Oscar's Guide for the 2006 November election

Okay sorry everyone I've been lagging on this for the past few weeks. Things have been a little crazy for me but here it is

My guide to the November 7^th election.

Mind you this applies to the State of California, and the City of Los Angeles.

Quick note: Some of you have asked what a bond measure is, here is a quick definition:

A bond measure is an initiative to sell bonds for the purpose of acquiring funds for various public works projects, such as research, transportation infrastructure improvements, and others. The state then has to pay back, both the principal and the interest on the bonds. These measures are put up for a vote in general elections and must be approved by a plurality or majority of voters, depending on the specific project in question.

Such measures are very often used in the United States when other revenue sources, such as taxes, are limited or non-existent.


Here are my picks for Statewide office:

Governor:

Peter Miguel Camejo

I know what some of you are saying, I'm throwing my vote away blah, blah, blah…Well screw you. This guy is the best candidate out there, and until some of you wake up and realize that the two party system has been screwing us over since the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, then we're going to keep getting screwed. Every little drop in the bucket counts so vote for Camejo and stop getting bamboozled by the two party system.

Lieutenant Governor:

John Garamendi

What does the Lt. Governor do? Not much. John Garamendi did a great job as insurance commissioner, busting insurance companies that didn't want to pay out to disaster victims. I think he'll do a great job doing whatever the hell the Lt. Governor does.

Secretary of State:

Deborah Bowen

Currently a state Senator and a rising star of California politics. She's been very involved in a variety of issues, especially with bridging the digital divide and helping those that are disenfranchised.

Controller:

John Chiang

I'm going with the LA Times on this one they quote: "Democrat has valuable experience with tax collections and reaching across party lines."

State Treasurer:

Bill Lockyer

I'll follow the LA Times lead again on this one.

Attorney General:

Jerry Brown

This race definitely brings one of the most interesting people in history of this state's politics back into a statewide office. Jerry Brown has the experience that none of the other candidates have.

Insurance Commissioner:

Steve Poizner

I know it could be called sellout-ism-ness, for not voting for a Latino Democrat who is running for the same office, but Cruz is going to be business as usual kind-of-politician. He's taken money from the insurance companies before this race, and during this race, and I'm sure he'll be in their pocket. Poizner has said he's going to stand by the recent auto insurance regulations, which put a person's driving record ahead of where the driver lives. He gets my vote.

United States Senator

Diane Feinstein

We need a strong experienced voice in Washington representing California and she is it. Nuff said.

State measures:

Prop 1A – No
The State needs to be able to shift money from certain budget items around, in times of dire need, and we know that we've been through them. This would lock money used for transportation so that it can only be used on that. In the event of a recession, or some extreme case like when Enron screwed us all over, we would have really nice roads, but we'd all probably be starving

Prop 1B – Yes
Listen I hate bonds as much as the next person, but our roads and transportation are horrible. As a public transit user I hope some of this money will go to build more rail-lines and improve public transportation for us. Not to mention, our roads are really screwed up, this would help to repair them also.

Prop 1C – No
This particular bond looks like it has some good and some bad parts to me…but it looks like the good don't outweigh the bad

Prop 1D – Yes
This Bond would help bring infrastructure money for K-12 schools, public universities and colleges, being that I went to a community college that was falling apart at times I think it's time to re-invest in them. I know you all have seen many other bonds aimed at this, but most of them have been local bonds, this one is statewide.

Prop 1E – Yes
Does anyone remember hurricanes Rita and Katrina? Well in California we have more natural disasters than anywhere else, wildfires, floods, and of course who can forget earthquakes. This will help to upgrade a lot of our infrastructure across the state to be ready in the case of natural disaster.

Prop 83 – Yes
This is a no-brainer, keep child molesters away from parks and schools. Nuff said

Prop 84 – Yes
Better Water quality…I'm all for it. This is a bond measure to fund flood control, conservation and water quality projects.

Prop 85 – No
This is another attempt at a proposition that failed in the primary election. Tell government to get out of our private lives. If a teenage girl needs to have an abortion she shouldn't have to tell her parents about what's going on. And it definitely shouldn't put doctors in that position.

Prop 86 – Yes
This is a tax on cigarettes, being that my dad is a smoker, I'm all for anything that makes cigarettes more expensive for him and all the rest of you smokers.

Prop 87 – No
If we stick it to the oil companies, they're going to stick it to us. Why not stick it to the oil companies in the fine American capitalist tradition, by investing in alternative energy sources with private money. Or even taking public transit, ultimately we'll have to pay for this tax and those of us that come from poor families will ultimately shoulder the burden.

Prop 88 – No
This is a whole lot of complicated gobbledygook…about property taxes, parcel taxes and what not, better left to career bureaucrats and policy makers.

Prop 89 – Yes
I think we need campaign finance reform, While prop 89 is not the end-all solution, I think it's a good start.

Prop 90 – No
I think the use of eminent domain has created a big problem, especially for the working poor, but as I've said before too many times. The people that write initiatives don't have the skill to really be making policy. This measure is proof of that. I mean it's a great idea to protect property owners, and there's some good stuff in this initiative, but then it gets into other things zoning and what not better left to local control.

Los Angeles City Measures:

Prop H – Yes
Housing for the homeless, assist first time homebuyers? I think this all sounds good too me. Los Angeles has the highest concentration homeless people in the country and something needs to be done about it.

Prop J – Yes
This requires no money, all this does is allow us to build smaller fire stations, and therefore make it easier to build them, and therefore build more of them

Prop R – Yes
They have bundled expanding term limits with limits on lobbying and what not. Some have said this might contradict the city charter and ethics commission. I say let the courts figure it out and vote yes.