It’s (almost) Election Day and as ever, we leave recommendations to the end of the race. People who vote early are the ones who have done their homework, completed their research, and are solid with their choices. If you still need answers; we are happy to share ours.
Like the Presidential contest, our local elections are often cut into camps so solidified that reminding people to think critically is almost considered rude. You live in a small town, and people often vote for their poker buddies or their Pilates classmates – that’s a bad way to make an important choice. Just because someone is a nice neighbor or book group member does not mean they’d make a good office holder. People need to consider if they have the skill set needed to make policy. Good, long term, thoughtful policy.
But our largest demographic of voters are not part of one traditional team or the other, and that’s good. Many of our recently arrived residents are very politically aware, and that is also good. In our previous presidential primary, Culver City did not vote for Joe Biden; we voted for Elizabeth Warren. By a substantial margin.
But we live in city where voters get info from social media (bad idea) and mailers (spectacularly bad idea) but don’t have a lot of other sources – EXCEPT local news. The Los Angeles Times has some great background on California props and County Measures, so don’t let the owner’s bad decision on the presidential endorsement lead you to thinking his staff has no critical thinking skills.
Political Red Flag Rule – Whoever sends the most mailers has too much money, and is not looking out for your interests. They are looking out for corporate interests. Too much mail? That’s a red flag. Demonizing candidates or framing non-existent issues? Red flag. Claiming individual credit for accomplishments that were actually the work of dozens of people over many years? Red flag.
So, let’s start on Page One
Vote for Bryan “Bubba” Fish, who has a Masters from UCLA in Public Policy, and pays rent to live here. He’s a smart, compassionate, detail-oriented person whose day job is about policy. (Friends in Fox Hills take note; if you want to see that housing plan change, you need to vote for the progressives who will change it.) The real light shining here is because corporate money has worked so had to paint him as a bad guy. Vote for him.
Vote for Yasmine-Imani McMorrin because she’s smart, educated and organized. She’s held the office of Mayor with real poise despite almost constant (and unfounded and unfair) attacks from colleagues (and even staff; yes, bias exists in the City.) If you had a job where you had to put up with even a fraction of what she’s had to deal with, you would have walked. She’s committed to making the city a place for everyone to be safe, and she’s got the courage to run for re-election.
Vote for Nancy Barba – with a history on both the Finance Advisory Committee and the Planning Commission, she has put in the hours. A very smart person whose background is so specific to what we need to be looking at – climate change – it will be a loss to future generations if we don’t elect her to office.
CCUSD School Board – We are recommending Andrew Lachman and Sameen Ahmadnia. Both of them have children in the school (involvement and commitment) and as we don’t currently have an attorney on the board, it’s a skill set that’s needed. The other candidate – who I thought very highly of a decade ago – has lost my respect. Her tactics amount to bullying. The last office she ran for, she drew a surprisingly tiny number of votes, and she has fewer endorsements than anyone else. Seeing the lawn signs lined up with all the other corporate /police union candidates show me that she’s bought and paid for.
District Attorney – George Gascón. We covered this in depth in Vote Smart, but keeping it simple – he’s a former LAPD officer who does not think we should use the death penalty (because there’s no way to rectify a mistake) and children shouldn’t be put in prison with adults. I agree completely on both of those issues. Voting for the other candidate is giving the LAPD police union a thumbs up.
Community College Board might seem like a section of the test to skip over – it’s not. You are voting for Andra Hoffman, David Vela, Nichelle Henderson, and Kelsey Iino. Search the site for any of the great stories we’ve run in the past year of WLAC, and you will get a small idea of how important and influential our Community Colleges are. It was only 2015 when Sydney Kamlager was elected to the Community College Board; she is now your Congressional Representative.
Member of the State Assembly – Isaac G. Bryan Bryan does more for the greater good than anyone else in Sacramento.
United States Representative – Sydney Kamlager Slightly more than legendary, from Community College Board to Congress in less than a decade- and did not miss a rung on the ladder all the way up. She earned the seat that Karen Bass gave up to be the Mayor of Los Angeles. This time, let’s give her a Congress that can do something, and let her get to work.
CCUSD Special Election – Measure O – Vote Yes. Basically renews the parcel tax set by Measure K in 2018 which is due to expire. Our schools need this, and our kids will thank us. The Culver City Education Foundation and the head of the Teachers Union have both weighed in on how important this is to the budget. (Preview- we have not failed on funding education ever on my watch – that’s 15 years of yes-for-schools)
Judges? Yep. Judges. This is where most folks are just throwing darts, so take our recommendations and feel less clueless. We vote for judges based on info from multiple sources – legal people and legal institutions – so we feel that it’s an educated choice. Superior Court # 39 – Turner, #48 Wiley, #97 Henderson, #135 Huerta, and #137 Herrera.
No on Measure G; It’s controversial, and while there is good and bad in the proposal, I need to see a proposal that is simply good. Creating a ‘county mayor,’ with little transparency and no term limits is overtly tempting corruption. The Board of Supervisors already has more money and more power that than the governors of many states, or the prime ministers of some countries. To put all of that in one person’s hands is just too much. Measure G, if passed, will also require budgetary cuts impacting existing services, programs, and jobs. Vote No.
Yes on Measure A: Homelessness has been the most pressing problem of the last two decades, we are finally seeing numbers moving in a better direction. Not by a lot, but it takes more than a snap of the fingers to solve. Measure A increases accountability in by mandating annual audits tied to funding. If Measure A does not pass, almost 50,000 people will lose services or housing. That’s more families and children living on the streets than there are now. Vote Yes.
The ‘State Measures’ are also called Propositions or Props; your ballot calls them State Measures. You have probably got a pound of mail on ‘Props,’ and you have seen hundreds of ads. We covered these in our Vote Smart column, and we will reprise them here briefly. Because you gotta get to the polls.
State Measure 2 – Bonds for Public Schools and Community Colleges – Vote Yes. There is nothing more worthy of investment than public education.
State Measure 3 – Marriage Equality. Repeal the state law that is now in conflict with federal policy. Vote Yes.
State Measure 4 – Climate Protection Bond – A big pile of money that will help us have clean water, and help protect California from multiple climate change threats. Vote Yes.
State Measure 5 – Affordable Housing – If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard the phrase ‘Affordable Housing’ in the last year, I could buy the entire island of Maui. It’s a crucial investment from the state. Vote Yes.
State Measure 6 – Prisoners should not be used as slave labor. No one – absolutely no one – is on record opposing this. Not even the companies that use prisoners as slave labor. Sure, it’s going to cost them, but if you knew that they were using convict labor you might not want to buy their products anyway. Vote Yes. And take your ethics with you when you shop, okay?
State Measure 32 – Raise the minimum wage. When people who work full time qualify for public assistance because even a full- time job, with overtime hours, means you are living under the poverty line, corporations ‘cheaping out’ means taxpayers are coughing up. Make the corporations – with their multi-billion dollar profit margins – pay their employees. Vote Yes.
State Measure 33 – Controversial, but if the California Chamber of Commerce is opposed, then it must be a good idea. Allowing cities the have rent control laws rather than referring to the state gives California cities a lot more control, and also (maybe) takes the teeth out of corporate real estate eating more of the housing market. Vote Yes.
State Measure 34 – Stop the AIDS Healthcare Foundation from investing in housing. It’s bunk for this prop to even be on the ballot; it’s passing a law so specific that it’s like saying blonde people over five feet tall with green eyes can’t buy coffee with money they made working in retail. If we need to reform the non-profit health sector, that’s a much bigger task, and a whole other conversation. Vote No.
State Measure 35 – Funding for health care. Plenty of doctors won’t see public health care patients because the rates are currently too low to pay for their time. Everyone needs health care, and everyone needs to get paid for their work. Vote Yes
State Measure 36 – Felony charges for retail theft. If this sounds like a cover version of the three strikes law, or mandatory minimum sentencing (both spectacularly bad ideas) it is. It’s a gift to the prison industry – a pretty big player in California politics – and a plan to fill cells. All the news stories you’ve seen about supposed mobs breaking in to stores are hyper-exaggerated. For every time this happened, you have seen it covered on tv ten-fold. Maybe a hundred fold. Everyone in the justice system thinks mandatory minimums are BS; there shouldn’t be a law telling the law how to implement the law. AND – Crime is down. Way down. Across the board. Vote No.
There is no point in telling you how to vote in the Presidential election. IYKYK.
Penultimate choice – United States Senator Adam Schiff. I don’t love the way he elbowed Katie Porter out of the race, but he was one of the first to go after the corruption in the 45th administration, and we should all be glad he had the guts to do so.
FINAL CHOICE – Now, consider your favorite way to relax; read a novel, walk on the beach, start a jigsaw puzzle. We may well not have results until the end of the week, and there will be a number of people dealing near-psychotic levels of anxiety and stress. You can choose to not be one of them.
Judith Martin-Straw
