I did a lot of fact finding for California's primaries. I feel horrible that I let my notes disappear on the iPad and that I didn't blog before today, election day.
That said, I do have a few strong preferences. In the unlikely event you're still on the fence and read this blog in California, allow me to share my opinion and light reasoning. Time won't permit me to share the in-depth reasoning I had planned: the best plans of mice and men often go awry.
Can I just mention straight up how astounded I am that 50% of Californians are allegedly voting for Jerry Brown today. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? If nothing else demonstrates why I want to move to a red state, that does. We're just TOO STUPID or TOO APATHETIC. I'm not surprised that Neel Kashkari is doing decent (comparatively speaking.) I liked his positions a lot before I met Tim Donnelly. I wish everyone could meet Tim Donnelly. Plainspoken, ethics driven, smart, with a vision (a good one) for California. Which means with a populace that values celebrity over intelligence, he probably won't make it through the primary.
I have to say, that I have a theory why Republicans and Libertarians don't win elections, and why Dems do. It's all the infighting. If Dems do one thing well (and it's about the only thing they do well) it's that they circle the wagons. They pick their candidate, and put all their collective energy in to getting him or her elected. Republicans spend months infighting each other rather than getting their message out. We saw it in the 2012 presidential election (really? do you think you can possibly win a national election when you are still arguing about a candidate in late June?) and then fail to circle the wagons around Mitt Romney. Because he was so much worse a pick than Barack Obama.
I saw the same one-issue-only-matters Republicans/tea partiers asking questions of local candidates, attempting (in my opinion) to derail them. NEWSFLASH: a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors does not control federal immigration policy. So rather than focus on what matters, let's derail the candidacy of Alan Mansoor in public forum after public forum because he feels that immigration policy needs to be reformed (what? you LIKE our immigration policy? My point exactly.) And in my opinion, he's right about Michelle Steel: she is big money trying to buy an election, and will use the BoS position as a stepping stone to bigger and better political buys. If she's doing such a great job on the Board of Equalization (and I believe that she is) then why not stay there and really make a long term difference? My same point about Jim Moreno, who I liked better than I thought I would. He's done some really great things as a Trustee for our community colleges. Why abandon that great work? Answer for both, in my opinion? Self-aggrandizement.
I like that Alan Mansoor got in to politics because he was tired of being stonewalled at his local city council. He saw a problem, and decided to do something about it. I am sympathetic to his belief that he can do better at fixing our local problems here at the local level, than he can at the State level in the Assembly, where the only thing that matters is the color blue. He was my guy until I saw that Joe Carchio was running too. Now THERE'S a dilemma we should have in every election: two fabulous candidates running. So we're likely splitting our vote in our household (we have four registered voters.) I know I know. We should pick one and get behind him. Joe Carchio has done great things for the City of Huntington Beach. I am sorry we lost him to term limits, especially since it leaves four dodo heads on the Council who can't term out fast enough for me.
I spoke with Joe Carchio about my dilemma. He gave me a compelling reason to vote for him: he is already involved in many of the boards (right word?) of the County. Those people know him and like him and he can get things done because he already is helping get things done.
I have some strong dislikes: Jerry Brown, Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom (talk about three poster children who ignore their Constitutional oath.) Leland Yee (how can you be indicted and arrested for corruption and be allowed to run for Secretary of State? oh wait. I'm in California.)
DAVID BOYD, running for the County Board of Education. Whose first listed priority if he is elected is implementing Common Core State Standards (straight off his website!) Steve Rocco (a few bricks short of a load IMO.) Greg Diamond (because we need a self-described government social activist heading the prosecutor's office.)
GET INVOLVED. GET OUT AND VOTE. DO NOT LEAVE IT FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO TAKE CARE OF IT.
They will, and you won't like the result.
No comments:
Post a Comment