November 4, 2014 Voter Guide

Hi all,

I am back at it again with some voter recommendations. I have to confess that I have been a bit swamped and have not done as much research as I would have liked. That said, there are a few really exciting things on the ballot. I am very excited about Prop 47 and Sheila Kuehl. I hope that you will get out there on Tuesday and make you voice heard. As always, these recommendations are my personal opinions. I hope that they are helpful, but take what you like and ignore the rest.

Governor - Jerry Brown

LT. Governor - Gavin Newsom

Secretary of State - No opinion

The LA Times is backing the Republican candidate Pete Peterson, and it appears that is true of all the major newspapers. In contrast Alex Padilla has endorsements from all the major democrats in the state. I am not a big fan of either and will probably sit this one out.

Controller - Betty Yee

State Treasurer - John Chiang

Attorney General - Kamala Harris

Insurance Commissioner - Dave Jones

Congressional District 34 - Xavier Becerra

State Senator District 24 - Kevin De Leon

State Assembly District 51 - Jimmy Gomez

Justice State Court - I unfortunately do not have time to research judges this time around

Superintendent of Education - No opinion

The LA Times is backing Marshall Tuck, who is a big fan of charter schools. Tom Torlakson is much more aligned with teachers’ unions. Unfortunately I am not a big fan of either charter schools or teachers’ unions, so this is another race that I am sitting out. 

LA County Supervisor: 3rd District: Sheila Kuehl

If you live in the Valley, on the Westside, or in the Hollywood/Silver Lake I highly encourage you to vote for Sheila Kuehl. While I like both Bobby Shriver and Sheila Kuehl, I think Sheila is more highly qualified to sit on the board of supervisors. The board is hard place to get anything done, but Sheila has shown that she can work with diverse colleagues to create momental change in public policy. She is what we need on the board. 

Assessor - No opinion

Sheriff - Jim McDonnell

Prop 1 (Water Bond) - Yes

Prop 1 authorizes $7.12B for water infrastructure projects. It has essentially no opposition. 

Prop 2 (State debt payments) - Yes

Prop 2 would change the rules that govern how state debt is paid down, state budget reserves, and community college reserves. It has strong bipartisan support and is supported by all of the major newspapers in the state. There is minimal opposition. 

Prop 45 (Health Insurance Rates) - Yes

Prop 45 is extremely contentious and pits democrats and consumer watch dogs against republicans and health insurance companies. It would require the state Insurance Commissioner to approve rate increases before they take effect. It also increases public notification requirements for rate increases. It is supported by many progressive groups, but opposed by mainstream newspapers, like the Los Angeles Times.

Prop 46 (Medical malpractice cap) - No

This is a strange proposition being driven by medical malpractice attorneys who want to increase the cap on malpractice awards, which would increase their income. To make this more palatable to the public they have combined the increase in the malpractice cap with a bunch of provisions about drug testing doctors. The argument is that there are irresponsible doctors out there who are high and hurting patients and that if these doctors where drug tested there would be fewer malpractice suits. There is no evidence drug testing reduces malpractice suits.Every major medical group in the state is opposing this including the CA Hospital Association, the CA Medical Association, Planned Parenthood, etc.

Prop 47 (Reduced criminal penalties) - Yes!

Finally an initiative I can get excited about voting for! Prop 47 would require that nonviolent and non-serious property and drug crimes be classified as misdemeanors. The list of crimes that would reclassified as misdemeanors all seem like crimes that should have been misdemeanors in the first place - drug possession, shoplifting, theft of property with a value of less that $950, forgery, writing a bad check, etc. It’s kind of hard to believe that we even need a proposition to clarify that these crimes are not felonies. The proposition is expected to save the state $150M to $250M a year, which would be redirected to schools, re-entry programs and victim compensation programs. 

Prop 48 (Indian gaming) - Yes

Prop 48 is the worst kind of proposition because it is a veto referendum, which means that a yes vote maintains the status quo and a no vote overturns a controversial law, AB 277. A yes vote to support AB 277 would allow the North Fork Indian Tribe to build a casino in the Central Valley. The North Folk have a reservation that is too remote and environmentally sensitive to build a casino on, so the state approved AB 277 to allow them to build a casino 38 miles away from their reservation in the Central Valley. The tribes in the Central Valley don’t like this and have bankrolled the campaign to overturn AB 277. The LA Times supports, but the SF Chronicle opposes. The SF Chronicle’s argument is that gaming should be limited to reservations. 

Bear Canyon

We hiked 6 miles today to go swimming in Bear Canyon with our friends Sieglinde and Ralph, and their two dogs, today. It was the perfect way to say good bye to summer. The kids were much braver than I was. I wasn't getting near that cold water. Thankfully Sieglinde got in with them.

June 2014 Voter Guide

Here are my recommendations for the June 3rd ballot:

Governor - Jerry Brown is going to be re-elected. There is not going to be a surprise here.

LT. Governor - Gavin Newsom

I cannot point to one thing the Lt. Governor does, but I generally like Gavin Newsom. I look forward to the day when he has a job where he actually gets to do something of substance again.

Secretary of State - Derek Cressman

The Secretary of State is the state’s Chief Elections Officer, overseeing elections and campaign finance law enforcement. Derek Cressman was VP of Common Cause, a great government watch dog group. He is deeply committed to political reforms that promote transparency and reduce the influence of money in politics. 

Controller - John Perez

I don’t love any of the candidates for controller and have my fears that Perez wants to use the seat as a stepping stone, but Perez in competent and will be able to work with his colleagues. 

State Treasurer - John Chiang

John Chiang is termed out from continuing to be State Controller, but he was a strong controller and will take the experience to his roll as State Treasurer and is expected to do an equally good job in this new roll. 

Attorney General - Kamala Harris

I love Kamala Harris. Her focus on smart justice and improving public safety through sound public policy verges on revolutionary for an attorney general. I support her 110%. 

Insurance Commissioner - Dave Jones

Dave Jones is the current Insurance Commissioner and is widely viewed as having done a good job there.

US Congressional Representative - 34th District - Xavier Becerra

Becerra does not have much competition, but it is worth going out of your way to support him anyway. Becerra is one of the most powerful democrats in the House. He is smart, practical, and committed to important issues like immigration reform and the social safety net. 

State Senator - 24th District - Kevin de Leon

There does not seem to be much competition to unseat incumbent Kevin de Leon for this seat. de Leon has been tapped to take over as Speaker Pro Temp of the Senate when Darrel Steinberg steps down. 

Judicial

It is extraordinarily difficult to get good information on candidates for judge of the superior court. I strongly believe that we should not elect judges. That said, I am not in charge of how judges are chosen and the current system is what we are stuck with. I do not feel strongly about any of the following candidates and will opt out of voting for anyone in office 48 or office 87 because the LA Times and Bar Association either do not recommend the same candidate or there is not a qualified candidate.

Office	LA Times Endorsed	LA County Bar Association Rating	Notes
Office 22	Pam Matsumoto	Well Qualified	Highest rated candidate by Bar Association
Office 48	Charles M. Calderon	Not Qualified	No candidate was deemed qualified
Office 54	Debra L. Losnick	Well Qualified	Both candidates deemed well qualified by Bar Association
Office 61	Jacqueline Lewis	Exceptionally Well Qualified	Highest rated candidate by Bar Association
Office 76	Alison Matsumoto Estrada	Well Qualified	Highest rated candidate by Bar Association
Office 87	Andrew M. Stein	Not Qualified	Bar Association rated Steven P. Schreiner “qualified”, a higher rating than Stein
Office 97	Songhai Sunny Armstead	Qualified	Both candidates deemed qualified by Bar Association
Office 107	Emma Castro	Qualified	Highest rated candidate by Bar Association
Office 113	Stacy Wiese	Qualified	Highest rated candidate by Bar Association
Office 117	James B. Pierce	Well Qualified	Highest rated candidate by Bar Association
Office 138	Donna Hollingsworth Armstrong	Qualified	Both candidates deemed qualified by Bar Association
Office 157	Andrew Cooper	Qualified	Both candidates deemed qualified by Bar Association

Superintendent of Public Instruction - no recommendation

County Assessor - no recommendation

None of the candidates for this seat seem great, but I will share that the times endorsed John Morris.

County Sheriff - Jim McDonnell

I recently attended a debate for the Sheriff’s race and was shocked to see that the majority of candidates had worked under Lee Baca. Given that it has come to light that the Sheriff’s Department is full of “cliques” (AKA gangs) it would seem reasonable to assume that it is critical to bring someone in from the outside who can reform the internal culture. Jim McDonnell is currently the Chief of the Long Beach Police Department and was previously second in command at LAPD. I strongly support him for this seat.

County Supervisor District 1 - Hilda Solis

There is no race here, Hilda is expected win outright.

County Supervisor District 3 - Sheila Kuehl

Most of you will probably not be able to vote in the 3rd district race because the 3rd district is the Westside and the Valley. If you do you live in the 3rd, I highly recommend voting for Sheila Kuehl. Sheila served in the CA legislature for 14 years. While there she fought for a single-payer health system and authored legislation creating paid family leave in CA. She has extraordinary credentials, but beyond her experience she is the rare politician who not only deeply cares about disenfranchised populations, but can relate to people facing great struggles in their lives. We need more politicians like Sheila who do not live in a bubble. 

Prop 41 - Yes

My employer, CSH, helped author Prop 41, so I may be biased, but is hard to find a reason not to vote for 41. Prop 41 will re-purpose bonds that were approved by voters previously to fund low-interest mortgages for veterans. The CA Veterans Home Loan Program has been unsubscribed for a variety of reasons, #1 of which is that veterans can get better rates on the private market. As a result, John Perez introduced the bill that became Prop 41 to repurpose $600 million of the bond authority to provide affordable rental housing for low-income and homeless veterans, which is desperately needed in CA. 

Prop 42 - Yes

Everyone agrees that Californians should not have to vote for Prop 42 because it simply reiterates that local governments have to follow the existing CA Public Records Act and the Ralph M. Brown Act, but sadly we do. The reason is that the state used to reimburse local municipalities to comply with these laws, but stopped during the recession. Local municipalities then argued that they did not have to comply if the state was not footing the bill. Obviously, that is ridiculous and local municipalities should continue to comply with these “sunshine” or good governance laws regardless, which is what Prop 42 ensures. 

The Tackiest Birthday We Could Find

Birthday party #2 was on Jack and Sadie's actual birthday, which due to it being the day after Easter and two days after our return from Key West needed to involve essentially no work. The kids have been begging all year to go Chuck E. Cheese's on their birthday so that they could go in the ticket blaster. We couldn't quite succumb to dragging our friends to this place, so J., Pud and I sucked it up and spent the birthday night with the big rat. As you can see, the kids did not have our reservations and yucked it up. Even I got sucked into the gambling nature of the video games and wasted one too many tokens trying to get the "big spin". Let's hope that this does not lead to an adulthood spent in Vegas.

Note: We learned that the "E" in Chucky's name stands for entertainment. Some MBA somewhere is laughing at us for patronizing this place.

6th Birthday!!!

We are finally winding down from the never-ending 6th birthday. We had the third and final birthday party of the season yesterday at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center. The kids had a great time swimming with 20 of their friends when they were not running around screaming their heads off. The lifeguard looked pretty frightened when all 20 kids descended on the pool at once, but no one was kicked out or drowned so it was a success! More photos to come...

PS I love Meghan photo-bombing this family photo. Particularly since she is the most enthusiastic of the bunch!