November 2022 State Measures + Fed/State Electeds

This time, just a summary plus a link to someone else's writeup:

State Propositions:

• 1: Yes for a Constitutional Right to Reproductive Freedom
• 26: No to Sports Gambling on Tribal Lands
• 27: No to Online Sports Gambling
• 28: Yes to Fund Arts & Music Education in Public Schools, K-12
• 29: No to Complicated Kidney Dialysis Clinic proposition
• 30: Yes to Reduce Air Pollution & Prevent Wildfires by Taxing People making over $2 million/year
• 31: Yes to Approve Law Prohibiting Sale of Flavored Tobacco

For details on all of these, see the writeup by my friend & colleague in Edie and Janet's November 2022 East Bay Voter Guide. I agree with them on all of these, and I agree with their rationales too. If you have a specific question, post a comment in the blog and I'll reply. 

Federal & State Elected Officials:

I'm voting the straight Democratic ticket. Not all of them are my favorites (looking at you, Ricardo Lara), but they're all better than the alternative. 

• US Senate: Alex Padilla (twice!)
• Congress District 13: Barbara Lee
• Governor: Gavin Newsom
• Lieutenant Governor: Elena Kounalakis
• Secretary of State: Shirley Weber
• Controller: Malia Cohen
• Treasurer: Fiona Ma
• Attorney General: Rob Bonta
• Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara
• Member, State Board of Equalization District 2: Sally Lieber
• State Superintendent of Public Instruction (non-partisan): Tony Thurmond

Nov 2022: Alameda County Measures, Judges, & Elected Officials

Here are my recommendations on measures, judges, and elected officials I vote on in Alameda County (plus one I don't).

Alameda County Measure

Measure D: Yes for Regulation of Ag Land near Livermore

Judges: Just say Yes!

Alameda County Elected Officials 

District Attorney: Pamela Price

Special Districts 

AC Transit At-Large: Alfred Twu

AC Transit Ward 3: Sarah Syed

Elected Officials

AC Transit At-Large: Alfred Twu

AC Transit Ward 3: Sarah Syed

Plus (for all of you who ask me about Oakland every year), see Edie's recommendations. 

For details, read on ...

Nov 2022: Berkeley + Elected Officials + Measures

Here are my recommendations on Berkeley’s measures and elected officials:

Berkeley Measures

L - Yes to Affordable Housing, Street Repair, + Other Good Stuff Bond

M - Yes to Vacant Units Tax

N - Yes to continue to allow affordable housing

Berkeley Elected Officials

Rent Stabilization Board: Carole Marasovic, Stefan Elgstrand, Soli Alpert, Nathan Mizell, and toss-up for 5th spot among Hood, Marrero, & Mosaed 

School Board: Brown, Chang, & Lee 

City Council, District 1: Rashi Kesarwani

City Council, District 8: Mark Humbert  

City Auditor: Jenny Wong (running unopposed)

For details, read on ...

June 2022: Alameda County, State, & Federal Candidates

For this election, I'm directing you to writeups by others. This past month our family had COVID in the house (everyone's OK now), a high school graduation, and lots of family visits. I just couldn't get it together to do my normal due diligence and a good writeup. 

So ... here are some recommendations from other people I respect highly, plus a note on the Alameda County DA's race: 

Edie and Janet's June 2022 East Bay Voter Guide -- I've known Edie for years and have great respect for her. Plus she puts this guide together with her mom -- how cool is that! For this election, she covers Alameda County, state, & federal candidates, plus Oakland Measure C (YES!) + SF Prop H (NO!). Check out Edie & Janet's guide here -- I think I'll vote with her on everything that I vote for. 

Landau's Guide -- My friend and fellow political junkie Nathan Landau writes up his recommendations for every election. He covers Berkeley and many local races in Oakland & Contra Costa County, as well as the state & federal races. I normally agree with most of his analyses. This time, for the races I'm voting on, I think I'll vote with him on most things except Alameda County District Attorney (where I'll be voting for Pamela Price, as I did in 2018).

A note on the Alameda County District Attorney's race: I strongly encourage you to read Edie & Janet's writeup about this race. I agree with them 100% -- it is very important that one of the progressive reformers (Price or Steward) win this race. The top two finishers will go to a runoff in the fall. If we had ranked-choice, I'd vote for them 1-2. Since we don't, I'm voting for the one I think is more likely to win -- Price has energized reformers, ran a strong campaign in 2018 (I endorsed her then), and has a great agenda. Steward is also great, and arguably has more experience running the DA's office (he worked in the SF DA's office). Best case scenario is they both get into the runoff in November, but worst case is they split the progressive vote. Both law-and-order candidates (Wiley & Wilson) have more money than Price, and *way* more than Steward. For more background, see this Mercury News' article or campaign websites for Price or Steward.