The League of Pissed Off Voters‘ mission is to engage pissed off 17-35 year olds in the democratic process to build a progressive governing majority in our lifetime. We currently have 17 official chapters around the country.
I’m active in the San Francisco chapter, and I wanted to share our voter guide with you and hear the Calitics perspective on it. In particular, I think Prop 81 and the Controller’s race are interesting ones that aren’t getting any press.
We raised money to print 20,000 of these bad boys, which we’re distributing around town. We haven’t used a dime from candidates or candidate committees.
Governor: Phil Angelides!
Lieutenant Governor: Jackie Speier!
Secretary of State: Debra Bowen!
Attorney General: Jerry Brown
Controller: John Chiang
State Senate District 8: None of the Above
State Assembly District 12: Janet Reilly!
Prop 81 – Library Construction Bond: No
Prop 82 – Universal Preschool: Hell Yeah
Prop A – Stop Homicides Now: Hell Yeah
Prop B – Ellis Act Eviction Disclosure: Hell Yeah
Prop C – Transbay Terminal Authority Shuffle: Yes
Prop D – Laguna Honda Patient Admission and Rezoning: No
See below the jump for our explanations of these.
Governor: Phil Angelides!
Phil Angelides is the anti-Arnold. While Arnold has protected his rich corporate donors, Angelides has a strong history of standing up for children, teachers, and workers. He’s the only major candidate with the guts to call for corporations and wealthy citizens to pay their fair share to rebuild California’s education and social services. Phil also told us he would seriously consider lowering the voting age so that 16 and 17 year olds who pay taxes can get some representation.
Lieutenant Governor: Jackie Speier!
The LT does a little bit of everything, and holds powerful roles on commissions governing California’s universities, environment, and economy. We need an LT who shares our values and has the knowledge to make California’s bureaucracies work for us. Jackie Speier has a strong progressive voting record in the State Senate, and she’s outlined plans to provide Cal Grants to more college students, increase the number of guidance counselors in public schools, and reduce emissions from the state’s buses and trucks.
Secretary of State: Debra Bowen!
The Secretary of State is in charge of our elections. Everyone who remembers Florida, Ohio, and the various Diebold debacles knows how important it is to have a solid Secretary of State. Debra Bowen is a State Senator who has been a leader in technology issues. She was the first Senator with a webpage, and wrote a bill to make legislative info available online. She’s headed investigations into Diebold and it’s her goal to kick their sketchy machines out of California and replace them with secure, open-source voting machines. Amen!
Attorney General: Jerry Brown
We’re going with Jerry Brown, because back in the day, he was the baddest progressive California has ever seen. As Governor, he was a trailblazing environmentalist and he vetoed the death penalty. Then he ran a grassroots campaign for president that refused donations larger than $100. But then some of our friends Oakland aren’t too happy with what he’s done as Mayor, with his “tough on crime” act that hasn’t really involved the community. Brown is running against LA City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, who seems cool, but also makes up nervous. He supports the death penalty, and he also has a “tough on crime” vibe that might not focus as much on rehabilitation and community involvement as we would like.
Controller: John Chiang
The Controller is California’s Chief Financial Officer, responsible for keeping an eye on our money, running the state’s payroll, and conducting audits to make sure nothing shady is going on. We like both of the major Democratic candidates, but we’re going with John Chiang because he has the most experience with these kind of technical but important issues. Chiang has worked for the IRS, and he serves on the Board of Equalization, so he knows all the crazy details about how California’s tax system works. He’s never held office before, but he’s worked for Democrats like Gray Davis, Barbara Boxer, and Don Perata. Chiang is running against Joe Dunn, a State Senator from Orange County with an impressive progressive voting record. He was knee deep in the investigation into how Enron ripped off California. But by a hair, we’re going with Chiang.
State Senate District 8: None of the Above
We hate to leave this one blank, but we can’t get behind any of these candidates. We like some things about Leland Yee, like how he opposes the death penalty and the work he’s done for immigrants. But he has a horrible record on renter’s rights, he’s made some sketchy enivormental votes, and he hasn’t really accomplished much in the State Assembly. Mike Nevin is a San Mateo County Supervisor who has some good things to say about “smart growth” and affordable housing. But he supports the death penalty and we’re not convinced that he’ll look out for renter’s rights.
State Assembly District 12: Janet Reilly!
She may not have much political experience, but you’d never know it if you hear Janet Reilly talk about her plans for fixing California. She has detailed proposals for providing health care to every Californian, restoring our environment, and improving our schools. She’s against the death penalty, for tenant protection, and would consider giving 16 and 17 year olds the right to vote. Meanwhile, her opponent, Fiona Ma, has accomplished little on the Board of Supervisors, has a lousy record on tenants’ rights, supports the death penalty, opposes lowering the voting age, and has offered few details on what she would do in Sacramento. Fiona even ducked the Bay Guardian, refusing to meet with them to talk about her campaign!
Prop 81 – Library Construction Bond: No
This one sounds simple: Why wouldn’t you support a $600 million bond for building libraries? Well, here are a couple reasons:
– Prop 81 allocates money only to the construction of libraries- the money can’t be used for librarians, books, computers, or other resources, only building.
– Also, the funds allocated in Prop 81 must be matched by the city trying to use them. This means that the strapped cities that need new libraries the most wouldn’t be able to access Prop 81 funding because they wouldn’t be able to spare the money necessary to match the funds. Meanwhile, Prop 81 would subsidize library construction in more affluent communities, thereby increasing the digital divide.
Our low-income communities absolutely need the access to books, computers, and other technological resources that libraries provide, but brand-new, empty library structures? Not that helpful, and this is all Prop 81 promises.
Prop 82 – Universal Preschool: Hell Yeah
Prop 82 provides free preschool to all kids by raising taxes only 1.7% for only the super rich (individuals who make over $400K or couples who make over $800K). It’s pretty simple: kids who go to preschool do better. A study showed that every dollar we invest in preschool will save $2.62 in juvenile hall and other costs related to dropouts.
Prop A – Stop Homicides Now: Hell Yeah
Our city is facing a crisis of homicides and gun violence, with young people in low-income communities (like Western Addition, Mission, and Bayview/Hunter’s Point) particularly impacted. Prop A creates a citizens council to address the systemic causes of homicide. This council will be in charge of $10 million a year for the next three years for innovative violence prevention programs including job training, after school programs, and summer internships, as well as a fund to support the families of homicide victims. Prop A is a critical step in addressing homicide in our city proactively and thoughtfully.
Prop B – Ellis Act Eviction Disclosure: Hell Yeah
Prop B requires real estate sellers to tell potential buyers if there were any Ellis Act evictions on a property, and if any of the tenants were disabled or elderly. The Ellis Act allows landlords to get out of the rental business by evicting their tenants. But it’s being abused by real estate speculators who buy rental properties because they want to kick out the tenants and convert the rentals into condos. Prop B protects renters without restricting real estate sales.
Prop C – Transbay Terminal Authority Shuffle: Yes
This one’s a little wonky, so stick with us. The Transbay Joint Powers Authority is in charge of building the Transbay Terminal to link BART, MUNI, and CalTrains, which is crucial to the future of public transit in the Bay Area. Prop C would do three things to shuffle the Transbay Authority: 1. It requires the Mayor him/herself attend TJPA meetings (instead of the Mayor’s designee) 2. It replaces the MUNI director with the Supervisor who heads the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. 3. It puts the Board of Supervisor who represents the neighborhood (financial district, SOMA, etc.) on the Transbay Authority. The Transbay Terminal is important enough that we think the Mayor should be personally involved. We also think it makes sense to have the Supervisor in charge of public transit there also instead of the MUNI director, because the Transbay Terminal is a lot bigger than just MUNI.
Prop D – Laguna Honda Patient Admission and Rezoning: No
Laguna Honda is supposed to a hospital for seniors. Recently they’ve been admitting a lot of patients suffering from mental illness and substance abuse problems, some of whom have gotten violent and caused a lot of trouble. We understand that this is a problem that needs to be fixed, but Prop D isn’t the way to do it. Prop D doesn’t provide for how to care for the patients it would remove from Laguna Honda, meaning a lot of them would get kicked out on the street. The sketchiest part about Prop D is how it rezones public land all over the City to allow for private nursing homes to be built. Huh? What’s that got to do with Laguna Honda?