assessments for elderly or disabled property owners.

This constitutional amendment initiative lets a small group of property owners off the hook when they sell their property and move somewhere else in California.  Right now, those who are disabled or over 55 years old can, on a one-time-only basis, transfer their property tax assessment to a new home in the same county [or another county that permits it] and  keep their current tax assessment, so long as the new home costs the same or less than their old home.  Under Prop. 5, the rule would:  1) apply to all counties in California, 2) also apply to homes lost through contamination or a disaster, 3) apply proportionately to any replacement home, whether of the same, greater, or lesser value, and 4) could apply an unlimited number of times.

Essentially, this might be called a “get out of tax free” card that could have unlimited use for those eligible.  The argument in favor is it would allow aging or disabled people (or those losing their home due to circumstances beyond their control) to shift to a new home without losing their tax benefit, and would therefore increase these owners’ mobility and get more homes on the market.  Of course, it would do this at the expense of local governments’ loss of tax revenue.  Why give this one subset of property owners this kind of unlimited tax benefit at the public’s expense?  Why?  Because realtors want the extra business!  If you like seeing local government’s funding continue to shrink, go ahead and vote for this.  NO.

Proposition 6. – Repeal of gas tax increase and requirement that all future increases go on the ballot.

Last year, the Legislature passed SB 1, which raised the gas tax by 12 cents per gallon and the diesel fuel tax by 4%.  It also set a fixed rate for a second fuel tax and created an annual fee for zero emission vehicles (since they don’t pay gas tax).  All fees are adjusted annually for inflation.  This year, those increases are expected to raise $4.4 Billion.  Almost all of that money must be used for transportation, with about 2/3 dedicated specifically to street & highways repairs/maintenance.  (The Legislature decides how the rest gets spent.)

Prop. 6 would repeal those increases.  It would also require that any future increase in vehicle or fuel taxes (including not only gas tax but vehicle sale and use taxes) would have to be approved by the voters.  Obviously, this would force cuts in the state transportation budget.  For that reason, most transportation-related groups oppose the measure.  Groups opposed to tax increases support the measure.  I have mixed feelings.  Certainly California street & highway maintenance has been underfunded.  With SB 1, there’s far less excuse for that continuing.  Also, there are useful and valuable transportation improvements – like expanding public transit – that can be funded by SB 1.  On the other hand, the High-Speed Rail Project is a poster child for how transportation funding can be misused and wasted – especially with the Legislature making the decisions, and much of the extra money can be expected, based on the Legislature’s past record, to be thrown at projects that benefit construction unions and major highway contractors, without necessarily moving California in the direction it needs to go – with less automobile use and a more efficient and effective public transit system.  In short, it comes down to how much you trust the Legislature to do the right thing.  For me, that’s not very much these days.  Hence,  YES.

Proposition 7. – Conforms California’s daylight savings time to federal law and allows the Legislature to change it.

This one’s a puzzler.  What it goes back to is that daylight savings time was adopted by initiative in 1949.  Hence, any change in daylight savings time must be made by the voters.  This initiative would allow the Legislature to make changes in daylight savings time (consistent with federal law) by a 2/3 majority.  It would also allow the Legislature to drop daylight savings time altogether, since that’s allowed under federal law.

What it boils down to is this measure would open the door to getting rid of daylight savings time.  If you like daylight savings time, you should vote no.  If you don’t you should vote yes.  I’m neutral.  NO RECOMMENDATION.

Proposition 8. – Regulates charges for kidney dialysis centers.

Right now, there are basically only two operators of kidney dialysis centers in California.  What they charge is, to some extent, up to the operators.  For most dialysis patients, dialysis costs are paid by public (Medicare, Medi-Cal) or private insurers.  For each of these, the insurer defines a reimbursement rate for treatment.  For the public insurers, that rate is set by regulation, and is pretty close to the cost of treatment.  For private insurers, it can be higher.

This initiative would essentially require that dialysis providers charge everyone the same price the government insurers pay.  Any excess would be rebated.  It could substantially cut providers’ profit margins.  That might cause some dialysis centers to close, and perhaps sue California for a “taking” of their business.  In other words, there are risks to trying to lower costs via an initiative.

It’s not clear to me what’s going on with this measure.  I’ve been told that a union that was trying to unionize the dialysis center workers pushed the measure as retribution to the companies’ anti-union efforts.  I don’t know if there’s any truth to that.  At any rate, this seems a weird thing to try to do by initiative.  NO.

Proposition 10. – Repeal of Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act

In 1995, the Legislature, with urging from the housing industry, passed the Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act.  The argument for its passage was that rent control laws were reducing chargeable rent to a point where landlords were taking rental properties off the market, or converting them to condominiums.  In addition, developers claimed that rent control was artificially depressing construction of new rental housing and creating an artificial shortage of rental housing.

Costa-Hawkins “solved” this problem by putting stringent limits on what rent control laws could do.  For example, when a tenant vacated an apartment, the rent was “decontrolled.”  The landlord was free to set any rental rate for the new tenant.  It also made it easier for a landlord to evict a tenant, and, perhaps most importantly, it said that no housing units built after 1995 could be subject to rent control.  as a result, cities that have rent control have a two-tiered rental market – post-1995 and pre-1995.

While we’re now seeing a jump in building new rental units, for a long time Costa Hawkins has not resulted in producing anywhere near enough units to avoid skyrocketing rents on new units.  The “invisible hand of the market” hasn’t done particularly well at providing reasonable rents in California.  With the current housing crisis, tenant groups feel it’s time to throw out Costa-Hawkins and let cities attempt to keep rental housing affordable through rent control.  Hence the attempt to repeal Costa-Hawkins.

Opponents argue that if Costa-Hawkins is repealed, we’ll go back to the problems of the early 1990s, with units being taken off the market and no new rental units being built.  Supporters say that a desperate situation requires strong solutions, and that cities can figure out what works best without a state “handcuff.”

To me, Costa-Hawkins is an example of the Legislature attempting “one size fits all” control of the housing problem.  I think if rent control doesn’t work well, cities are smart enough to change it themselves.  YES.

Proposition 11 – Makes private sector ambulance co. employees stay on-call during work breaks.

Under California law, employees have to have periodic breaks for rest and meals.  ambulance company employees are generally required to be “on-call” – i.e., available to answer a call for service – even during breaks.  The California Supreme Court recently ruled that the work breaks need to be provided regardless of calls for service.  To not give breaks would violate state labor law.   Faced with this new potential liability, ambulance companies hope this measure will get them out of the jam by legalizing the current situation, where ambulance workers remain on call during breaks.  (In other professions with a similar problem, such as fire fighters and police, it’s dealt with by having enough employees available so that those on break are not on call.)  The ambulance companies feel this would essentially require them to be overstaffed.

To me, the most significant thing about this initiative is that no opposition argument was submitted.  One would think that if ambulance company employees didn’t want to be on-call during their breaks, at least some of them would have submitted an argument.  (If they felt too intimidated, a former employee could have been asked to submit it.)  Since there’s no opposition, I guess even the employees are OK with it.  YES.

Proposition 12 – new standards for caged farm animals.

I’m also puzzled by this measure.  A few years ago, California voters passed an initiative that set standards for caged farm animals.  The standards were pushed by animal rights groups that argued that current conditions were inhumane and cruel.  This measure would change those standards.  Some of the new standards would provide more space; some would apparently provide less.

The measure is being supported by the American Humane Society, some veterinarians, and – peculiarly – by an egg producer “Central Valley Eggs.”  The opponents are members of animal rights groups, who presumably support the current law instead.  I confess that I’m at a loss to figure out which group has the better argument.  Each side seems to claim that the people on the other side are against animal welfare.  NO RECOMMENDATION.

Assessing the November 2018 Election Ballot – Part I – Statewide Offices

I usually try to put up a post before each general election giving my opinions on the various candidates and ballot measure.  The post is focused on my ballot – not yours, so depending on how closely your ballot resembles mine, you may find it more or less relevant; and, depending on your political preferences, you may find it more or less useful.

As is often the case with general elections, the ballot is long and complicated.  There are many candidates and many ballot measures.  Consequently, I’m splitting my comments into four parts:  Statewide Offices (Part I). Statewide Ballot Measures (Part II), Regional/Local Offices (Part III) and Regional/Local Ballot Measures (Part IV)

This is the first part – statewide offices.  As the old saying goes, “Caveat emptor!” [let the buyer beware!]

Candidates

Statewide (California)

U.S. Senator

This is the first place, at the top of the ticket, where we see the impact of California’s new “top two” primary election.  Frankly, I don’t like it.  It forces voters to make a binary choice in the final election, and ignores the fact that voters may have preferences that extend beyond two candidates.  To my mind, it would be far better if California switched to a two-step “ranked choice” system.  The first, primary, election would allow voters to rank their top five choices among the candidates.  Through a process of eliminating low-ranked candidates, the primary would narrow the final field to the five top-scoring candidates.  (If the field started out with five or let candidates, the first election would be the final one.)  In the final election, voters, after a more focused campaign, would rank their final choices among the five, and again a process of elimination would select the most-favored candidate, who’d be elected.  If you like this idea, please spread the word.  In my humble opinion, California could and should do better than its current system.

Instead, this year we had a host of candidates from a variety of different parties in the primary, but only the top two vote-getters made it to the final election.  Since the Democratic Party has more California voters than does any other party, it’s not too surprising that in many cases both top candidates were Democrats, and so it was here.  As a result, we have two candidates who don’t differ enormously in their stances on issues.  A lot of voters may find there’s little to choose from – and they may be right.

Diane Feinstein seems like she’s been in the U.S. Senate forever, and it has been a long time – since 1990.  That’s 28 years – longer than many California voters have been in California, and more than a lot of them have been alive.  For that whole time, she’s been one of the more “centrist” Democratic politicians in the state.  That means she probably gets more “crossover” votes from centrist Republicans and no-party-preference voters, and that may be her secret to keeping getting re-elected.

Her opponent this election is the former President Pro Tem of the State Senate, Kevin De Leon.  While the two candidates are not hugely different in their policy positions – especially when compared to the current Republican administration and its supporting Republican Senate majority – De Leon is definitely to the left of Feinstein politically.  Arguably, he’s more aligned with the politics of California’s somewhat left-of-center Democratic Party “base.”  For example, he supports a “Medicare for All” single-payer healthcare system, while Feinstein does not.  Feinstein apparently has a big lead in the polls, but I will stick with my preference for populist candidates and recommend De Leon.

Governor

So, here’s another place where I find myself between a rock and a hard place due to the “top two” primary.  IMHO, Gavin Newsom is a showboat politician whose knowledge of issues is about 1/2 inch deep.  What he does have is lots of connections, a handsome face, and a facile manner that can usually hide his ignorance.  Not the sort of person who I feel comfortable putting at the wheel of California’s ship of state  – Too many potential icebergs to hit.  On the other hand, while John Cox has more real-world experience running a company, he’s also a California Republican, which brings with it a lot of very heavy baggage that he’s not willing to let go of.  In short, I wish I had another candidate I could choose – if only as a protest vote.  With “top two,” there is no third choice.

Happily, Newsom is far enough ahead in the polls that I think I can safely follow a variant of “Ivins’ Rule,” named for the late political columnist Molly Ivins.  Speaking about whether to vote for a third party in a presidential election, she said that you should wait until a week before the election and then look at the polling for your state.  If more than 5 percentage points separate the top two candidates, you can vote your conscience, because your vote is very unlikely to matter.  If they’re closer than that, you better vote for the candidate you dislike less.  Here, Newsom’s ahead by way more than five points, so I’m probably going to leave this race blank in protest of the “top two” process/

Lieutenant Governor

This is another race where I’d be very annoyed with where “top two” has left us – IF the lieutenant governor position meant much.  It doesn’t.  The only meaningful thing the lieutenant governor does (other than wait for the governor to die, resign, or be found legally incompetent) is sit on a few committees/commissions.  Of these, the State Lands Commission is probably the most important, because it’s the smallest, so one vote could occasionally make a difference.  Both candidates are conventional state Democratic Party players.  I expect they’d vote very similarly on their committees/commissions.  My recommendation – flip a coin.

Secretary of State

This position – unlike lieutenant governor – actually does mean something.  The Secretary of State not only keeps track of lots of records for the state – like corporate papers and corporate officers and the like, he/she is also the state’s chief election officer.  If you want to see what kind of mischief that can involve, look at Florida, where the secretary of state (also the Republican candidate for Governor) is pretty clearly engaged in trying to keep Democrats from voting.  The Republican here, Mark Meuser, has made some statements suggesting he’d like to do the same.  Alex Padilla, the Democratic candidate, is no prize either.  Recently he embarrassingly mishandled the DMV’s voter registration efforts, leading to erroneous misregistration of thousands of voters.

Still and all, I’d rathere have someone who’s less than fully competent than someone who may have nefarious purposes.  A reluctant vote of Padilla.

Controller

To read Republican Candidate Kostantinos Roditis’ candidate statement, you’d think the Controller has amazing powers to institute taxes and fees.  He/she doesn’t.  While the Controller does somewhat play the role of gatekeeper on the state’s finances, and couldin theory “blow the whistle” on improper financial shenanigans, that almost never happens.  They get sued whenever someone believes there are illegal expenditure occurring, because they’re the person the court would order to stop writing checks.  But all they really do is almost literally write the checks.  The don’t generally decide what checks get written.  (Yes, in theory, if the controller felt an expenditure was improper or illegal, they could refuse to write the check.  In that case, someone else like the Governor or Legislature would ask the court to order them to issue the check.  Almost never happens.)

Because Roditis appears totally clueless about what the Controller actually does, and because Betty Yee, the Democratic candidate, does seem to understand the office and hasn’t been implicated in any major scandal, I’d recommend a vote for Yee.

Treasurer

This, like the Secretary of State, is a position with some potential real power.  The Treasurer is responsible for the state’s finances and, with the Governor and Director of Finance, prepares the state’s budget for presentation to the Legislature.He/she also sits on various state committees, notably the committees that authorize issuance of state bonds and the committees controlling state pension funds.  (When Bill Lockyer was Treasurer, he said he’d refuse to issue bonds for the high-speed rail authority until it could show it had some reasonable chance of being able to pay them off.)

Unfortunatey, I have qualms about both the candidates.  Fiona Ma, from what I’ve seen of her, first on the S.F. Board of Supervisors, then in the Legislature, and then on the Board of Equalization [which had a major scandal while she was on it], may have financial trining, but she’s never been one to buck the powers running whatever show she’s in.  To put it bluntly, she appers to be an obedient flunky.  Greg Conlon, the Republican candidate, is like Ma in having appropriate finaial background and training.  He has the misfortune, however, of being a Republican, which means he may try to be improperly obstructionist.  That would be unfortunate.  However, given the choice between someone who may be too loose with the purse and someone who’d hold it too tightly shut, I think, with a Democratic Governor and a heavily Democratic Legislature, I’d prefer the latter.  A reluctant nod to Conlon.

Attorney General

This is another important state constitutional office.  as the state’s chief law enforcement officer, he/she is responsible for both criminal prosecutions at the state level and a wide range of civil litigation responsibilities.  The Attorney General usually represents state agencies in court, but also can pursue civil actions against state agencies if they appear to not be behaving properly.  The latter, however, rarely happens – at least when the Governor and attorney General are from the same party.  Steven Bailey, the Republican candidate, is a retired judge (El Dorado County).  His candidate statement places strong emphasis on his work addressing criminal trials.  unfortunately for him, he’s also the subject of an investigation for possible misuse of his judicial office, including nepotism. (His son works for a firm that sells a monitoring system that he often required convicted criminals to wear).  The invrstigation certainly places a cloud over someone who, as attorney general, would have to be totally above reproach.  It would certainly be an enormous embarrassment to have California’s Attorney General found to have violated his duties as a judge.

The Democratic candidate, Xavier Becerra, was appointed to the position from being a Congressman from Los Angeles.  He did also serve a stint (from 1987-1990) as a Deputy Attorney General under John Van de Camp, an Attorney General for whom I had a lot of respect.   Since being in office, he has led opposition to Trump’s federal policies on behalf of a group of Democratic state attorneys general, filing numerous suits in federal court.  One would not expect Mr. Bailey to continue that behavior.

Given where we are right now, I think that challenging some of the Trump Administration’s more outrageous positions – such as his originally proposed Muslim ban, is very appropriate.  I recommend a vote for Becerra.

Board of Equalization (District 2)

As noted earlier, the Board of Equalization recently had a major scandal involving misuse of government funds.  In fact, the very necessity of continuing this board has been called into question, since many if not all of its duties could be performed by the Franchise Tax Board.  [Interestingly, the Democratic candidate in District 1 advocates exactly that position.]

On the one side, we have a Democratic candidate, Malia Cohen, who has been termed out of office on the S.F. Board of Supervisors.  She says little about why she’s especially qualified for this position, or even why the position is still necessary.  On the Republican side, we have a residential real estate agent from Silicon Valley who clearly has a vested interest in property values.  Is this who we want to ensure that real estate valuations are fair and equitable?

I’d prefer to see this office abolished, but if it’s going to continue, I don’t think I want a Republican advocate of Prop. 13 running it.  Cohen.

Superintendent of Public Instruction

This office is the titular head of California’s public school systems.   It is explicitly a nonpartisan office.  The two candidates represent two polarities on how that office should function.  Tony Thurmond  is currently a State Assembly member representing a district (District 15) made up of parts of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties – one of the most liberal districts in the state.  His background includes being on the Richmond City Council and the West Contra Costa Unified School District Board of Trustees.  As a legislator, his focus has been on legislation to support and improve public schools.

Marshall Tuck has had a career focused on looking for alternative organizing principles for public schools.  He worked along with Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles on a jointly funded effort between the city and the school district to improve quality in low income schools.  Progress was made, but the teachers in many of the schools expressed strong antipathy for Mr. Tuck.  He also served as president of charter school organization that established ten charter high schools in L.A., eight of which have been recognized for academic excellence.

The two candidates epitomize two very different ways of running public school systems.  Thurmond supports the traditional approach, with a central administration working with a local school principal and its teachers, while Tuck supports the charter school approach, which favors schools run by groups outside of the public school establishment.  Since many charter schools employ nonunion teachers, the teachers unions strongly oppose the charter school movement, arguing that it skims the “cream”  – i.e., the top-performing students – off of low-income and minority areas, leaving the conventional schools with the most difficult students to deal with.  It also has been accused of siphoning off funding from traditional public schools, leaving them even more underfunded.

As a product of traditional public schools (the City of Boston School System), I recognize that public schools can have major problems.  Haveing had a daughter in the Oakland Unified School District and volunteered in her and another school, I also recognize that there are pluses and minuses to haw traditional schools function [or don’t] here in California.  That being said, I find the charter school approach disturbing for encouraging a “two tiered” system.  For that reason, I support Thurmond over Tuck.

Judicial Candidates

California has an unusual system where appellate justices are appointed by the Governor, but then must be periodically confirmed by a public vote.  As an attorney who deals a lot with the courts, my problem with the system is two-fold.  First, most citizens have neither the background nor experience with the courts to be able gauge the quality of appellate justices.  Being an appellate court justice requires a superior understanding of the principles of the law, as well as being able to figure out what the Legislature intended in its statutes and how the state constitution should be interpreted and applied.  Those are not things the general public is in a good position to evaluate.

While attorneys who practice before appellate judges are in a pretty good position to evaluate justices’ qualities, they are strongly discouraged by attorney regulations from publicly criticizing a sitting judge, because it could be seen as undermining the public’s confidence in the judicial system.  e.g., comment on rule of professional conduct 8.2 “Lawyers also are obligated to maintain the respect due to the courts of justice and judicial officers.”

Perhaps more disturbing is that political factors can become a major focus of campaigns against sitting justices.  This was most evident in the concerted 1986 conservative campaign to unseat the liberal Supreme Court justices headed by Rose Bird.  Admittedly Rose Bird had made some controversial rulings, particularly in regard to death penalty cases.  Nevertheless, the strongly political campaign to remove Bird and three other justices shifted the court strongly to the right and, by its highly partisan nature, damaged the court’s reputation.  (It can be argued that Governor Jerry Brown, by making appointments far to the left of the political spectrum, helped precipitate this crisis.)

At any rate, in this election, two Supreme Court justices, Carol Corrigan and Leondra Kruger, are up for confirmation, as well as eight justices of the First District Court of Appeal. While I have had the opportunity to read many decision of the two Supreme Court justices and listen to oral argument before them, and have argued cases before many of the court of appeal justices up for confirmation, I will resist the temptation to express any public opinion on their confirmations.  Suffice it to say that I believe a public vote is not an appropriate method to evaluate sitting judges or justices.

The June Primary is almost here!

Gosh!  It’s election time again already.  What fun!  [Ha HA].  As usual, I’m putting up my opinions and recommendations for anyone who’s interested.  Take them for whatever they’re worth.

This isn’t a presidential election, but there’s still a lot to vote on.  A whole bunch of offices and eight ballot measures are on my ballot. (There may be more or fewer on yours, depending on where you live.)  As usual, I’m going to start “at the top”, both in terms of candidates at the top of the ballot and those representing the largest constituencies.  The closer where you live is to where I live, the further down the ballot you’ll get before our ballots diverge.  However, don’t forget to look at the ballot measures after the candidates, as these are often the most important decisions you’ll make.

Starting with statewide offices:

Governor 

Can you believe there are twenty-seven candidates on the ballot!!? I can’t recall an election with that many that everyone could vote for.  I’m not sure if this is a plus or a minus of the new “top two” approach, where the primary allows everybody to vote for any candidate.  The candidates aren’t even separated out by party preference.

I got my official statewide voter information guide last week. Not as huge as I expected it to be, with all the candidate statements to be included.  One problem with having this many candidates, and only one vote, is that the likelihood of any random candidate getting to the November ballot is extremely low.  The elections becomes as much a matter of name recognition as anything else.  If you ask me, it’s a pretty stupid way to run an election.  At the very least, we should be able to rank, for example, our top five candidates, and then narrow the number of candidates on the November ballot to no more than five.  Ranked choice voting would also make sense in November.  However, it is what it is, so you just get your one shot per race.  Maybe someone will put up an initiative to change this disaster.  [I hope]

Unfortunately, given the lack of name recognition, there may well be numerous very worthy candidates who won’t get to the November ballot.  Consequently, since I presume many people would like their vote to mean something – in terms of actually helping to choose who’s on the November ballot, I’m going to limit my initial comments to the more high-profile candidates.  I will probably add some more before election day, if I get time.

Among the main candidates, the Democrats clearly have a strong edge in getting to November.  In fact, it’s not at all unlikely, given the low name recognition of the Republican, minor party, and unaffiliated candidates, that the top two candidates will both be Democrats in most if not all races (at least for the Bay Area).  The same may well be true for all statewide races, especially given that California is a “bright blue” state.  Consequently, I’m going to focus my comments on the major Democratic candidates.  Late update (5/28/18) – it appears the top Republican gubernatorial candidate is currently outpacing the second-ranked Democrat, so at least in that race, November may be one Republican vs. one Democrat.  Still not a lot of options!

Here’s my rundown:

Gavin Newsom – current Lieutenant Governor and former San Francisco Mayor.  He’s clearly the highest profile candidate.  He’s also raised by far the most campaign funds ($14 M thus far!).  One of my rules of thumb is “follow the money.”  Contributors may not necessarily “buy” a candidate (although it’s been known to happen), but who the major contributors are tells a lot about where a candidate is coming from.  Reyes Holdings is Newsom’s biggest contributor ($146K).  They own beverage bottling and distribution companies around the U.S.  What’s their interest in Gavin?  Maybe they just like him, but more likely they think he’ll go light on taxing big corporations.  Next is Creative Artists Agency ($127K).  According to Wikipedia, it’s “is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. It is regarded as a dominant and influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous prestigious clients.”  Maybe they like Gavin because of his “star” qualities?  Or maybe they think he’ll be sympathetic to Hollywood’s interests?  After that comes Hueston Hennigan LLP, a big law firm specializing in commercial litigation and white collar defense.  Why do they like Gavin, well, for one thing, they’re defending Southern California Edison in this winter’s Southern California wildfires.  Maybe they think he’ll be sympathetic to that utility’s interests?  Number four is Winklevoss Capital Management ($117K) – a big investment company and venture capital firm.  I guess they figure Gavin will be good for big business.  Rounding out his top five is Social Finance ($116K) – a big finance company (i.e., student loans, mortgages, commercial loans, etc.)  One can guess that they’re hopeful that Gavin will NOT be doing something to ease student debtors burdens.  Perhaps significantly, Gavin hasn’t put up any policy positions on the Voters Edge website; nor did he bother to put a statement in the voter information guide.  Shows how much he respects California voters’ interest in issues.  While Newsom has supported some liberal positions, notably on gay marriage, he’s become pretty establishment Democrat as Lieutenant Governor.  He’d probably be a bit to the left of Jerry Brown, but for a Democrat, that’s not saying much.

Antonio Villaraigosa – Former Mayor of Los Angeles, and currently titles himself a “public policy advisor” (whatever that means – maybe lobbyist?).  He’s raised just over $7M in funds, with major contributions by contractor Tudor Perini ($87K), various pipetrade unions and locals (just under $117K) and Harborview Capital Partners ($just under $117K), which describes itself as ” a full service commercial real estate finance, equity and advisory firm.”  Let’s just say it’s representing real estate and development interests.  So, I think one can safely say he’s well-liked by the real estate and development community – at least in Southern California.  Like Gavin, he also hasn’t put up any policy positions on the Voters Edge, or in the voter guide, but one could safely say he’d be pro-business and pro-development – probably not all that different from Jerry Brown, although again maybe a little more liberal on social issues.

John Chiang – current California State Treasurer – rounds out the top Democratic candidates (at least by $ contributions).  He’s collected about $5M, with major contributions from Northern California Carpenter unions ($58K), California United Nurses Union ($58K), and MWM Global Holdings, a financial consulting firm that “offers trust, wealth management, legal, corporate consulting, audit and accounting services” from its headquarters in the British Virgin Islands.  One might guess that the firm has done a fair bit of business with the treasurer’s office.  Mr. Chiang’s contributors suggest links to construction and other unions as well as financial management interests.  That would fit with his history of public finance (he was State Controller before he became State Treasurer.  Unlike Newsom and Villaraigosa, Chiang has put up some policy positions on voters’ edge, but not in the voter pamphlet.  He emphasizes housing, public education, and generally opposing the policies being put forward by the Republican Trump Administrations.  His platform appears considerably to the left of Villaraigosa’s and Newsom’s but there’s not a lot of policy history behind that.

Delaine Eastin – former Superintendent of Public Instruction – it’s an open question whether she should be considered a “main” candidate.  While her fundraising has been significant – just under $1 million, it’s far below any of the other major candidates – even the main Republican candidates.  However, she’s the only well-known candidate who’s a woman, and she has enough name recognition to possibly stage an upset and reach the November election.  I actually like he platform far better than any of the other main candidates, (and she’s the only major Democratic candidate to bother putting information into the voters’ guide), so she’s my long-shot recommendation.  Shame on the California establishment Democrats for their disdain for California voters!

John Cox (Republican) – added info (5/28/18) – Cox is a “mainstream” Republican – which at this point means he generally supports Trump, and Trump has endorsed him.  According to an article in the Sacramento Bee, the charter school movement is funding a major campaign effort against Cox, in the hopes it will allow Villaraigosa – a charter school supporter – to bump him out of second place, and bump Villaraigosa into the November election.  (Maybe if you really hate Villaraigosa, you should vote for Cox in June??)  He’s got a reasonably hefty campaign war chest (almost $6 million), but most of that is self-funded.  (Cox is, perhaps not surprisingly, quite wealthy.)  He’s anti-immigration, anti-regulation, pro-gun, and pro-Prop 13.  In other words, if you’re anything close to a Democrat, he’s a total anathema.  If he does make the November ballot, he’ll almost certainly continue the string of Republicans who lose resoundingly.

Lieutenant Governor

There are still a lot of candidates here, but nowhere near as many as for Governor or U.S. Senator.  Because time is growing short, I’m going to just cut to the chase and give you my pick – Gayle McLaughlin.

This is a rather insubstantial office.  The Lieutenant Governor does, however, get to sit on a number of significant boards, notably the State Lands Commission, the U.C. Board of Regents, the Cal State Univ. Board of Trustees, and the Economic Development Commission.  Gayle, as mayor of Richmond, led a progressive city council majority (which she helped elect) to make some major reforms, including hiring a top-notch police chief who made major changes in improving the police dept.’s sorry reputation.  She was a strong supporter of Bernie Sanders and carries his endorsement.  None of the other candidates are anywhere near as impressive.

Secretary of  State

This office is also considered a “minor” statewide office, but the office’s duties are considerable.  The Secretary of State is the state’s chief elections officer, responsible for setting up and running the state’s formidable elections apparatus.  The Secretary of State also maintains the state’s records of corporations and other legal entities, and maintains the state’s archives of historical materials.

Because the Secretary of State has a statewide platform, it’s a good place for someone to push for electoral reform, and as you can tell from my comments about our “top two” primary system, I think we badly need reform.  That’s why I’m supporting Michael Feinstein, Green Party candidate and former mayor of Santa Monica.  Will he get elected?  Not likely, but he’s pushing reforms that ought to be taken seriously; notably proportional representation in the Legislature, which would give us a more diverse and representative Legislature, as well as campaign finance reform.  While C.T. Weber (Peace & Freedom Party) supports much of the same platform, I think Feinstein has more visibility and credibility as a former elected official.

Controller

Another “minor” office.  There are only three candidates.  The Controller essentially is responsible for writing the state’s checks and ensuring there’s money to pay the bills.  If there’s illegal state spending going on, the Controller’s who you sue.  arguably, the Controller could refuse to write a check for something he/she felt was improper.  That, as far as I know, has never happened.  The Republican candidate says he’d make state spending more effective and efficient.  I don’t think he has that power.  The Democrat, Betty Yee, has been a loyal Democrat in various minor positions for many years.  Don’t expect her to do anything revolutionary, or even reformist.  The Peace & Freedom Party candidate says she’ll do things that I don’t think she has the power to do.  No endorsement for any of these candidates from me.  Maybe I’ll write in Bill Lockyer?

Treasurer

Yet another minor office, although the Treasurer does have the ability to refuse to authorize bond issuance if he thinks it would be unwise.  (As Treasurer, Bill Lockyer at one point said he wouldn’t issue bonds for the high-speed rail system because he felt that, with the lack of investor trust, the interest rate would be too high.  He eventually relented.)  I emphatically would NOT vote for Fiona Ma.  While she was on the State Board of Equalization, there were major scandals involving misspending of funds.  Was she involved?  She claims she wasn’t.  I’m not so sure.  In the Legislature, she voted in lockstep with the Democratic Party leadership.  I think she’d be a well-oiled cog in the Democratic state party machine.  I’d like to throw a shoe or two into that machine.  Maybe Greg Conlon??  Yeah, I know, he’s a Republican, and has about a snowball’s chance in Hell of getting elected, but he does seem well-qualified and less likely to just be a rubber stamp on the Democratic leadership’s checks.

Attorney General

While a “minor” office, it’s probably the most important of them.  Not only is the AG the state’s chief law enforcement officer, but he also heads up the state’s legal team, which both advises most state government entities and defends them in court.  When a state entity seems to be doing something that’s “not quite right”, it’s supposed to the the AG’s job to set them straight.  That hasn’t been the case for a long time, with the AG being filled by people with political aspirations who follow their party’s line.  Sadly, I don’t expect that to change in a major way with any of the candidates, but Dave Jones may have the best shot at doing it, as he’s running against a Democratic incumbent and bucking the system by doing that.  He’s also done a fairly credible job as insurance commissioner.

Insurance Commissioner

Speaking of Insurance Commissioner, this is one place I would NOT want to elect a Republican.  The last time we had a Republican in the office, it was a mess.  My choice would be Ricardo Lara.  as one of the co-authors of the proposed state single-payer health insurance bill, he showed he was willing to take on some powerful opponents.  The bill didn’t get very far, but maybe as Insurance Commissioner, he can do some good things with other insurance issues.

State Board of Equalization

This office really needs to be abolished!  There’s no reason why its duties couldn’t be absorbed into the Franchise Tax Board.  I frankly don’t trust ANY of the candidates particularly.  I may leave my ballot blank.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Tony Thurmond – This is where he should have been in the first place, instead of the State Assembly.  His heart is in educational issues.

Federal Offices

U.S. Senator

Lots of candidates again here, but it’s basically a two person race – Diane Feinstein versus Kevin De Leon.  Of the two, I’m going with Kevin De Leon, even though the polls seem to show that Feinstein’s the runaway favorite.  Feinstein’s middle-of-the-road stance has bothered me ever since she was San Francisco Mayor.  I think it’s time for her to be moved aside.

U.S. Representative

Barbara Lee – this seat is uncontested.

Local Offices

State Assembly 15th District

There are twelve candidates here.  There are three that seem to me worth voting for:  Dan Kalb, Ben Bartlett, and Jovanka Beckles.  Each of them is currently a city council member and thus has some legislative experience, although at the local level, and each has what appear to me to be some good ideas.  Unfortunately, all three may be swamped by the deluge of outside money pouring into Buffy Wicks’ campaign.   She has NO legislative experience and her money and endorsements come from having been a political flack in Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign.  She also worked on setting up Obamacare, and we all know all too well the flaws in that system.  (Yes, it’s better than nothing, but it was not well thought out and really needs to be replaced by something better and more inclusive.)  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, Don’t vote for Buffy!

New information (as of 5/28/18) Follow the money.  As I said earlier in this post, who’s contributing to a candidate can be more telling than what they say they will do, or even who endorses them.  Here’s more information (from the Secretary of State via the groups – and websites – Maplight and Votersedge).  Summary of major donor info and classifications of donors (large vs. small, in-state vs out-of-state, individuals vs groups) for some of the major candidates:

Buffy Wicks:

    Dan Kalb:

Jovanka Beckles

Ben Bartlett:

Take-home lesson – Buffy Wicks has gotten much more $$ than any other candidate [and it shows in how many mailers she’s sent out and other campaign expenditures], a much higher proportion of out-of-state donors, and a high percentage of large corporate donors.  Draw your own conclusions!  For the others, lots of union donations – with the type of union varying by candidate (again, what unions are donating says a lot about how you can expect the candidate to vote), and almost nobody getting a lot of money from small donors.  (Jovanka Beckles has the highest percentage.)  None of this is good news, but none of it is unexpected either, given how the courts (especially U.S. Supreme Court) have emasculated campaign finance reform laws.

Superior Court Judge

No Opinion – I don’t think we should be electing judges.

Board of Education – 1st Trustee Area

Thus seat is uncontested.  It’s unclear to me what the County Board of Education does in incorporated areas of the county that have their own school board.  At any rate, the seat is uncontested, which says either that the incumbent is doing a good job or nobody cares enough about the position to run for it.  Since it makes no difference, I may leave this one blank too.

County Assessor

This is basically a technical job – the assessor doesn’t decide what gets assessed or for how much, just supervises the operation of getting the data.  That may change if we go to a split roll in November.  Given that, I’d go for John Weed, who’s the only candidate supporting a split roll.

County Auditor-Controller/Clerk-Recorder

This office is a peculiar mix of clerical and analytical responsibilities.  To my mind, the most important responsibilities are as auditor.  The auditor is supposed to look for honesty and efficiency in government.  I’d go for Irella Blackwood, who emphasizes that aspect of the office, while Melissa Wilk emphasizes the more routine duties that really hardly need an elected official to do.

County District Attorney

To my mind, this is the most important county office on the ballot this election.  While the District Attorney’s role in criminal prosecutions gets the most attention, the District Attorney also superintends the county civil grand jury, which studies and makes recommendations about county government.  The DA can also prosecute “political” crimes, like violations of campaign reform laws, conflict of interest laws, or Brown Act violations.  Usually, DAs are closely tied to the county’s political establishment, so these laws only get enforced against disfavored officials.  I’d expect Nancy O’Malley, a very well-connected Democrat, to continue that tradition.  My recommendation is Pamela Price.  She’s definitely looking for reform of the criminal justice system in the county – which IMHO it badly needs.  However, she’s also not tied in with the political establishment, which IMHO is another big pllus.

Ballot Measures

Prop 68 – YES –

while I distrust bonds these days, this one will do good things.

Prop. 69 –  YES –

Well, Duh.  You mean you want your transportation money frittered away?  (Not that it won’t be even if it’s spend on some state projects)

Prop. 70 – YES –

Case in point – 1/4 of the cap & trade funds are now going to high-speed rail construction, a project that is NEVER going to get completed and, in the meantime, is INCREASING GHG emissions!!  Here’s a link to a recent article about the debacle.  This one-shot at demanding more accountability in what gets funded isn’t much, but it’s better than nothing.  IMHO, cap & trade is a classic demonstration of the flaws in California’s Democratic Party establishment.  Decisions get made based on political pull, rather any rational consideration of public policy.  Shame on Jerry Brown and the Democratic legislative leadership!

Prop. 71 – YES –

very common sense measure.

Prop. 72 – YES –

water conservation measures like this should be incentivized, not disincentivized.

Regional Measure 3 –

NO,NO, NO – This is throwing bridge toll money at a laundry list of projects chosen to satisfy political and special interests.  As U.S. Representative DeSaunier says, it won’t solve our transportation problems.  MTC should be told to go back and start over!

Alameda County Measure A – YES –

childcare for low income families – badly needed

Oakland Measure D – YES –

library parcel tax – do we really want libraries to close???