Voter Guide

Woo, I know you've been look forward to it and so have I. Propositions are my life:

Prop 13. Seismic retrofits. Gives a tax break to fix up existing builds to better withstand earthquakes. Which do happen from time to time here in California. Anything that makes it less likely that I will be buried under a pile of masonry when the big one hits gets my support. The Chant recommends Yes.

Prop 14. Open Primary. Creates an "Open Primary" for California elections, where all candidates run on the same ballot and the top two run the general, regardless of party. I know this isn't popular in this post-partisan era, but parties are important. Knowing if a (D) or (R) comes after a names tells you a lot, even if you know nothing else. This prop blurs those lines and could even end up with with two D's or two R's. Vote for me, I have the same legislative program as this other guy. The Chant recommends No.

Prop 15. Public Financing of Elections. Actually, just a big toe in the water of public financing of elections. Its just for Secretary of State and just for a couple of election cycles, but its a start. You want big money of politics? This is how you start. The Chant recommends Yes.

Prop 16. Voter Approval of Public Utilities. Biggest scam on the ballot. Purely funded by PG&E, this requires a two-thirds majority vote before forming a public utility. Two-thirds votes are impossible, which is why California can't pass a budget and the US Constitution is never amended. Plus, public utilities can't spend money on campaigns. So PG&E can completely block any competition (public utilities like SMUD in Sacramento are much cheaper) This is why Propositions suck. The Chant recommends No.

Prop 17. Auto Insurance. The second biggest scam on the ballot. Look, I know the commercials say this is a deal, but do you really think that a insurance company is going to go to all the trouble of getting the signatures, put this on the ballot and spend millions on commercials JUST TO SAVE YOU MONEY? Sure. The Chant recommends No.

In the Democratic primary, I'm going to go with Jerry Brown (I know, I know, but he's what we got) Gavin Newsom for Lt. governor (Sexy pol of the future) and Kamala Harris for Attorney General. Don't even think about voting for Mickey Kaus for Senate, not even as a joke.

You Republicans are on your own, but I must say, if Steve Poisner was as liberal as Meg Whiteman's commercials say, I might vote for him. But its all probably lies, anyway.

One week till election day. Have fun.