San Francisco Voting Results
America may have ended Nancy Pelosi's short-yet-eventful Speakership, but San Francisco returned her to office with the usual 80% of the vote. Republican John Dennis received a little less than 15% despite his having policy positions (anti-war, anti-Fed) that many on the Left profess to hold. Of course, there was a Libertarian candidate who siphoned off enough votes to deny Dennis the chance to pass the crucial 17% threshold.
The City-wide propositions/measures came out surprisingly well.
1. voters rejected the hotel tax
2. voters passed Measure G, which eliminated the provision in the City Charter guaranteeing the bus drivers the second highest pay scale in the country.
3. passed a measure banning the homeless from sitting and lying on the sidewalk anywhere they damned well please. We'll see how strictly this gets enforced.
The only disappointment was the voters' rejection of Measure B, which would have required City workers to make larger contributions to their pension and health care plans. The "No on B" side was the most visible and organized one in this election, so the result shouldn't surprise, I guess. Hope people enjoy paying increased taxes to support the City bureaucracy.
Gavin Newsom won the Lieutenant Governor's race, which means he won't be serving out the last year of his term. Since he spent the last two years running for statewide office, it will be a real change to have the mayor in town, even if he/she is an "interim" mayor. Tuck in those shirts!
(For those of you handicapping the next mayoral race, Supervisor Sean Ebersald backed the successful Measure G, while Public Defender Jeff Adachi backed the unsuccessful Measure B.)
Also, the City's Board of Supervisors banned Happy Meals. For the Children, of course. Why taking away some fun from a little kid's day can be "pro-child" is beyond me. Supervisor Eric Mar gained instant nationwide notoriety when he said this
"We're part of a movement that is moving forward an agenda of food justice," said Supervisor Eric Mar, who sponsored the measure. "From San Francisco to New York City, the epidemic of childhood obesity in this country is making our kids sick, particularly kids from low-income neighborhoods, at an alarming rate. It's a survival issue and a day-to-day issue."
Mar is, among other things, "my" Supervisor. Such fun. We live in a family-oriented district similiar to Boston's Allston and Brighton neighborhoods: plenty of trees and houses, but not as many liberals as you might think. And we end up with a "food justice" guy. To paraphrase Steven A Smith: no one ever came around the Outer Richmond saying anything about food justice. Also, he's part of a "movement." Guess all the potholes in District 1 have been filled.
Voter turn-out in SF, btw, was an anemic 38%. But, smug locals all over the City no doubt woke up Wednesday morning stroking themselves over San Franciscans' engagement and seriousness. Yawn.
Oh For God's Sake, pt. 2
While the rest of the nation celebrates a massive GOP win, California voters have decided to double down on Big Government liberals. As I write this, the sun has not yet risen. Maybe that famous California sunshine would prefer to fall on Texas.
1. Jerry Brown has been re-elected governor. Isn't it great how term limits don't apply to the one guy who should never be governor again? Meg Whitman obviously couldn't close the sale. Who knows whether it was because of her money, her illegal alien maid, or her lack of charisma. Probably a combination of all of the above. At least now, we won't have to continue watching a Republican protect "Pat Brown's legacy." How, about trying to protect Governor Reagan's legacy next time, Ah-nuld.
2. Barbara Boxer looks to have squeaked out a win against Carly Fiorina, although Fiorina has not yet conceded. Too bad. Fiorina ran a feisty campaign, and almost brought this one home.
3. San Francisco DA Kamala Harris is narrowly leading Steve Cooley in the Attorney Generals race. Good bye death penalty, hello Endangered Species Act.
4. Prop. 19 - that's the legalize pot prop - was defeated. This was a little bit of a surprise, but quite a few people I spoke to said they saw no point in voting for it so long as federal law would pre-empt it. How oddly...reasonable.
5. The results of the two redistricting propositions (one would affirm the redistricting commission, the other would return gerrymandering to the legislature) resulted in a victory for citizen redistricting, thank God. One of the few good results from last night.
6. Prop. 23 also lost handily. That would have suspended the state's cap & trade law. God help us, people like that sort of thing.
7. There were a number of budgeting propositions on the ballot whose results have left us with the following:
a. there is no longer a 2/3rd threshold to pass taxes. Now they can pass on a simple majority vote. This is a disaster for GOP state representatives, who have now lost their last scrap of leverage.
b. there is a 2/3rd threshold to pass fees and other regulatory charges, which are widely seen in the state as nothing more than taxes by another name. This says to me that, while voters don't mind paying higher taxes, they do mind paying other funds to the state. It makes a sort of cosmic sense, I guess: if you're going to tax me, call it a tax.
c. the state can no longer take money from counties and municipalities to close its budget gap.
d. the $18 vehicle surcharge to pay for state parks was defeated. This was an odd proposition, as anyone who paid the fee would have had free admission to the parks. In other words, people who didn't go to state parks would be paying for their upkeep. Doesn't pass the fairness test.
I can't improve on this analysis from Dan Walter
California voters may have made it easier for a new Democratic governor and a Democratic Legislature to pass a state budget by lowering the budget vote requirement, but they also have made it more difficult to balance the budget.
Collectively, those actions appear to put the budget monkey squarely on the backs of Brown and the Legislature's Democrats, forcing them to either make deep spending cuts or ask voters for additional taxes without sharing the political onus with Republicans.
Brown has said he won't impose new taxes without voter approval, but persuading voters to do so in the midst of a deep recession would be problematic.
It's too early in the morning for me to say too much (plus I'm jealous of all those people who have Marco Rubio and Rand Paul as their new Senator), but I will say this: this is what happens when Republicans break their promises and try to govern as bi-partisan centrists. 7 years ago, the Governator rode a populist wave into office promising to shrink state government. Instead, he expanded it. Worst of all, when the budget crisis hit, he spent literally years negotiating "debt and taxes" budget deals with Democrats. When a Republican acts like a Democrat, the only thing you get is more Democrats. Something triumphant Republicans in the rest of the country would best think about.
Oh For God's Sake
Actual headline I saw on the Los Angeles Times website: "Democrats Condemn Media's Early Projections of Republican Victory"
Even before the polls closed in the West, the major television cable networks called the overall election a Republican victory and awarded the GOP control of the House of Representatives.
The only problem was that the call came from projections rather than actual results, since polls were still open in much of the country.
Democrats were not amused by the calls of victory coming as the party was still fighting crucial Senate and House races in states such as Nevada, California and Washington.
"I think that's a mistake," Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told reporters.
The count at that point was that Democrats had lost about 13 seats in the eastern part of the country. Republicans need a net gain of 39 seats to be the majority.
“Those were the [seats] who were expected to be called,” Van Hollen said of the first returns and again predicted Democrats would continue to control House despite weeks of polls predicting a GOP tidal wave breaking through Congress.
There are no words that can express my absolute lack of sympathy. What's next, complaints from ACORN about undercounted overseas military ballots?
Election Report: Dateline San Francisco
Just got back from voting at the local playground. I wish I could tell you that it was surrounded by union rowdies bused in to intimidate conservative voters, but ... it wasn't like that at all. All was quiet, the usual collection of retirees and teenagers keeping things moving along. Anyway, it's not like any Democrats need to steal an election in San Francisco.
One thing I've been doing today is urging anyone in the City who is voting to vote for John Dennis for Congress. Dennis is running an uphill battle against Nancy Pelosi. Word is she will resign if she can't be Speaker when the 112th Congress is seated. Dennis at least will serve out his term.
More to the point, he is far less likely to lie to his constituents about his positions. I know there are a lot of sophisticated progressives out there who would never vote for someone with the demon "R" next to his name, but consider this:
1. Dennis is against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pelosi says she's against them too, but has done nothing about it except whip up hysteria.
2. He's against "don't ask, don't tell." Pelosi says she's against it, too, but has done nothing to pass legislation repealing it.
3. He's against further debasement of the currency by the Fed. I think we all know that Pelosi doesn't have a clue about economic matters.
4. He's against TARP and other corporate bailouts. Pelosi organized the damn TARP vote despite her crocodile tears for the middle class voters for whose benefit she claims to work, but whom she never fails to betray.
5. He wants to audit the Federal Reserve and then shut it down. Pelosi doesn't want to do this either.
There's some reality for the "reality based community" to ponder. Are you going to let Nancy Pelosi return to office trailing clouds of yet another 80% electoral victory? Or are you going to vote for someone who might actually vote in a manner that best represents his district?
Free Will Voters Guide: California Edition
California is looking more like a state that will avoid any major electoral shake-ups, despite all the talk of wave elections out there. That should really be a warning to GOP officeholders presently measuring drapes. Seven years ago, the state GOP united behind a charismatic celebrity who promised to radically shrink the state government and blunt the power of the public employees' unions. The result of the failure to follow through on this promise can be seen in today's polls, which show hard left candidates Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer holding narrow leads. An 80 seat swing in the House will mean nothing if nothing changes, and the Democrats will quickly get back in the saddle. They are the party of government, after all.
California candidates: for God's sake, please vote Republican. There is no significant third party presence on the ballot. I know virtually all of the candidates on offer from the GOP are moderate Republicans, but we can't enable the consolidation of leftist power over the state.
Prop. 19: this is the "legalize pot" proposition. I find persuasive the arguments that the War On Drugs, at least as against weed, has failed. I am stopped short by marijuana's deleterious effects - it combines the intoxicating effects of drink with the health problems associated with cigarettes, both of which we have spent decades trying to stamp out. I am absolutely unmoved by the idea that legalized pot will lead to a flood of tax revenue. Mostly, I think the current situation, where possession has been decriminalized, and "medical" marijuana is freely available, is just fine in a world where a state law would instantly be pre-empted by federal law. NO.
Prop. 20: redistricting, pt. 2. This would affirm that the redistricting commission set up by a 2008 proposition, one of the few good results from that year, should be tasked with drawing district boundaries. We have to affirm this because state pols have been trying to negate the districting commission. They will never let this go. We still have to vote on term limits, after all. YES.
Prop. 21: would establish a $18 surcharge on vehicle registrations to fund state parks. Supposedly, owners of vehicles that paid the surcharge would be granted free entrance to state parks. Meh. NO.
Prop. 22: a constitutional amendment that would prevent the state from borrowing or taking funds from local municipalities. This is in reaction to the 2009 budget "deal," which balanced the state budget by simply taking funds from the state's counties and cities. At the time, I wondered if that was even legal. Now it won't be. YES.
Prop. 23: would suspend implementation of the state's cap & trade law until state unemployment dips below 5.5%. This should be a no-brainer, but California is distinctly lacking in brains on this issue. Global warming has been discredited, or at least called into serious question. The state's Air Resources Board has been caught grotesquely exaggerating the amount of pollutants in the state's environment. The "No on 23" crowd has been making a big deal about how Prop. 23 is funded by "Texas Oil Interests." (Are you kidding me?) And, Prop. 23 is widely expected to fail. Groan. YES.
Prop. 24: would repeal some tax breaks granted to "corporate interests" This pitiful little effort is one of the few business friendly policies put up by "pro-growth" "fiscal conservative" Governor Schwarzenegger, and of course state liberals can't stand it. NO.
Prop. 25: this year's effort to "reform" Prop. 13, this time by replacing the 2/3rd voting requirement to pass tax increases with a simple majority vote. This is the lone bulwark that gives Republicans in the state legislature any say in tax policy. Lose this, and it's all over. NO.
Prop. 26: would subject the state's multiplying fees and regulatory takings to a 2/3rd requirement, just like regular taxes. Another no-brainer. YES.
Prop. 27: would eliminate the redistricting commission and replace it with our elected representatives. Ha Ha. NO.
