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Voting
The California primary ballot is staring at me. Like a lot of people now, I have signed up for permanent absentee status so I can choose ot vote by mail. I'm registered nonpartisan, but chose to take up the Democratic Party's offer to vote in their primary, which turns out not to matter much...
President: Most of the field has been wiped out -- and who let Lyndon Larouche in? Of the two viable candidates left, I have to go with Kerry, not because I like him, but because Edwards is not very credible as yet. I would have been much happier with Lieberman. Clark was the Clinton faction's effort to retain control of the party, and with Dean out there seems little point ot his candidacy. Voting KERRY.
Proposition 55: Education Facilities Bond. This is part 2 (part 1 was passed last year) and authorizes borrowing another $12.3 billion to construct and improve schools at all levels. I'm all for education, but given the current fiscal crisis, it seems unwise to borrow more than authorized for part 1 at this time. If school funding was reorganized, school building capital needs could easily be funded out of existing budgets on a pay-as-you-go basis; bonds have an additional constituency in that they lock in the expenditure (and future taxes) and provide big fees for the brokerages that market them. Downside is large additional interest costs. Voting NO.
Proposition 56: State Budget Voting Requirements. This changes the vote needed to pass a budget (and taxes) to 55% from the current 2/3rds. It also has a bunch of tough-sounding features to get it past the voters -- crowd-pleasers like stopping the Governor's and Legislators' salaries until a budget is passed. This is a pet project of the current legislative majority (and their supporting public employee unions) to allow higher taxes to be more easily passed. Since CA is already close to the top in total taxation among the 50 states -- and we have examples like WA and NH to demonstrate that CA's state government is spending far more money than required to run a civilized state -- making this change seems unwise. Close some prisons and legalize drug use instead. Voting NO.
Proposition 57&58: Both must pass for either to take effect. This authorizes a $15 billion bond (which legalizes the borrowing already planned by the state under Gray Davis to cover the deficit plus enough extra to fund the car tax rollback.) Prop. 58 is a weak budget discipline plan. Together these are probably the least-painful solution to the serious overspending of the last three years; like refinancing your credit card debt via a home equity loan, it's too late to solve the original problem, but if the additional load of bond payments is met via improved efficiency and more careful budgeting, it is affordable. Opponents of this plan want a fiscal crisis severe enough to force either a big tax increase (which of necessity won't just be on "the wealthy") or big cuts in discretionary spending (which would hurt the poor the most.) Voting YES.
Santa Clara Cty Probation: this takes advantage of the crisis in Juvenile Hall to remove the judges' authority over the Probation Officer and hands it to the Cty Executive. Given the recent publicity this will probably pass, but Tom S (fellow ECR member and probation officer) says this would not be a good thing, and I tend to believe him. Voting NO.
President: Most of the field has been wiped out -- and who let Lyndon Larouche in? Of the two viable candidates left, I have to go with Kerry, not because I like him, but because Edwards is not very credible as yet. I would have been much happier with Lieberman. Clark was the Clinton faction's effort to retain control of the party, and with Dean out there seems little point ot his candidacy. Voting KERRY.
Proposition 55: Education Facilities Bond. This is part 2 (part 1 was passed last year) and authorizes borrowing another $12.3 billion to construct and improve schools at all levels. I'm all for education, but given the current fiscal crisis, it seems unwise to borrow more than authorized for part 1 at this time. If school funding was reorganized, school building capital needs could easily be funded out of existing budgets on a pay-as-you-go basis; bonds have an additional constituency in that they lock in the expenditure (and future taxes) and provide big fees for the brokerages that market them. Downside is large additional interest costs. Voting NO.
Proposition 56: State Budget Voting Requirements. This changes the vote needed to pass a budget (and taxes) to 55% from the current 2/3rds. It also has a bunch of tough-sounding features to get it past the voters -- crowd-pleasers like stopping the Governor's and Legislators' salaries until a budget is passed. This is a pet project of the current legislative majority (and their supporting public employee unions) to allow higher taxes to be more easily passed. Since CA is already close to the top in total taxation among the 50 states -- and we have examples like WA and NH to demonstrate that CA's state government is spending far more money than required to run a civilized state -- making this change seems unwise. Close some prisons and legalize drug use instead. Voting NO.
Proposition 57&58: Both must pass for either to take effect. This authorizes a $15 billion bond (which legalizes the borrowing already planned by the state under Gray Davis to cover the deficit plus enough extra to fund the car tax rollback.) Prop. 58 is a weak budget discipline plan. Together these are probably the least-painful solution to the serious overspending of the last three years; like refinancing your credit card debt via a home equity loan, it's too late to solve the original problem, but if the additional load of bond payments is met via improved efficiency and more careful budgeting, it is affordable. Opponents of this plan want a fiscal crisis severe enough to force either a big tax increase (which of necessity won't just be on "the wealthy") or big cuts in discretionary spending (which would hurt the poor the most.) Voting YES.
Santa Clara Cty Probation: this takes advantage of the crisis in Juvenile Hall to remove the judges' authority over the Probation Officer and hands it to the Cty Executive. Given the recent publicity this will probably pass, but Tom S (fellow ECR member and probation officer) says this would not be a good thing, and I tend to believe him. Voting NO.
no subject
Permanent absentee ballot
I can't imagine standing in line at the polling place waiting for someone who is reading through the abbreviated questions for the first time.