Politics 2000

My sample ballot arrived from the county registrar Saturday. The official absentee ballot I’ll cast will be mailed later this month. There are 25 items, although only a few have gotten any media attention so far. I’m sure I’ll be seeing plenty of mailers from local candidates soon. How does your ballot compare?

At the top is president and vice president. Six parties have qualified for the California ballot and each party is listed in random order by precinct. For instance, the Green Party slate of Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente is first on my ballot. In the next town, Ralph Nader might be first. Your state might have more or fewer qualified parties.

After the Green Party, there’s the American Independent Party with Alan Keyes and Wiley S. Drake, Sr., followed by the Peace & Freedom Party with Nader and his running mate, Matt Gonzalez. The Democratic Party ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden is next, followed by Bob Barr and Wayne A. Root of the Libertarian Party. The Republican Party’s John McCain and Sarah Palin are last on my sample ballot.

California has no U.S. Senate election this year. Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein aren’t running this year but 35 other seats are open.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R) is running for another two years in the House of Representatives. Everyone in the House wanted to leave Washington as soon as possible and campaign even though 400 of those 435 seats are gerrymandered to be safe. Only historic shifts would move all but a few dozen districts from blue to red or vice versa. Debbie Cook, Huntington Beach’s mayor, is running against Rohrabacher. I’ve seen a few of her ads on cable TV. I’m still waiting to hear something from the Green and Libertarian candidates in the race.

In California’s legislature, there are 40 members of the Senate–who serve four-year terms (up to two, per term limits laws)–and 80 members of the Assembly–who serve two-year terms (up to three). Each Senate district encompasses two Assembly districts. When legislators are facing the end of their time in one office, they usually scramble for another. My district is heavily Republican so I’m expecting the incumbents, Assemblyman Van Tran and Sen. Tom Harman, to win easily. They’ll still be in the minority once they return to Sacramento.

There’s one county judgeship still to be decided. Most of the judicial posts were filled during the March election. The one outstanding seat features Debra Carrillo, a deputy district attorney, who got a plurality in March but not the majority required. She’s running off against second-place finisher Kermit Marsh, an attorney and retiring councilmember from my town. I say retiring not because Marsh is old. He’s about Obama’s age; he just chose not to run for re-election to the city council. He would have had trouble winning because he’s run for one office or another even since he first got on the council eight years ago.

Three seats on the Coast Community College District Board are open. The other two will be contested in 2010. Must be a good job; all the incumbents are running again. One or two challengers are also vying for each seat.

There are three community (or junior) colleges within 10 miles of me. There’s Orange Coast College, where I earned an associate degree. There’s Golden West College, which houses KOCE-TV, the local PBS station. Both are similar and attract a lot of 18- to 20-year-olds who hope to transfer to four-year universities. There’s also Coastline Community College. CCC doesn’t have a campus, just an administration building that houses the bookstore. It’s geared to older students who want to take classes via television or the Internet, or who want to attend one of several vacant schools the district rents for use.

I described the Coast District because the Garden Grove Unified School District has also three of its five seats open this year. The GGUSD is the typical Kindergarten-12th grade system you might know. Two incumbents are running against three challengers. I’m not sure where the three board member went. You can tell it’s good to be an incumbent when the current officeholder proudly declares his or her status. When people want a change, the incumbent mentions his or her day job instead.

The mayor of my town is running again. Margie Rice is unopposed. In some cities, the mayor’s ceremonial duties are rotated among the council members. In 1984, Westminster voters decided to have the mayor be a separately elected position. At the same time, voters decided to have the mayor’s term be two years. City council members get four years.

As I said previously, Kermit Marsh is not running for his council seat again. Frank Fry is going after another term. McCain has nothing on Rice and Fry. They’ve been around city hall forever. Four challengers are running. Top two win. The list includes a retired city employee, a city traffic commissioner (appointed position), a sanitary district director and a human resource consultant. Rice and Fry sent a mailer the other day endorsing the traffic commissioner so I won’t be voting for him. Not sure what I’ll do after that.

Speaking of sanitary district, two seats on the Midway City Sanitary District are open. I need to run for that job. Seriously, the five-member board manages trash collection in Westminster, the unincorporated town of Midway City, and a few surrounding areas. One of the directors is running for a council seat while trying to win another four years at the sanitary director. The other director running again is hated by people at city hall. I’m not sure why. Makes for drama though and that can’t be all bad.

The last issue of my ballot is county Measure J, which would require voter approval for some increases in retirement benefits given to county employees and officials. Sounds good to me.

Finally, there are 12 statewide propositions. I’ll write a post specifically about them later this month. Briefly for now:

Proposition 1: Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act, $9.95 billion in bonds to create a high-speed rail system linking San Francisco, Sacramento and southern California

Proposition 2: Standards for Confining Farm Animals, Would require certain farm animals be allowed for the majority of the day to stretch their limbs, wings, arms, etc.

Proposition 3: Children’s Hospital Bond Act. Grant Program, $980 million in bonds to build and renovate certain children’s hospitals

Proposition 4: Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy, Would require 48-hour waiting period before unemancipated minors could get abortions with some exceptions and waivers possible

Proposition 5: Nonviolent Drug Offenses. Sentencing, Parole and Rehabilitation, Would allocate $460 million annually from the state budget to improve and expand treatment programs and would limit authority to incarcerate certain drug offenders and parole violators

Proposition 6: Police and Law Enforcement Funding. Criminal Penalties and Laws, Would allocate $965 million annually from the state budget for police and local law enforcement and makes about 30 revisions to state criminal law

Proposition 7: Renewable Energy Generation, Would require government-owned utilities to generate from renewable energy increasing percentages by 2010, 2020 and 2025

Proposition 8: Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry, Would amend state Constitution to say marriage is only legal and recognized when between one man and one woman

Proposition 9: Criminal Justice System. Victims’ Rights. Parole, Would require victims and their families to be notified about and be allowed to speak at more criminal justice phases such as bail, sentencing and parole

Proposition 10: Alternative Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy. Bonds, $5 billion in bonds to help people buy certain vehicles and to pay for research in renewable energy and alternative fuel vehicles

Proposition 11: Redistricting, Would establish an independent commission to draw district maps for the state Legislature, taking the job away from the Legislature itself

Proposition 12: Veterans’ Bond Act of 2008, $900 million in bonds to provide farm and home assistance to California veterans

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