Bay Area Voter Guide

Posted at 2:59 pm on Friday, October 24, 2008, in Uncategorized, and tagged voter guide.

Thanks to the California proposition system, I just don’t have to vote for president and my congressmen on November 4 (along with my local water and school officials, as well as my city council-members), but I also need to vote for or against twelve detailed state-wide propositions. And each of them (or, almost all of them) require a night’s worth of studying to truly understand the concepts, fiscal obligations and long-term policy effects. Screw that, I cranked this out in the last twenty minutes…

And before I continue, I should make note that none of the voting decisions that I outline below should be construed as an endorsement of any kind, and I have not provided any public endorsement or support, neither explicit or implied,* or contributions in any form whatsoever, and the list that follows is purely a temporal measure of my political feelings this day and only this day. It is simply a means to publish my choices for this coming election so I can be accountable come Election Day.

Federal
President / Vice-President: Barack Hussein Obama / Joe Biden — yep, I’m voting for him despite the middle name thing
U.S. Representative (District 7): George Miller

California
Senate (District 7): Mark DeSaulnier
Assembly (District 11): Tom Torlakson

State-Wide Propositions
1A – High-Speed Train from SF to LA – YES
2 – Farm Animal Standards – YES — this little piggy needs a nice, relaxing home
3 – Children’s Hospitals – YES
4 – Parental Notification – NO
5 – Parole and Rehabilitation – NO
6 – Increased Police Funding – YES
7 – Renewable Energy – NO — I have to defer to the Sierra Club on this one; it sounds good, but I guess it is misguided
8 – Deny Same-Sex Marriage – NO
9 – Victims’ Rights – YES
10 – Pickens’ Plan – NO — simply a give-away to his natural gas ambitions; seconded by Sierra Club and NRDC
11 – Redistricting – YES
12 – Mortgages for Veterans – YES

Regional
School Board: Antonio Alvarez Medrano, Robert Studdiford — both challengers
Water District: Charles T. Smith — challenger

City
Council Member: Donald L. Kuehne, Joanne Ward, John J. Delgado

Local Measures
D – School Parcel Tax – YES
WW – Regional Parks Bond – YES

* Full disclosure: I have provided my opinion from time-to-time to one of the candidates running for local office, however I have not campaigned for him or contributed otherwise to his campaign.

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