Brian
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Post by Brian on Oct 16, 2024 23:00:18 GMT -8
I guess I'm starting this election thread later than usual because of something I said kicking off the 2024 California Primary Election thread: Everybody still calls this a primary, but since 2012 the first election of the year in California is more accurately the general election. It's the only ballot open to every political party. The voters choose the two candidates who will face off in November -- a run-off, not a traditional general election -- except for some local offices where a candidate can win outright with a majority of the votes [like county Supervisor Kathryn Barger]. When I got my ballot in the mail, I simply filled in the bubbles next to the same names I voted for in March, such as Adam Schiff for senator, Laura Friedman to replace him as my Member of Congress and Nick Schultz to replace her in the state Assembly. All three candidates are shoo ins. Then I breezed through the state propositions because I've been reading about each of them for two years as they wended their way onto my ballot, mostly funded by various special interests. Alas, it appears that the worst of them like Proposition 36 will win in a landslide because the pendulum has swung again, back to wholesale incarceration. People seem traumatized by crimes captured on the cellphones and security cameras and spewed on social media and the local TV news. Besides the obvious presidential race, there are crucial elections happening beyond my precinct that I'm following, including several expensive and hotly contested Congressional races in California. Please feel free to add your thoughts and endorsements. Guests are welcome to post, as always. This thread will be ongoing until the results are clear long after November 5. |
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Post by Oss Rae on Oct 18, 2024 3:11:57 GMT -8
Alas, it appears that the worst of them like Proposition 36 will win in a landslide because the pendulum has swung again, back to wholesale incarceration. People seem traumatized by crimes captured on the cellphones and security cameras and spewed on social media and the local TV news. It seems like the prosecution of crimes sways from one extreme to the other: either far too lenient or far too severe and heavy-handed. |
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Post by Oss Rae on Oct 18, 2024 19:49:33 GMT -8
Can anyone recommend a guide for voting on judges and other local candidates like assembly members as well as city measures? The Green Party guide only has recommendations for state measures and national politicians, and I'm similarly not seeing anything about these issues on a Democratic page. Thank you.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Oct 18, 2024 23:00:27 GMT -8
Because I love Dick and Sharon personally and their LA Progressive especially, here's the link to their ballot picks: www.laprogressive.com/election-and-campaigns/la-progressive-voter-guide-november-2024?utm_source=LA+Progressive+NEW&utm_campaign=83d789894b-LAP+News+-+20+April+17/I must say that while I usually agree with Dick and Sharon's conclusions, I don't rely on them. For instance, they endorsed Steve Pierson for my Assembly district on that webpage, but he lost in the March primary. I agree with all of their choices on the state measures but I'm leaning No on the City of L.A.'s Measure FF. I've always voted Yes on these pension upgrades for city workers that are paid by the taxpayers but now I'm drawn to the argument that the affected officers in the Harbor, Airport and Recreation and Parks' police departments chose their less risky beats -- and lesser pension benefits -- when they graduated from the LAPD Police Academy. And the city is currently broke. |
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Post by Oss Rae on Oct 20, 2024 18:34:46 GMT -8
Thank you!! I'm going through them and also passing them on to a friend.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Nov 4, 2024 0:00:46 GMT -8
I can't pretend that I won't be obsessed with the presidential election returns starting Tuesday night, but I will also be watching the tallies for two worthy California measures that have a chance to pass, according to the polls I've seen: State Measure 32 to raise the minimum wage with built in cost of living adjustments and State Measure 33 to allow cities and counties to expand rent control. This is the third time that the AIDS Healthcare Foundation has placed this initiative to repeal the notorious Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act of 1995 on the ballot and I'm hoping that their good and plentiful TV ads will charm enough voters. Not to mention that every assertion by the opposition in the ads financed by corporate landlords has either been proven misleading or is an outright lie.
I'm also fond of Los Angeles County Measure A, which would replace 2017's Measure H that allocated a quarter percent sales tax to build housing. The new measure would apply part of the half cent tax to services to prevent vulnerable people from becoming homeless in the first place and would be backed up by accountability procedures. Experience has taught us that local governments can do more when they have stable permanent funding, not just grants from state and federal agencies, many of which petered out after the pandemic.
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Post by voter on Nov 4, 2024 22:55:54 GMT -8
Can anyone recommend a guide for voting on judges and other local candidates like assembly members as well as city measures? The Green Party guide only has recommendations for state measures and national politicians, and I'm similarly not seeing anything about these issues on a Democratic page. Thank you.
I found expandurl.net by searching for "check short url"
Freedom Socialist Party |
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Nov 5, 2024 1:29:53 GMT -8
The total number of mailers that Anni and I received for this election were less than a quarter of the total in the March primary. Maybe the folks who send pallets to post offices agree with me that the primary is the real general election. I know it's wacky, but counting the mailers helps me figure out where campaign money is spent, who's paying and what they think their best arguments are. We got 21 pieces. Compare that to the 92 mailers our poor letter carrier delivered for the March 2024 presidential primary and the 67 we received for the November 2022 California general election. Except for two from the United Way supporting Measure A in a weird way by not even mentioning that it was a tax increase, the first campaign mailer didn't arrive until the registrar mailed ballots in early October. The final one, favoring Measure US, came on the day we mailed our ballots back last week -- and it noted that we had not voted yet. Here is this election's traditional breakdown: - State Assembly District 44 - 1 from Schultz' campaign
- L.A. Community College District - 1 slate for Hoffman, Vela, Henderson and Iino from the faculty guild, 1 Hoffman/Vela from their campaigns and 1 Hoffman from hers
- State Measure 2 (school bonds) - 1 Yes from education, labor and business organizations
- State Measure 33 (rent control) - 1 No from Realtors' associations
- L.A. County Measure A (tax for homeless programs) - 8 Yes from funders led by the United Way
- L.A. Unified School District Measure US (school bonds) - 1 Yes from labor groups
- Slates - 1 from the California Democratic Party, 1 from the California Working Families Party, 1 from Equality California and 3 from the usual outfits that sell space to candidates
The nicest surprise was the big postcard from the California Working Families Party, making its debut in my mailbox with a slate of state and local candidates and measure recommendations. The party looks to be an even bigger force in the next statewide election in 2026. |
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Post by voter on Nov 6, 2024 19:13:51 GMT -8
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Nov 8, 2024 0:00:38 GMT -8
I was too shocked and grief stricken the past two days to comment on the presidential election here. For now, I have just two things to say: I'm grateful that I spent the last three months thinking there was no way that Kamala could lose -- that preserved my emotional health. And I really need this Friday's Montrose Peace Vigil -- our beloved community has come together after every tragedy and setback in this world since 2006 and left the corner feeling better, ready for individual activism.
Meanwhile, I've gone online looking for good news upballot since the highest offices are now placed last on Los Angeles County ballots to nudge voters into marking the bubbles for what people still call downballot races. Besides the obvious contests like U.S. Senator and my House and state Assembly districts where the results were foretold, I'm very happy that L.A. County Measure A looks like a shoo-in. It's currently at 56 percent Yes with 2.8 million ballots counted as of close of business on Thursday and less than a million left to process. The other measure I mentioned in my last post, California Measure 32 to raise the minimum wage, has a chance to pass. That one has a 52 percent No tally tonight but there are nearly 5.5 million ballots outstanding statewide, many of them posted or put in drop boxes on election day. And more will arrive by the deadline for receipt next Tuesday. I expect the last votes added to skew progressive as in every recent election, though perhaps to a lesser degree this year since the false onus on mail in ballots by crazier Republicans seems to be fading.
I'm less hopeful that Democrats will take back the House of Representatives even though they're some 18 seats shy of a majority with about three dozen races left to call nationwide. There are slight variations among the news organizations keeping track. Republicans proved they cannot govern without Democrats in the last Congress, so the closer Hakeem Jeffries is to the speaker's chair, the better. I'm watching a lot of tight races in California, especially the nearby 27th District in Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley that was in my congressional district until the blessed 2012 reapportionment that returned Tujunga to Adam Schiff. MAGA incumbent Mike Garcia currently has the lead with 50.68 percent -- only 3,240 votes separate him from Democrat George Whitesides.
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