As much as I respect aphrael, I think a little counter-point is in order.
Governor: Meg Whitman. I lived through Jerry Brown’s first two terms after voting against him twice. I’d detail the things he broke, but the list is too long. Suffice to say that we’re still picking up after him. All he has ever accomplished in life has been to tarnish his father’s legacy. Meg has a horrid campaign manager, a worse hairdo (proudly displayed in every ad), but at least has some accomplishments in life: such as taking a startup to a Fortune 500 company. This isn’t the time for a protest vote.
Lt Governor: Abel Maldenado. As if it matters; the job consists of checking the headlines in the morning. We could save some money here. Probably gets staff, too.
Senator: Carly Fiorino Fiorina. I am so done with Barbara Boxer, who hasn’t the accomplishments in 3 terms that George Murphy and S.I Hayakawa each had in one.
Attorney General: Steve Cooley. The one who isn’t crazy.
Other State Constitutional Officers: The Republican. As aphrael points out, some of these should be appointed anyway. The only one I’m sure of is Lockyer, who took $100K from Oracle and then immediately found a reason to sue Microsoft. I’m against crooks, and the other guy is a Republican, so I’m safe on this.
Assembly, Congress, etc. I’m in a gerrymandered district. My neighborhood was cut out of several competitive districts (the Congressional seat changed parties 2 times in the 90′s) and joined with a black-majority district to sink our votes. My Congresswoman is Maxine Waters. My State Senator is under indictment. I’ll vote for the other guys, whoever they are. Not that it matters.
The Propositions:
19: YES. I have no illusions about pot being a good thing. Quite the opposite actually; I know a number of people who have smoked their minds out. But then booze kills quite frequently, too, and is in many ways worse. Nor do I think this Proposition is particularly well crafted. It isn’t. In fact I don’t know how the regulation/tax part stands up to a 5th Amendment challenge (federal self-incrimination). BUT … I know that if this fails it will be seen as a reaffirmation of the Drug War. Which is worse than the disease it “cures.”
20: YES. Waiting on this will leave many Californians (like me) in gerrymandered congressional districts for another decade. If it’s good for the legislature it’s good for Congress. Err on the side of freer elections.
21: NO. Ballot box budgeting is part of the problem. Let’s stop for a while.
22. NO. Ballot box budgeting is part of the problem. Let’s stop for a while.
23. YES. This isn’t about the oil companies. It’s about the countless small businesses that will shut down due to the capital costs of meeting new rules. It’s not like loans grow on trees these days. The big bad oil companies will get by, like they always do. But the company in South LA that paints cars may not be so lucky. This will cost jobs. How many can we afford? I’d feel better if the unemployment trigger was higher, though.
24. NO. Ballot box budgeting is part of the problem. Let’s stop for a while.
25. NO. The problem is a lack of compromise on both sides. This “solves” the problem by removing the need to compromise. A better solution would be a weekly lottery after the deadline is missed where some legislator gets declared ineligible to run again. After a few months of that, we’d have a reasonable budget.
26. NO. Let’s not make the job any harder, either.
27. NO. “Corrupt bastards.”
