Since I spent so much time researching the candidates in the 2014 California primary, I thought I'd go through and review the results.
Governor: As expected, Jerry Brown placed first in the open primary by wide margin, getting 54% of the vote. If most countries with a two-round system, an outright majority in the first round would grant that candidate victory. However, since the California system has to fit in with the rest of the elections in the US, so there will be a second round in November. This is a good thing, since turnout in primaries is very low. Brown got the same percentage of the vote in this election as he did in the general election in 2010, but got less than half the number of votes. In November we can expect Brown to increase his percent of the vote, both because people aren't voting for randos, and because turnout of Democrats increases drastically for the general election.
For the Republicans, Neel Kashkari beat Tim Donnelly, with 19.4% and 14.8% of the total vote, respectively. Kashkari's victory is a relief for Republicans, since a Donnelly candidacy would probably have lead to a campaign full of embarrassing and offensive statements. This would have been especially harmful in California, where Republicans are doomed if they alienate minority groups (reminder! this year CA is now plurality latino, though people who actually vote are still majority non-latino white). That leaves Kashkari to regroup Republicans and try to get his name recognition up so he doesn't fail too badly in November. Looking at the results map, Donnelly did well in rural areas, while Kashkari did better in the bigger counties. Donnelly won two counties in California's Northeast corner, the only two that Brown didn't win. Kashkari racked up votes in the LA, OC, and SD areas. Interestingly Donnelly did better than Kashkari in a few liberal counties in the Bay Area (SF, Alameda, Santa Cruz), leading some commentators to suggest Democrats were voting for Donnelly because he was the worst Republican candidate. In the end it didn't matter, especially because both Republicans got so few votes in general in the Bay Area.
In the rest of the bunch, all the wackiest candidates got low amounts of votes, though 9,000 people still voted for some guy whose ballot description was "golf course operator."All the "No Party Preference" people ended up at the bottom because people want to grasp someone's platform by looking at which party they're in. The green party guy beat Cindy Sheehan (1.5% to 1.2%), clearly people were taking my advice!
Lieutenant Governor: In a great surprise, Gavin Newsom won the primary. He got 49.9% of the vote, clearly a sign that dooms his campaign to being marginally less popular than Jerry Brown's. He won all but 8 counties, and those in rural parts of Northern California. The Republican winner was Ron Nehring, who had been endorsed by state Republicans, so that was a no-brainer. Nothing else interesting to say, the randos didn't get very many votes, and the guy who wanted to get elected to avoid paying his college tuition placed last.
Attorney General: Sleepy race #3. Kamala Harris is more popular than Gavin Newsom, she got 53% of the vote. Though there were no random Democrats running here to pick off 5% of the total vote. Both are probably well-positioned to run for Governor in 2018, or maybe for Senate if Boxer/Feinstein retire. The Republican side ended up being a close race between Ron Gold (who I said "seems harmless" but also thought was a totally fake candidate) and Phil Wyman (who has been running for office and losing for the last 20 years), with Gold winning. The four Republicans all got between 8-12% of the vote, so I think the voters were also picking at random. In other news, 130,000 people voted for Orly Taitz and probably think Obama is a Kenyan Muslim out to get us. Turns out this is a consistent constituency because she got the same percentage of the vote (3.2%) when she ran for Senate in 2012.
Treasurer: This race only had 3 candidates so it was particularly predictable. John Chiang, who is virtually the incumbent since he currently is state Controller, won 55% of the vote, and Greg Conlon, rando Republican, won 38% of the vote. That left 6% of the vote for the green candidate. I think that means there's momentum for the state bank, no?
Insurance Commissioner: Even more exciting! Same as above except for the Republican got 2% more of the vote cause he's actually a legit guy (state senator) and there was a Peace and Freedom candidate instead of a Green candidate.
Secretary of State: Oh look things to talk about.
1. Alex Padilla (D) placed first with 30.2% of the vote, closely edging out Pete Peterson (R), who got 29.7%. Since Democrats are advantaged in November, this means there's a good chance we'll again have a Latino statewide elected officer.
2. Leland Yee, who was arrested for corruption and withdrew from the race, placed 3rd with 9.4% of the vote, which is pretty embarrassing. Theories ranged from "people don't read the news" to "asian voters show solidarity with asian candidates."
3. Dan Schnur, who was running as a NPP candidate on a platform of "Sec of State shouldn't be partisan," placed fourth with 9.2% of the vote. This shows that it's really hard to win as a nonpartisan candidate, because when in doubt, people vote with their party. I think it would only work if someone had a lot of $$$ and name recognition. The 2-party system is very strong.
Controller: Most interesting race! It's still not resolved because there's a recount! Comments:
1. Ashley Swearengin, Mayor of Fresno, placed first with 24.8%. She did well in the Central Valley and Southern California, especially (unsurprisingly) Fresno County. This positions her to be competitive in the general election, but she'll have to overcome California's growing Democratic trends.
2. The big surprise on election night was that it looked like a rando Republican was going place second and shut the Democrats out of the race. David Evans, whose ballot statement was "most qualified to be controller," ended up placing fourth with 21.1% once the ballot count was completed. He did especially well in the northernmost counties, which apparently have a tendency to vote for randos. From the analysis I've read, it turns out that in most of these races people just vote based on ballot descriptions, since it takes effort to know something about the candidates and these races are simply not very interesting. Evans had the ballot description "CFO," which signaled that he would be a good candidate for the financial manager position of controller.
3. The two Democratic candidates, Betty Yee and John Perez, placed second and third with 21.7% of the vote each. In the final count they are separated by only 500 votes. Therefore Perez has started a recount. This is one of the rare uses of the CA recount process, which apparently has a lot of problems. The person asking for a recount has to pay for it unless the result changes, and it's very expensive. However the recounter can choose which precincts to target, so Perez is targeting places where he did well. It'll probably be a mess. Stay tuned, and also stay tuned for efforts to change the recount law to have the state pay for it when the margin is very small.
Friday, July 11, 2014
CA Primary 2014 Election Guide
Here's a repost of the guide I made for the 2014 California Primary Election.
Governor:
This guy is an acclaimed author and chicano activist. His most famous book is about his experiences being part of a gang when he was a teenager. Interestingly, both Rodriguez and Sheehan were on leftist third-party tickets as VP in the 2012 presidential. Out of the two, I’d lean toward this guy if I wanted to vote against Brown from the left. He actually has experience in the communities that need socialism: people victimized by the prison system, alienated immigrant communities, etc. His platform is idealist to the point of being non-realizable (“1. No more poverty”), but really, why else would you vote for a minor left-wing candidate?
Sheehan is best known for protesting against the Iraq war after her son died there in 2004. She ran against Nancy Pelosi for congress in 2008 because Pelosi wouldn’t impeach Bush. The anti-war activism isn’t a very good fit for the governor’s race, but she’s running on the Peace and Freedom platform, which is generally socialist. The emphasis on her website is on environmentalism, hemp, jobs and education programs, ending the police state, no GMOs, social justice, etc etc. I rolled my eyes at “[Cindy] never asked to be in the so-called limelight, but now that she is in the struggle, she intends to do whatever she can to bring peace and prosperity to her native state.”
Current governor. Is currently massively leading the polls, making this election not super-interesting. Has governed as a centrist democrat, focusing on fiscal conservatism/responsibility/austerity (choose your loaded term). His successful campaign to raise taxes in 2012 was a major victory on his part and contributed to the current state budget surplus, though the recovering economy also helped. Actions of his that people have opinions on: Signing acts beneficial to undocumented immigrants (CA DREAM act, TRUST act); Continued support for the CA high-speed rail; ambiguous support for fracking; opposition to legalized marijuana; lack of effective solution to overcrowded prisons (ruled unconstitutionally cruel by supreme court).
Currently a CA state assembly member from the San Bernardino County desert areas, Donnelly is the main Tea party candidate. He’s also known for:
-trying to bring a gun on a plane
-founding a militia group that patrolled the US-Mexican border looking for people crossing
-accusing Kashkari of supporting Sharia law for going to a conference on Muslim finance while Kashkari was in the Treasury department.
Platform: Guns, Freedom, low taxes, subsidize hollywood.
Donnelly has come in 2nd place in most of the polls. The republican establishment is terrified that he’ll get the second spot and bring the CA republicans crashing around him in November.
Former Treasury department official in charge of disbursing the TARP funds in 2008. Main “establishment” republican candidate, he’s been endorsed by most of the CA republican party people, along with Romney and Jeb Bush, in fear that Donnelly could win and be super embarrassing. He’s running on the “you need to be moderate to be an elected republican in CA” platform. Two main points: economic development through reducing business regulations and allowing fracking; education reform mostly through charter schools, more vocational education, online UC/CSU/CCC classes, basing university funding on performance.
His blurb in the voter guide sounds like it’s mostly about reducing fees and taxes for small businesses.
Akinyemi Agbede - Democrat - his website died :( it was so great it was thenextgovernorofcalifornia2014.com
This guy ran in the last gubernatorial election as a Democrat in the primary (and lost badly), so he is hard to take very seriously. He has a plan where a one time tax on everyone will be used to build solar panels and desalination plants everywhere. Then energy and water will be sold for $$ which will magically solve all of Californias problems and eliminate the need for any taxes. He also is selling an ebook on how the last election he ran in was RIGGED by Jerry Brown, which explains why he’s running as a ‘Republican’ even though his platform is socialist takeover of CA energy via a publicly owned corporation.
Slogan: California Revolution! His only supporter is some 10 year old girl he conned into designing him a terrible poster and posting it all over her neighborhood. His platform is pretty boilerplate right-wing: lower taxes, moar guns, screw the poor, homeschool the kids. He does have the “Newman plan” which is just something about fining companies for doing bad things rather than making specific regulations. Engrossing.
He’s running because the state is “facing a myriad of issues.” He works at a golf course. His platform is totally boring. Balance budget, streamline bureaucracy, take “hard looks” at education and crime. Also, we need cars that run on natural gas and gas stations to service them ???
I dislike her already because her website autoplays music. She, like about every other candidate, is a testament to the “american dream.” She’s the CEO of some venture capital company that invests in humanitarian projects that are described with a lot of buzzwords. Her issues pages are ridiculously wordy and decry “big ideas” Skimming it looks like her platform is taxes and regulations are bad, except for those required by the ADA, because her and her wife are disabled. She has a lot of pictures of her dogs, following the theme set by Kashkari and Brown.
Platform: GOD. Actually she’s running a pretty original, though wacky, platform. She’s for a big, christian government. Welfare, prisoner rehabilitation, and helping foreclosed homeowners = good. Immigrants, gays, and sex = bad. Also Obamacare = bad but probably only because of the contraception mandate. She’s endorsed and approved by Jesus!
Andrew Blount - Republican - withdrew campaign
Mayor of Laguna Hills. Withdrew because no one wanted to vote for him and he isn’t crazy enough to be a funny wacky candidate. Too bad because he came to CA with even fewer dollars in his pocket than Tim Donnelly.
“Let me tell you why first I (Rakeshkumar Christian ) decided to run for your governor of California the Golden State. With your help and support I want to create a new political party named American Public Party. To preserve family values and American wealth. (Please sign up). I (Rakeshkumar Christian ) do not like to criticize California's/America's Republican and Democratic party leaders but they are in busy with the business of war. “
I choose to believe this guy is a parody.
Glenn Champ - Republican - http://www.champforgovernor.com/
This guy is a registered sex offender and in a fluke got more votes than Kashkari in the last poll. He didn’t go to college because he would not stand for the communist brainwashing. “CHAMP represents a new breed of Christian soldier moving forward in the army of the lord, on the highway of righteousness, stomping on the devil’s head, with a new song of righteousness’s in our hearts. Amen.” Basic tea party platform, except with a bunch of wacky statements.
Julien’s Recommendations:
Lieutenant Governor:
Description: This is the position that doesn’t really do anything, though they sit on a bunch of boards including the UC/CSU boards. The lieutenant governor sits on a few boards and tries to increase his/her visibility in order to run for governor in the future. Since no one cares that much and there’s an incumbent, Gavin Newsom is highly likely to get reelected.
She’s a UC Davis student in ecology. Platform is to advocate for progressive measures to fight “environmental degradation and economic inequality”. Promote green jobs, higher education funding, progressive taxes, reform prisons and end war on drugs.
Worst website so far. He’s running under a party that was created to push for faux-centrist businessmen, but he does have a whole page devoted to how dumb the Americans Elect organization was, so I’ll give him that. He’s also a “Modern Whig” ahahaha. His main platform is that Republicans and Democrats are too partisan, so we should elect him to be a centrist, independent advocate for California citizens. Most of his policy platforms are looking for a “middle ground” between the two parties, sometimes artificially so. He’s really bad at choosing pictures of himself to put on his website.
He has a daughter named Rainbow. Software engineer, seems like a pretty normal guy. Platform features cutting pensions to help university budgets, property rights, promoting entrepreneurship projects in UC/CSU schools, and expanding trade and tourism with Asia.
He’s an engineer who works on “free space laser communication.” Must be a cool guy if he works with lasers. His main platform seems to be that the state is spending too much money and should cut costs for the legislature. He’ll cut his own staff as Lieutenant Governor and will encourage the legislature to cut its own overhead. Posted a picture of himself with Gavin Newsom with a statement that Newsome has not endorsed Korevaar… seems a little passive-aggressive.
Very clean website, but he doesn’t have any page describing his platform. Has a video with very high production value, but it doesn’t really say much about him except that he thinks we need to take back California. Also something about how white collar criminals are making a killing off government-sponsored green energy projects.
Amos Johnson - Peace and Freedom - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amos-Johnson-for-Lieutenant-Governor/721881184497005
“Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation.” He also posted a letter from UC Merced asking him for his past due tuition annotated with insulting comments about the university and its employees. What a swell guy.
Current LG, previously SF mayor. Seems to be pretty bored with the office but wants to stay in the public eye in order to continue his politics career/move on to higher office once people retire. Has separated himself from Brown by supporting marijuana legalization and opposing fracking. You can donate in bitcoin!
Ron Nehring - Republican - www.ronnehring.com
Lower taxes, end dependency, improve schools. Looks like he’s endorsed by most of the state republicans. Has been chair of the CA republican party 2007-2011. No drugs, keep people in jail, no obamacare, save the guns. He has pictures with people of every color.
Julien’s Recommendation: Vote for Newsom if you want him to run for governor in 2018.
Attorney General:
This persons job is to be the main lawyer for the state of california, e.g. prosecute people who break the laws of CA. It’s probably the only statewide position apart from governor that actually has a basis for being a partisan position, since there is latitude in choosing which targets to prosecute (e.g. Kamala Harris was elected in 2010 on a platform of not defending prop 8). In the past 50 years 3 attorneys general have been subsequently elected governor, compared to 2 lieutenants governor.
Orly Taitz - NPP - http://runorlyrun.com/wordpress1/
Best known for being the most visible face of the birther movement. Has been involved in 19 suits challenging Obama’s eligibility to be president based on her thinking that he’s not a natural born citizen. Interestingly (or not really) she thinks he was born in Indonesia, not Kenya. Her platform is basically to “nullify” all the federal laws she doesn’t like: the NSA, Obamacare, the EPA, free trade agreements, election fraud. She claims that environmental protection laws are bad but also that free trade agreements hurt the environment. Go figure.
Kamala Harris - Democrat - http://kamalaharris.org/
Our current Attorney General, and a pretty safe bet for re-election. Even got endorsed by the Bakersfield newspaper. Highlights her accomplishments: Prosecuted polluting companies and enforced CA cap-and-trade law; made fighting human trafficking a top priority; filed briefs in support of gay marriage; won lawsuits against banks to help foreclosed upon homeowners; dedicated efforts to to fight US-Mexican drug gangs.
Criticizes Harris for not executing more death row prisoners, not defending prop 8, and “rising crime.” Highlights his history as a death penalty proponent on every single page of his website. Also wants to deport more illegal immigrants, fight shoplifting and vagrancy, kill the high speed rail, and defend all conservative ballot propositions. Finally, he supports splitting CA into two states, northerns and southern CA. His proposed splitting point is between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, which is actually sensible unlike that 6 California plan.
Our first libertarian party candidate! Has a stock photo of a cute baby on his website. His platform is to stop the prosecution of victimless crimes. This includes drug users but also people who want to buy raw milk. Platform is generally supportive of the rights of criminals: reduce prison population, end asset forfeiture, prosecute police misconduct, and decline to seek the death penalty. Also is anti-GMO, which clashes awkwardly with his libertarianism because he emphasizes that GMOs shouldn’t be banned but that we should prosecute people who released them into the “gene pool.” Wacky position: thinks that the CA coast is being polluted by Fukushima fallout and that the AG should investigate this, “no matter how painful.”
Three main platform positions are fighting corruption, legalizing marijuana, and promoting campaign finance laws. His website is really annoying but I couldn’t find anything weird. Seems harmless but also isn’t running a very high-profile campaign.
A former assemblyman, according to The Bakersfield Californian he lost re-election in 1994 and has been running unsuccessfully for office in various places since. Was the author of the 3 strikes bill and supports the death penalty. Has a lot of policy positions that sound like they were cribbed from previous legislative campaigns because they have nothing to do with AG (e.g. transportation funding plans). Wants to fight gangs and defend gun rights. Apparently wants state lawmakers who abuse their office and hurt constituents to be put to death.
Business lawyer from San Diego, also was a SD deputy city attorney. Has worked on various boards. Doesn’t have many policy platforms, but seems like he’s running as a moderate pro-business republican. Has a press release criticizing Wyman as being too pro-death penalty.
Julien’s Recommendation: Vote for Harris if you want the most qualified and accomplished candidate. Vote for Jaech if you’re a libertarian and/or a natural food enthusiast. Vote for King if you’re a Republican, he looks the most reasonable of the bunch.
Treasurer: Now we get to the offices that are hard to tell what they’re for. The state treasurer manages the state’s money. This means s/he manages the investments the state makes (mostly of money in pension funds) and the bonds it sells. Pretty exciting.
Currently the state Controller, he’s running for the other financial position of state Treasurer. Since he has some name recognition, he’s likely going to win this race easily. His main pitch is that, as state controller for the last 8 years, he has had extensive managing California’s finances and so will translate that experience well to the related job of Treasurer. He has lots of accomplishments that I don’t really want to go through but the LA times thinks he did a good job as controller. He says he pushed the legislature to balance the budget by actually accounting for costs and revenues rather than by accounting tricks. If you really want to know read this :http://www.electjohnchiang.com/agenda
Minor party candidates have way more interesting websites to read. Ellen Brown’s platform is to create a California State Bank. She is head of an advocacy group for public banking. North Dakota has a state bank (a legacy of the Progressive/Populist Era) and Brown thinks it helped ND weather the banking crisis and so we should have one too. I don’t know enough about economics to evaluate this, but it’s certainly an interesting idea.
Currently Chair of the Atherton Finance Committee. Has experience as a CPA, on the CA Public Utilities Commission, and on the Atherton Rail Committee. His Issues page looks like it hasn’t been updated since an Atherton town council run. Thinks we should lower taxes, cut pensions, and somehow improve the CA bond ratings. Has been endorsed by pretty much only local city council members.
Julien’s Recommendations: If you want the most qualified candidate, vote John Chiang. If you think we should have a state bank, vote for Ellen Brown.
Insurance Commissioner: Yay more weird offices. This person is the elected head of the CA Department of Insurance, which regulate insurance companies. I’m not sure why we need to elect this person.
Currently a CA state senator. He is running a strong anti-Obamacare platform, saying the insurance commissioner should do something to help all the people who lost their plans after obamacare started and supposedly couldn’t get similar plans through the exchanges. He has sued Covered California to stop plan cancellations. Other than that, he wants to reduce bureaucracy in the department of insurance and cut down on both insurance fraud and insurance lawsuit abues.
Elementary school teacher and member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Wants to abolish the insurance companies and establish universal healthcare. Moratorium on rate hikes for insurance and eventual state takeover of all insurance services.
Current Insurance Commissioner. Strong supporter of the ACA/Obamacare. Has a pretty nice list of accomplishments as Insurance Commissioner that you can read here: http://www.davejones2014.com/biography/
Julien’s Recommendations: If you hate Obamacare, vote for Gaines. If you want to send a message supporting sociallism, vote for Hrizi. Otherwise, vote for Jones who’s done a pretty good job in his current position.
Secretary of State: The most competitive race, along with state controller, due to the lack of incumbent. The secretary of state is the chief clerk of california. The the main jobs are running state elections and leading the office that registers businesses.
A former Republican operative who now teaches at USC and advocates political reform, especially the redistricting commission. His platform is that the Secretary of State should be nonpartisan to preserve election integrity. His main proposal is for a ban on fundraising by current state legislators during the legislative session. The premise is that legislators should be working rather than fundraising for re-election during the time the legislature is in session. One counter-argument is that this would give the advantage to challengers who could fundraise all year. Also wants more campaign finance transparency. Promises to not run for a different office in 2016/2018. Endorsed by the SF Chronicle, Sac Bee, Bakersfield Californian.
Leland Yee - Democrat
Yee withdrew from the race after being indicted for corruption and gun trafficking.
Worked at Common Cause, a liberal advocacy group that works for Campaign Finance Reform and Election Reform. His platform is anti-Citizens United and anti-corporate money. Also wants to modernize voter registration and improve the voter info pamphlets. Endorsed by lefty newspapers and activist groups, as well as by Elizabeth Warren.
Published his about me section in Arabic, French, Spanish, and Chinese. He’s an architect and designer. The parts of his platform that relate to the SoS job are: public campaign financing, real-time reporting of campaign donations, and electoral reform (no top 2, PR, multi-member districts …). Not that much about the actual job of SoS, but he is against fracking and for the state bank!
Alex Padilla - Democrat - http://www.padilla4sofs.com/
With the withdrawal of Yee from the race, the leading Democratic candidate. Currently a state senator from LA, graduated from MIT with a MechE degree. Wants to make voting easier, improve campaign finance disclosure, and establish 1-week turnaround for business filing. Has been endorsed by most D elected figures in the state, as well as the Sac Bee. Probably wants to use this position as a platform to aim for higher office. Latino candidate with the most chance to win statewide office this election in a state with 40% latinos.
Main Republican candidate. Director of Common Sense California, a non-profit policy analysis group that promotes government transparency and analyzes spending proposals. Wants to be the Chief Engagement Officer for California to make government more responsive and transparent. Wants to make it easier to register businesses, improve technology integration in all SoS functions, give the people more power in the initiative process, make it easier to access campaign disclosure information. Endorsed by LA Times.
Software engineer with a terrible website. Main proposal looks to be online voting, as well more campaign contribution limits. Online voting is worth considering, but probably with a more serious candidate. Running for LA County supervisor in the 90s is not really a good qualification for higher office.
Thinks campaigns should be about the common man and not big contributors. Is a true conservative. Uses comic sans on his website. Stamps his website address on dollar bills to get the message out. Not a RINO. Got 57 votes as a write in in 2010 for this same race. Is mad that people don’t take him seriously.
Julien’s Recommendation: Choose one of Schnur, Cressman, Padilla, and Peterson, all four look qualified and motivated. If you like nonpartisans, vote Schnur. If you hate the Koch bros, vote Cressman. If you think we should have some latino statewide elected people, vote Padilla. If you want a wonky Republican, vote for Peterson.
Controller: The second financial position and also the second most competitive statewide race. The CA controller manages the states spending. Is the top state accountant. Manages payroll, public funds. Sits on the Board of Equalization and the pension boards.
Ashley Swearengin - Republican - http://www.ashleyforca.com/
Currently the mayor of Fresno. Mostly likely republican to win statewide in this election. Says she effectively guided Fresno through the economic crisis and set its finances on track to stay sustainable and avoid bankruptcy. Wants to use the controller’s oversight powers to make sure special funds are being spent effectively. Inform the public and legislatures on costs of all legislation. Use role on tax boards to simplify tax process. Improve competitiveness of CA. Endorsed by LA Times, Sac Bee, Bakersfield Californian.
Currently sits on the Board of Equalization, the state’s tax board. Wants to advocate for tax reform to make taxes more fair and more sustainable; ensure sustanability of the public pension system; and promote environmental responsibility on the State Lands Commission. Endorsed by Sac Bee, SF Chron, Bakersfield Californian, a bunch of other people you can see here: http://bettyyee.com/endorsement/.
Public bank platform part 2! The green party is running on the public bank for both controller and treasurer. Also wants more income redistribution and school spending. Previously ran for controller in 2002, 2006. Wants to audit prop 13 and provide a green voice on the boards.
Wants everyone to donate a dollar to her campaign to be really grassroots. Has worked in financial management at various big companies. Wants to reduce wasted spending, conduct audits. Her general political views are big government/big christian.
John Perez - Democrat - http://www.perezforcontroller.com/
Just finished 4 years as Speaker of the CA state assembly. Experience passing budgets helps for controller, who oversees spending. Wants to “build sound financial stewardship” to continue CA’s economic recovery. Endorsed by Dianne Feinstein, lots of other people. D establishment in CA looks pretty evenly split between Yee and Perez.
David Evans - Republican - http://www.evans4controller2014.com/
“Most qualified for Controller” says his voter statement. Is a CPA and CFO of several business groups. Wants to ensure tax dollars are well spent and budgets are well balanced.
Julien’s Recommendations: From what I can tell, the three main candidates, Swearengin, Yee, and Perez, are all well qualified. They’re both double minorities in government in CA: Swearengin is a Republican woman, Yee an Asian woman, and Perez a gay Latino. Take your pick!
Superintendent of Public Instruction: The last of the Statewide Positions, this one is nonpartisan, which means the candidates don’t put down their political party. This person heads the CA department of education and executes CA board of education policies. The battle here is one that’s going on at many levels: that between the “school reform” movement and teacher’s unions.
Gutierrez is the third candidate in this race -- she seems to have less support than the other two. She’s been a K-8 teacher for 20 years in the LA area, as well as and aerospace engineer. She opposes the new Common Core standards. She says the new standards don’t place a high enough bar and that the top-down implementation was bad. She prefers local parental control.
Tom Tolarkson - http://www.tomtorlakson.com/
Tolarkson is the current SPI. He is on the pro-teacher’s union side of the race. Before being the SPI, Tolarkson was a CA state legislator, and before that, a high school teacher. He says he has managed to get more money sent to public schools, to put funding choices back into local control. He wants to expand vocational training options in high schools. He is endorsed by the teacher’s associations, CA Dem party, most D party leaders, a bunch of other unions, as well as most of the county education superintendents.
Tuck is on the “school reform” side of the race. He was CEO of Partnership for LA Schools, an organization formed by LA Mayor Villaraigosa to improve low-performing LA schools. Before that he was President of an LA county charter school operator. Wants local decision making (wow, it’s like there’s a common thread among all candidates…) Supports teacher tenure but wants it to be a longer process. Supports charter school as well as the power of parents to petition to replace the staff at failing schools. There are lots of pages on policy if you want to know more read his website because I don’t want to summarize all of it. Has been endorsed by most of the state newspapers, former LA mayor Antonion Villaraigosa, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.
State Board of Equalization, District 2: The Board of Equalization oversees taxation in california and is the appeals board for tax cases. There are 5 members: 4 elected in district, and the state Comptroller.
Previously was CA Assemblymember for part of SF and Daly City. Is a CPA, giving her experience in accounting and taxation. Is the only serious candidate and in this highly D district will get elected. But since it’s top 2 we’ll see both candidates again!
James Theis - Republican - http://www.bayareagop.com/jim-theis-for-board-of-equalization-district-2/
Apparently he’s an “organic foods manager.” That’s all I could find about him.
US Representative District 18: Represents our district (Palo Alto, Mountain View, Menlo Park, Los Gatos, Los Altos) in Congress. Anna Eshoo has been a representative for 20 years and isn’t going to lose anytime soon.
A doctor running as a “Libertarian-Republican.” No stimulus. Fewer regulations and lower taxes. No Obamacare or MediCal, replace with tax credit to buy plan of choice (which is different from Obamacare how??). School vouchers. Respect of diversity, reproductive choices, and gender identities. Motivated to run from his experience as a doctor and opposition to Obamacare. Also wants to limit presidential power and legalize drugs.
His website is all text, which is a nice change from atrocious color schemes but also makes me skeptical of how serious he is. Thinks taxes and benefits are too complicated. Wants a universal social security system to replace various welfare programs, to be funded by a flat income + vat tax. Has made a spreadsheet showing how his plan will work.
Our current representative for 20 years. Pretty much a certain value by now. The new factor is that due to Henry Waxman’s retirement, Eshoo is running for the top D position on the Energy and Commerce committe.
Oscar Alejandro Braun - Republican - http://www.oscarknows.net/California-Congress-Candidate-Half-Moon-Bay-CA.html
His platform is about water policy in SF and the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, which hardly seems like a congressional issue. He thinks an earthquake or terrorist attack could damage our water supply and so we should watch out. ……
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