Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,793
|
Post by Brian on Apr 22, 2018 23:00:11 GMT -8
 The 96-page voter guide is now arriving in mailboxes statewide.
I made up my mind that I was going to support Dianne Feinstein's re-election before Kevin de Leon entered the race, and long before I read Gail Sheehy's profile of Feinstein in Mother Jones last year, which helped me understand Dianne better as a human being while learning more about her bravery over the decades. Since 1992, I had always been an unenthusiastic Feinstein voter. But if Feinstein chose to run again, I was going to vote for her just because of the Torture Report. She stood up to the CIA, Republicans in the Senate and a Democratic president to tell us the truth. In these times, California cannot afford to send another freshman to the Senate. The entire world -- not just our state -- needs someone who can work with senators like Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins and Lamar Alexander if Democrats cannot regain the majority.
Kevin de Leon would be my ideal candidate if Feinstein weren't running again -- and Trump was not president. But I might vote for him in June if polls show that a Republican could come in second. It would be more fun to watch Feinstein face a young progressive in November, something unthinkable before the jungle primary, instead of another doomed Republican.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jeanne on Apr 23, 2018 5:21:30 GMT -8
Thanks for the post on Feinstein, Brian. I enjoyed the Mother Jones article.
I follow the senator on twitter and agree with almost everything she posts. I think she has a very clear head, a good moral compass, and courage. I hope that her health holds up for another term.
|
|
Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,793
|
Post by Brian on Apr 30, 2018 23:12:25 GMT -8
I don't know about you guys, but I'm still undecided about the race for governor of California.
The chief criterion for me is the ability to run a state this big. John Chiang, who's served as state controller and treasurer, looks best. Front runner Gavin Newsom got his executive experience as mayor of San Francisco, certainly not as lieutenant governor. Antonio Villaraigosa was mayor of Los Angeles for two terms that we all remember. And as superintendent of public instruction in the 1990's, Delaine Eastin was responsible for public schools in California for eight years.
The top Democrats are well qualified, and all of them are progressives, more or less. But I got unnerved recently when I heard about a poll that had two Republicans in second and third place.
I opposed the jungle primary because it would keep Green Party candidates off the November ballot, taking away my chance for a protest vote if the Democrat sucked. Even worse, I've found myself voting strategically in the primaries. In June 2016, I voted for Loretta Sanchez instead of Kamala Harris because I wanted the insurance of two Democrats in a general election.
So I have to ask myself, am I willing to vote for Villaraigosa in the hope of keeping a Republican off the ballot, when a Republican has no chance to win? I've had it with candidates bankrolled by the charter schools industry. Perhaps I should just vote for the candidate who best represents my views, like Eastin.
The primary is five weeks from today and, so far, I'm among the few paying attention.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sharon W on May 2, 2018 13:23:55 GMT -8
|
|
Roberta
Member
Vigil founding member
Posts: 1,030
|
Post by Roberta on May 3, 2018 4:27:14 GMT -8
I’m voting for Easton. I’ll be fine with Gov. Newsom (or Chaing). Villariagosa is sleazy. Herbalife - give me a break.
|
|
Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,793
|
Post by Brian on May 7, 2018 23:00:24 GMT -8
As you probably heard, that guy showed up at the state Republican party convention in San Diego last weekend and was removed by security guards while kicking an Israeli flag.
The delegates not only failed to endorse a candidate for governor, they seem bitterly divided between the two GOP front runners, which bodes well for a Democrat to place second in next month's primary.
For the past two weeks, television ads for the top three Democratic contenders have been flooding the airwaves. George Skelton nailed Gavin Newsom's campaign for saying that he was "the first to take on the National Rifle Association and win" in his column in the Los Angeles Times on Monday. The only ad for John Chiang so far -- with him spouting progressive platitudes at a podium while the camera spins around him and a blurry audience -- is downright creepy, making him look like a robot. By my assessment, the initial champ in quality -- and quantity, thanks to the charter schools -- is Antonio Villaraigosa, although the ads made and paid by his campaign are better. He's always been a charmer.
The first day to vote by mail was May 7. Where's my sample ballot?
|
|
|
|
Post by Jeanne on May 8, 2018 16:41:10 GMT -8
Charm shmarm.
I hope that California doesn't elect anyone who will further the growth of charter schools and erode public schools and unions. UTLA is endorsing Gavin Newsom for governor and Tony Thurmond for Superintendent of Public Education.
Another thing happening in LA is that Local 99 will be doing a one day strike next Tuesday. That includes cafeteria workers, custodians, and special ed assistants. UTLA will be supporting it and not crossing picket lines. I think that will include my school. I'll let you know more when I find out for sure. If you have a red shirt and some free time next Tuesday, by all means feel welcome to stand with education workers.
|
|
|
|
Post by Jeanne on May 9, 2018 4:42:56 GMT -8
Charm shmarm. Another thing happening in LA is that Local 99 will be doing a one day strike next Tuesday. That includes cafeteria workers, custodians, and special ed assistants. UTLA will be supporting it and not crossing picket lines. I think that will include my school. I'll let you know more when I find out for sure. If you have a red shirt and some free time next Tuesday, by all means feel welcome to stand with education workers. I see this morning that the union came to an agreement with the district and the strike won't happen. |
|
Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,793
|
Post by Brian on May 28, 2018 0:55:24 GMT -8
My easiest choices on the ballot -- except for voting for Rep. Adam Schiff, that is -- are the two elections for the 39th State Assembly District. That's because I already studied the candidates for the special primary election on April 3 to fill the seat vacated by Raul Bocanegra for the last six months of his term. The same names appear on the June ballot for a primary election for the next full term, with the addition of Bonnie Corwin, whose candidacy petition I signed outside of Vons in Tujunga.
In the runoff for the unexpired term, I have to ink my circle for Democrat Luz Maria Rivas, the charter schools' candidate, instead of Republican Ricardo Antonio Benitez.
But there's a chance to reset the finalists for the full term in November. Rivas will no doubt be first again, but Benitez could fail to make the runoff because more Democrats will turn out for a statewide primary than they did for the special election in April. The candidate who placed third, Democrat Antonio Sanchez, is not running this time. That means that my choice, Patty Lopez, could qualify -- if she runs the kind of campaign that got her elected over incumbent Bocanegra in 2014.
Besides Rivas, Benitez and Lopez, there are no viable candidates for the full term. Sorry, Bonnie.
|
|
Brian
Administrator
Posts: 3,793
|
Post by Brian on Jun 3, 2018 0:22:42 GMT -8
I dithered for weeks choosing candidates for some offices, running second place scenarios in my head with data from only a few public polls, all of which report that more than a third of the likely voters are undecided too. But the governor's race just drove me nuts. Gavin Newsom's fine, but his big money backers have been saturating televisions statewide with ads touting the leading Republican John Cox, who Gavin would love to oppose in the general election, as he has said publicly, instead of another Democrat. That's not fine with me. What if something happens to him between now and November and we get stuck with a Republican governor for four years? I was almost ready to vote for Antonio Villaraigosa as my strategic choice for the jungle primary, but then I read a pundit muse that Villaraigosa could be the favorite over Newsom in the runoff. I don't want someone who would be my fourth choice on this ballot as governor either. So I'm back to where I started, voting for John Chiang, the most competent progressive candidate. I'd vote for Delaine Eastin if she had run a serious campaign. Here are my down ballot deliberations for the other state offices: - For lieutenant governor, state Senator Ed Hernandez over the former ambassador to Hungary under Obama, Eleni Kounalakis, whose dad spends a lot of money on TV ads.
- I still haven't decided about secretary of state. Incumbent Alex Padilla, the only guy left from the good old northeast San Fernando Valley Democratic machine who's not sullied by scandal, has done a good job. Yet I may vote for Green Party candidate Michael Feinstein or Democrat Ruben Major as a hedge against the wing nut Republican.
- No problems choosing Betty Yee for controller and Fiona Ma for treasurer.
- Or current Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones for attorney general -- so clearly the best candidate. Xavier Becerra, appointed by Governor Brown to replace Kamala Harris when she got elected as U.S. Senator, will be out of a job, I hope. Shooting his TV ads in a state courthouse was only the latest example of his greatest talent, grandstanding.
- State Senator Ricardo Lara is more than qualified to be insurance commissioner.
- The State Board of Equalization has become almost meaningless as a state agency since the Legislature created the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration in response to spending scandals last year and removed all sales and use tax responsibilities from the BoE. Why is this thing still on my ballot?
- Needless to say, Tony Thurmond for superintendent of public instruction.
Coming soon on page 2 of this thread: My exciting analysis of the pile of campaign mailers we've received as Democrats in Tujunga. |
|
