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Wednesday, September 28, 2005

CA-Ballot: The Special Election, Ballot Measures & Big Money

Posted by DavidNYC

California has a special election brewing this November (separate and apart, I believe, from the special election to fill the vacancy in CA-48). The main items on the agenda are a bunch of ballot measures, all of which are pretty much sops to big corporate interests and the GOP agenda. It's sad to see a once-noble experiment in direct government fall prey to the clutches of industry cash, but I guess this has been going on for decades in California - there's nothing new here.

Nonetheless, following the always-wise mantra "know thy enemny," the good folks at Buy Blue have the dirt on all of the ballot initiatives - and their intersection with big money. It's too much to excerpt here, but if you are a California voter, you should definitely check it out. Looks to me like anyone with any sense would be voting "no" on almost all of these.

P.S. The Alliance for a Better California - which opposes Ahnuld's redistricting trickery, aka Prop. 77 - advises voting against propostions 74-78 and for 79 and 80. Someone with more local knowledge than I've got is gonna have to confirm the wisdom of these choices. Over to you, Bob.

UPDATE: (Bob) Indeed, that is the proper way to vote.

Now that I'm back in California, I've been in some great meetings about where I fit into this fight. I think we're going to have some serious fun. As regular readers know, I'm into big bold action. So stay tuned...

Posted at 10:19 PM in 2005 Elections | Technorati

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Comments

Yes there are two different special elections. The CA-48th Congressional has it's Primary next Tuesday.
The Congressional Special election will be next December 6th. And it is getting fast and dirty around here already.

The Statewide General election called by Gov Muscles is November 8th and has millions upon millions of dollars in play. And it is a blood bath on both sides. There are very big issues at stake.

For the CA-48th the Steve Young Campaign has stayed focused just on getting the full nomination after being endorsed by the State and County Party. And we need more bodies for GOTV if this message reaches anyone nearby. It's going to be a helluva General election.

Posted by: Stuart O'Neill at September 29, 2005 01:04 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

David, Prop. 79 is an initiative that was first started by consumer groups as a way to at least get something positive done on this Novemeber. Once they started gathering signatures the drug companies took a look at the bill and decided that it could cost them a lot of money and decided a two pronged plan of attack 1) they would throw million and millions of dollars on a no campaign, spending a lot on TV ads.(which have been very effective) 2) they would pay signature collectors to put their own initiative on the ballot. Their paid canvassers managed to collect their signatures first, thus 78 is listed on the ballot before 79.

Prop 79 is not just endorsed by us, but a whole raft of groups including Consumers Union, Health Access California, Breast Cancer Action, Congress of California Seniors, the League of Women Voters of California, and yesterday the AARP endorsed as well. This is an excellent drug discount program and one that covers a lot more people than 78, which isn't even guaranteed to ever be in effect if enough manufacturers choose not to join. If 79 passes over 78 the drug companies will be sure to sue to avoid passage, much like MaineRX.

Theoretically both measures could get approved by the voters, if this happens then the one with the most Yes votes wins. Think of it as PhRMA v. Consumer Groups, the choice is clear: No on 78 Yes on 79.

Prop. 80 like 79 is an attempt to pass reform that the legislature has not been able to accomplish. It will re-regulate the electricty industry to avoid the rolling blackouts Californians have been experiencing since 1996 when the industry was de-regulated.

It is a pro-enviroment program that would accelerates the state's 20% renewable energy requirement from the year 2017 to 2010. The accelerated renewables requirement will decrease reliance on environmentally harmful fossil fuels and prevent rate hikes due to escalating natural gas prices.

The initative also increases energy conservation: Requires that cost-effective energy efficiency programs be pursued before building new power plants.

We have detailed our reasoning for all of the positions we have taken on the BetterCA website. A shorter version of those pages can be found here.

While a NO on everything position like the nurses rolls easy off the tounge, it isn't the best choice for Californians. We can make a real difference on November 8th and voting Yes on 79 and 80 is a great way.

Julia (juls) Rosen

Posted by: BetterCA at September 29, 2005 01:04 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

You forgot Prop 73, which is would change the state constitution to require parental notification 48 hours before a minor could get an abortion. The Alliance didn't take a position on this one, but it's tremdously important to defeat it. The California Democratic Party has taken the following positions: No 73-78, Yes 79 and 80. Cute slogan: Nix the [first] Six, Yes on the Rest.

Posted by: Matt Lockshin at September 29, 2005 04:35 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I attended Being Alive's Spirit of Hope Awards last night in West Hollywood

and ran into Assemblymember Paul Koretz. He gave me a bumper sticker which says "Stop Arnold: Vote No on Propositions 73-78!"



Even better, in his remarks to the couple hundred people in attendance at the Pacific Design Center's Silver Screen Auditorium he used this great slogan to remember which propositions to vote no on: "NIX ON THE FIRST SIX!"

Cute, eh? I's an easy way to remember to vote NO on the first 6 propositions on the November 8 ballot and YES on the last two (Prop 79 and Prop 80).

Posted by: madprofessah at October 10, 2005 09:04 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment