Each election I prepare a slate card for my friends so we can debate how to vote here in San Francisco (and beyond). Thanks to Edward and Ruth for their ballot reading brunch. Here’s what I have so far… I’d love your input (I’ll post comments people submit to me below)–

Elected Offices

U.S. President: Hillary Clinton (if you’re in a battleground state, please vote lesser-of-evils Clinton, rather than Green or Libertarian or whatever, to inflict the least suffering on the largest number of humans and our planet)

U.S. Vice President: Tim Kaine

U.S. Senator: Kamala Harris

U.S. Representative: Picus, a Bernie Democrat running as an independent, as protest against Pelosi (thanks to Edward for changing my mind on this one)

California State Senator: Jane Kim (don’t even get me started on Wiener)

California State Assemblymember: David Chiu

Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 7: Victor Hwang

San Francisco Board of Education (up to four):

Stevon Cook
Matt Haney
Mark Sanchez
Rachel Norton

San Francisco Community College Board (up to four):

Shanell Williams
Tom Temprano
Alex Randolph
(I can’t bring myself to vote for Rafael Mandelman due to his collaboration with the forces taking over City College and the other candidate is worse)

BART Director District 9: Bevan Dufty

San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 1: Sandra Lee Fewer (crucial to keeping a progressive majority, thanks Gabriel!)

San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 3: Aaron Peskin

San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 5: Dean Preston

San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 7: Norman Yee

San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 9: Hilary Ronen (you have three choices for ranked voting, but the others aren’t worthy of a ranking in my opinion)

San Francisco Board of Supervisors District 11: Kimberly Alveranga (crucial to keeping a progressive majority, thanks Gabriel!)

California Propositions

51: No (especially because of the $500 million in charter school funding)
52: Yes
53: No
54: Yes
55: Yes
56: Yes
57: Yes
58: Yes
59: Yes (finally made it to the ballot this year)
60: No (does nothing to increase safer sex while anyone could sue adult film industry)
61: No (may result in increased drug prices and red tape delays)
62: Yes (abolish the death penalty! although the forced labor section is suboptimal)
63: Yes
64: Yes (legalize it!)
65: No
66: No
67: Yes

Regional Proposition

RR: Yes

San Francisco Propositions

A: Yes
B: Yes
C: Yes
D: Yes
E: Yes
F: Yes
G: Yes
H: Yes
I: Yes
J: Yes
K: Yes
L: Yes
M: Yes
N: Yes
O: No (proponents still haven’t built housing promised with prior proposition)
P: No (city forced to reject good bid if three bids not received)
Q: No
R: No
S: Yes
T: Yes
U: No (misleadingly named trick by developers)
V: Yes
W: Yes
X: Yes
——

Each year I prepare a slate card for my friends so we can debate how to vote here in San Francisco (and beyond). Here’s what I have so far… I’d love your input (I’ll post comments people submit to me below)–

U.S. President: Bernie Sanders

U.S. Senate: Kamala Harris

State Senate District 11: Jane Kim

Superior Court Judge office no. 7: Victor Hwang

Democratic County Central Committee (17th AD):

The Reform Slate is Alysabeth Alexander, Tom Ammiano, David Campos, Petra DeJesus, Bevan Dufty, Jon Golinger, Pratima Gupta, Frances Hsieh, Jane Kim, Sophie Maxwell, Aaron Peskin, Leroy Wade Woods, Cindy Wu

{Note: Upon further reflection, and thanks to my friend Harry and the AFT 2121, I’ve decided not to vote for Rafael Mandelman due to his long record of poor decision making on the City College of San Francisco Board of Trustees.}

California Proposition

50: Yes

Regional Proposition

AA: Yes {Folks at the Bay Guardian disapprove of this proposition due to the precedent it sets for creation of a tax for a regional authority that is not very democratically administered.}

San Francisco Propositions

Proposition A: Yes

Proposition B: No

Proposition C: Yes

Proposition D: Yes

Proposition E: Yes

Each year I prepare a slate card for my friends so we can debate how to vote here in San Francisco (and beyond). Here’s what I have so far… I’d love your input (I’ll post comments people submit to me below)–

State of California Offices

Governor: Jerry Brown

Lieutenant Governor: Gavin Newsom (despite his prior anti-homeless measures in SF)

Secretary of State: Alex Padilla

Controller: Betty Yee

Treasurer: John Chiang

Attorney General: Kamala Harris (but wish she’d develop her position on marijuana)

Insurance Commissioner: Dave Jones

Board of Equalization, District 2: Fiona Ma

State Assembly, District 17: David Campos (gives me faith in politics)

Judicial Offices: no recommendation (vote yes or no)

Superior Court Judge, Seat 20: Daniel Flores

Superintendant of Public Instruction: Tom Torlakson

U.S. Federal Offices

U.S. Representative, District 12: Nancy Pelosi (so many reasons she could improve her act)

San Francisco Offices

Board of Education: Stevon Cook, Shamann Walton (vote for no more than three)

Community College Board, 4-year term: Wendy Aragon, Brigitte Davila (vote for no more than three)

Community College Board, 2-year term: William Walker (vote for one)

Assessor-Recorder: Carmen Chu (only candidate)

Public Defender: Jeff Adachi (only candidate)

State of California Propositions

Proposition 1: Yes

Proposition 2: No

Proposition 45: Yes

Proposition 46: No

Proposition 47: Yes

Proposition 48: Yes(?)

San Francisco Propositions

Proposition A: Yes

Proposition B: Yes

Proposition C: Yes

Proposition D: Yes

Proposition E: Yes

Proposition F: Yes

Proposition G: Yes (most important proposition on the ballot… help keep people in their homes!)

Proposition H: Yes

Proposition I: No

Proposition J: Yes (keep SF minimum wage competitive with NYC and elsewhere)

Proposition K: Yes

Proposition L: No

——-
Chris Carlsson writes: “On props I agree down the line and except Prop 1… $2.75 billion for surface or subsurface storage projects inside the $7.5 bio bond… Not one more dam! No on Prop 1!”

Each year I prepare a slate card for my friends so we can debate how to vote here in San Francisco (and beyond). Here’s what I have so far… I’d love your input (update: see comments people submitted below)–

San Francisco Offices

Assessor-Recorder: Carmen Chu (only candidate)

City Attorney: Dennis Herrera (only candidate)

Treasurer: Jose Cisneros (only candidate)

San Francisco Propositions

Proposition A: Yes (Retiree Health Care Trust Fund)

Proposition B: No (Waterfront development for luxury condominiums that block public land use and views)

Proposition C: No (Waterfront development for luxury condominiums that block public land use and views)

Proposition D: Yes (Fair Drug Pricing)

——-
I strongly agree with your NO on B and C endorsements . 8 Washington sets a horrible precedent by raising heights on the northern waterfront for the first time in 50 years just to let a developer build $3 million to $5 million condos that will serve as 2nd and 3rd homes for millionaires. This just encourages more of the same. But there’s an even better reason to oppose it.

One of the biggest financial beneficiaries of 8 Washington is the owner of the 1,200 rent controlled units at the Golden Gateway Apartments. He owns 80% of the 8 Washington site, keeps a third of it after the project is built and makes a $12-$15 million profit out of the deal. This is the same guy who has converted 100+ rent controlled apartments to hotel use at his Golden Gateway and used a loophole in state tax law to stiff San Francisco out of $25 million in property taxes, money that could have funded affordable housing, schools, teachers, etc.

Voting NO on B and C sends a message to our elected officials that they must stop bending the rules for people who build second homes for millionaires, destroy rent controlled apartments the city needs and use questionable tax loopholes to cheat the city out of millions in tax dollars they rightfully owe.

Vote NO on B and C and tell your friends.

Thanks for your help,

Brad
——-
…not all groups are in favor of Prop A, there is some sneaky language embedded there that could allow the City to get a hold of the funds. I know some politicians came out for it but they thought every one was for it and didn’t learn about the opposition’s positions until after they came out in favor. The fact that so many business interests support it should raise some red flags. Many people I know are voting no or not voting at all on this issue. I also just didn’t vote for Carmen Chu, since she is the only candidate it is mostly a protest vote. Linda

Dear friends,

I got several comments on the slate I sent out and wanted to let folks know about them:

1) I was extremely remiss to not recommend that Berkeley residents vote for my good friend Kriss Worthington as Mayor of Berkeley. He has served the community for many years on the Berkeley City Council bringing folks of varied interests together to improve life in a way reminiscent of San Francisco’s Harvey Milk and he’ll definitely encourage public participation in a way Berkeley’s current mayor has failed to do.

2) On the SF Community College Board, Bob of Occupy recommends a vote for Hannah Leung, lawyer and social worker, who he says doesn’t come with any obvious party baggage and has some creative ideas for revenues should Prop A and 30 fail, instead of a vote for Steve Ngo, who he says is one of the more “slash and burn” candidates along with Natalie Berg. I will follow his recommendation on this one.

3) Long-time friend Ben recommends a Yes vote on Prop F in San Francisco. I’m not sure he’s convinced me, but he provided a link to further info: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/san-francisco-against-the-world/Content?oid=3365417

4) Jennifer points out that a protest vote against Obama should be safe in California because it’s almost certain that Obama will take the state. She also doesn’t like the way San Francisco’s Park and Rec department has been mismanaging funds to privatize our parks and provides this link: http://www.sfbg.com/2012/09/05/park-bond-battle

5) Mitch suggested Sam Rodriguez as an alternative to Jill Wynn (for her vote supporting JROTC) on the San Francisco School Board.

In solidarity,

Stardust

Each year I prepare a slate card for my friends so we can debate how to vote here in San Francisco (and beyond). Here’s what I have so far… I’d love your input–

President and VP: Obama and Biden

US Senator: Feinstein (or protest by not voting)

US Rep, District 13 (was 9): Lee

US Rep, District 12 (was 8): Pelosi (or protest by not voting)

US Rep, District 14 (was 12): Speier

State Senator, District 11 (was 3): Leno

State Assembly, District 17 (was 13): Ammiano

State Assembly, District 19: Ting

School Board (I went with SF Bay Guardian on this one – union recommendations may or may not be appropriate based on school board’s decision to retain teachers in hard-hit schools instead of strictly by seniority):

* Sandra Fewer

* Jill Wynns (although horrible on JROTC and support of Ackerman)

* Shamann Walton

* Matt Haney

Community College Board:

* Chris Jackson (the best candidate trying to stand up against ACCJC/WASC imposed austerity measures)

* Rafael Mandelman

* Steve Ngo

* William Walker

BART Board, District 7: Zachary Mallett

BART Board, District 9: Radulovich

Prop 30: YES (prevent collapse of education system and social services by temporarily taxing income over $250,000 a year and small sales tax increase)

Prop 31: No

Prop 32: NO (will cut unions out of the political process while corporations still have unlimited reign)

Prop 33: No (penalizes those who try to save money and the environment by minimizing use of cars)

Prop 34: YES (stop the immoral and expensive death penalty and prevent innocent executions)

Prop 35: No (Leno working on alternative that decriminalizes prostitution and goes after those really trafficking in humans, rather than expanding the sex offender registry to non-sexual crimes)

Prop 36: YES (provides that third strike must be violent or serious to require felony incarceration, reduces high cost of overburdening already overcrowded state prisons)

Prop 37: YES (label GMOs)

Prop 38: Yes (admittedly regressive taxation to fund education)

Prop 39: Yes (tax companies based on sales in state, no exemption for those with lots of out-of-state employees)

Prop 40: Yes (accept the districts drawn up by the Citizen Redistricting Commission established by the voters)

Prop A: YES (regressive parcel tax that is necessary at this point to keep City College of San Francisco running)

Prop B: Yes (funding for parks)

Prop C: YES (affordable housing and other stuff to get businesses to support it)

Prop D: Yes (City Attorney and Treasurer elected on same election years as other city officials, rather than off years)

Prop E: Yes (not enough reform of corporate tax system, but some is better than none and Prop C apparently can be stopped by the mayor if Prop E doesn’t pass)

Prop F: No (leave Hetch Hetchy as is to provide the great water the city needs, not another expensive study on how to remove the dam at a later cost of $3 to $10 billion)

Prop G: Yes (policy statement that corporations are not people and money is not speech)

Board of Supervisors, District 1: Eric Mar (important progressive choice in a tough race)

Board of Supervisors, District 3: David Chiu

Board of Supervisors, District 5: Christina Olague (she’s facing a tough race, but in my personal experience has really come through on most housing and other important issues — do not vote for Julian Davis who allegedly groped Kay Vasilyeva, a member of the San Francisco Women’s Political Caucus)

Board of Supervisors, District 7: Norman Yee, (not Garcia)

Board of Supervisors, District 9: David Campos (just mark him on first choice, NOT on all three choices per snail mail advisory from SF Election Dept.)

Board of Supervisors, District 11: John Avalos

In solidarity,

Stardust