.
I understand there has been some confusion resulting from my dedicating my voters’ guide, as I traditionally do, to my gay friends John and Ken. Some of the fans of the famous radio guys of the same name have been calling up their KFI show furious – they googled the rightwing pair wanting to know how THEY want them to vote, and instead ran into this. The Orange Juice Blog sincerely regrets any confusion. If you want to see the FAMOUS John and Ken’s voter guide (which lacks Orange County choices) you can click HERE – it’s perfect for if you are interested in helping comfort the comfortable, afflict the afflicted, make the rich richer and poor poorer, increase criminal penalties for everything but white collar crime, and remain blissfully ignorant of what’s in your food.
But it that’s NOT your agenda I give you MY John and Ken’s 2012 Orange County Voter’s Guide. Take it, print it out, and use it well, brothers and sisters.
California’s 2012 Initiatives!
As always, but now more than ever, in this election We The People are fighting mainly against unlimited billions of money and shameless, expert LIES. On that note, if only to show that the wealthiest liars can’t always win, AT LEAST vote NO on 32 to stick it to Karl Rove, Exxon and the Koch brothers’ attempts to shut us up; NO on 33 to stick it (once more) to Mercury Insurance’s attempts to rip us off, and YES on 37 to stick it to the efforts of Monsanto – the most evil corporation in history – to not tell us what they put in our food.
- Prop 30 – YES! Governor Brown’s temporary, modest, 5-year tax increase, as compromised with us progressives’ original “Millionaires Tax,” is crucial for our state’s schools, health, public safety and infrastructure, which have already been cut down to the bone during the recession, and we can afford it – we’ll hardly notice the extra 1/4% sales tax for 5 years. Vote YES on 30 so that Capistrano USD schools won’t have to put cell phone towers, swap meets, and strip clubs on their campuses.
- Prop 31 – No. – A perverse amendment to force the legislature, who is already trying to do their job with both hands tied behind their back, to also have those hands hogtied to their feet. Vote yes only if you really really hate the government and don’t want them to be able to do ANYTHING.
- Prop 32 – HELL NO! The same old union-busting “paycheck deception” scam that Californians have rejected numerous times, but THIS time it’s cruelly masquerading as “campaign finance reform.” This does nothing to limit the power of corporations and billionaires, which is why the oceans of TV and radio ads you see in favor of it are paid for by the Koch brothers, Karl Rove, oil companies, and Wall Street. DON’T BE A DOPE. To vote for this in the wake of the cataclysmic “Citizens United” decision would be like handing over our nunchucks while our enemy has a daisy cutter.
- Prop 33 – NO, NO, NO! Every election, Mercury Insurance tries to pass this scam, it is always rejected, and they never give up. People can generally just sense that Mercury is looking for excuses to raise most of our rates, even if they are claiming the opposite while they try so hard to get this passed. My popular 2010 piece “Friends Don’t Let Friends Vote for Prop 17” hardly needs to be re-written at all, except for the number of the initiative and the fact that they’ve now made an exception for the military.
- Prop 34 – Yes. End the death penalty in California. To save millions and millions of dollars, and ALSO because I’m not a murderer and you probably aren’t either.
- Prop 35 – NO! Diamond has written a highly persuasive and influential essay explaining why NO. (We should probably re-post that.) The initiative will probably pass easily due to people’s kneejerk reaction of Who don’t hate human trafficking? Then it will be overturned in court. It’s just a sneaky puritanical ruse to make serious crimes out of all manner of harmless consensual sexual activity. Only vote yes if you want to have the government controlling our private lives even more, while growing the prison population and the number of unemployable pariahs.
- Prop 36 – Yes. On three strikes reform. I met guys in jail and prison, nice guys, who were there on a third strike for an ounce of pot or having a utility knife in their tool box. We don’t need to keep wasting millions of dollars keeping guys like that incarcerated.
- Prop 37 – HELL YES!!! My trust in human intelligence and evolution will be dashed if this doesn’t pass – how could Californians vote that they DON’T want to know what’s in their food? But the most evil corporation in history, Monsanto, the creators of styrofoam, Agent Orange, saccharine, RoundUp, GMOs, currently on their way to owning the planet’s food supply, have been pulling out all the stops to convince YOU that you’ll have to pay MORE MONEY if they have to label. Call bullshit, friends.
- Prop 38 – No. This vanity measure is competing with Prop 30, and 30 is better.
- Prop 39 – Yes. Sounds like yes. Read the essay on it by our own brilliant Boutwell, if you want to understand every little detail and nuance, and then spend the next couple of weeks feeling like Hamlet.
- Prop 40 – Yes, I guess. Everyone’s voting yes on this now, right? Even the dumb Republicans who first put this on the ballot and WANTED you to vote NO, but now regret the whole thing. Right? Or do I have this backwards?
US President – So Many Choices!
The eyes of the nation and the world will be on the Presidential race next week, but here in the Golden State we are in a blessed condition – there’s just no way California will go to Romney, so it won’t be a bad thing at all if a couple thousand Orange Juice readers give a boost to the four worthy “third-party” candidates. I’m voting for Rocky Anderson of the Justice Party, whom you won’t see on the California ballot, but he’s an approved write-in candidate. A lot of my good Republican friends are voting for Libertarian Gary Johnson because they just can’t stomach Mitt Romney, for obvious good reasons. The way I see it, when we pick one of these four, we are telling President Obama, “We want YOU to be a little bit more like THIS person in your second term.”
In other words, when we choose Rocky, Gary, or Green candidate Jill Stein, we are telling the President we want less war, less military spending, more respect for civil liberties, and an end to the Drug War in his second term. When we pick Rocky or Jill, we’re telling him we want him to be a lot tougher regulating financial crooks on Wall Street and elsewhere. When we pick Rocky, we’re letting him know how disappointed we are on the lack of justice or even investigations into the criminality of the Bush-Cheney years. When we pick Gary, we’re letting him know we want less big government solutions to our problems and more free market solutions. And when we pick Roseanne, who used stupid celebrity tricks to yank California’s Peace and Freedom candidacy away from Rocky, we’re letting the President know that we want him to gain some weight, talk louder, be funnier, and grab his crotch during patriotic moments.
Vote Elizabeth Emken for California Senate.
No, I can’t think of anything good to say about Republican Senate candidate Elizabeth Emken, and I wouldn’t want to risk losing a Senate seat to the Rethugs. But Dianne Feinstein pisses me off, and again, there’s no way a couple thousand Orange Juice votes will swing the election away from the perpetually anointed one. But still you can let DiFi know how disgusted you are with her arrogance in refusing to debate Elizabeth, and how frustrated you are with the octogenarian hawk’s refusal to retire gracefully and let a better, younger Democrat take her place … by VOTING EMKEN!!!
Congress – Pick the Democrat!
No matter what, vote for the DEMOCRAT for Congress this year. Don’t even think about them individually; Democrats NEED to regain the majority in Congress, or pretty much NOTHING will get better. Even if you like your own Republican incumbent, even if you think the Democrat challenger is a twat, a vote for a Congressional Republican is one more vote for endless assaults on women’s rights, for several hundred more make-believe repeals of Obamacare, and for two more years of economic strangulation.
But…
…special mention goes to THREE OC Congressional races:
- With the new districts that take effect next month, Vista dirtbag Darrell Issa is now aiming to represent our southernmost reaches of San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, and Dana Point. (Richard Henry Dana rolls in his grave.) This makes Darrell our WORST Orange County Congressman, edging out racist Wall Street servant Ed Royce, psychotic Dana Rohrabacher, and useless fake tea-partier John Campbell – because Issa does real damage to the nation, ten times more than those other are could even dream of. And this means that we’re counting on all the good people of the South County to come out and vote for Jerry Tetalman, whoever the hell HE is. (I’ll try to find out more soon.)
- It could be true that Jay Chen actually has a shot at beating the very self-satisfied and evil Ed Royce, given the demographics of the new district, Jay’s tireless work, and the fact that he goes around telling the truth when all Ed has is lies. And given the ferocity and viciousness of Ed’s attacks on Jay. We’re counting on you up in the North County to do your part here! The financial crisis of 2008-9 is as much Royce’s fault as anybody’s, and his struggle against Wall Street regulation has not slowed down one iota.
- Then, the good news – but don’t get complacent! – is that folks around Garden Grove and Westminster are highly likely to be represented by the OC’s second Democratic Congressman, Long Beach’s Alan Lowenthal, a guy who really believes in investing in our infrastructure. His opponent Gary DeLong is so far behind that he’s resorted to paying Adam Probolsky for polls telling him he’s not! Still, don’t get complacent, get out there and vote for Alan!
And if you live somewhere else in the County, be a mensch and vote for Ron Varasteh over the deranged embarrassment Dana Rohrabacher, or the worthy Sukhee Kang over the useless tool John Campbell. And oh yeah, in SanTanaheim there was … some woman .. oh, right, Loretta Sanchez. She seems pretty decent.
State Senate – Pick the Democrat Lawyer!
Only half of the County gets to vote for a new State Senator this year, and those of you who do can easily remember to vote for – the Democratic attorney over the corrupt Republican incumbent. That is, in the coastal South County you can vote for brilliant trial lawyer Steve Young over the corrupt Mimi Walters who doesn’t even live in the district, but has sworn in court that she does. And of course all North Countiers should vote for our own distinguished Greg Diamond, both on his own merits, and to help defeat (or at least rattle the cage of) the “quarterback for redevelopment,” hinky Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff.
Diamond also deserves great credit in recent weeks for, nearly single-handedly, keeping the OC Weekly‘s R Scott Moxley too busy to either write more hagiographies of union bashers OR to expose himself in airports. Seriously, Scotty hasn’t done EITHER of those things since he’s become obsessed with our Diamond! (As far as we know.)
For Assembly – Travis Allen and the Democrat Teachers!
In the Republican vs. Republican race of the 72nd Assembly District – northern HB, Fountain Valley, Westminster, parts of Garden Grove, Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, etc, I’ve gone through the reasons I’m voting for feisty upstart businessman Travis Allen over sleazy insider Los Al Mayor Troy Edgar, despite disagreeing with the politics of both. My thoughts were confirmed eloquently by a commenter familiar with both cats:
I have lived with six years of Troy Edgar. I would do anything to get him the hell out of my town.
Good points about Mr. Edgar:
- I will say that Troy is a man of his word. When someone buys him he stays bought through thick and thin.
- He doesn’t require any actual facts before making a decision.
- He is great at shaking his head up and down when what he is really doing is shaking it from side to side.
- Unlike the regular slugs found in gardens, Troy Edgar doesn’t leave a visible trail when he passes by.
……… [skipping a bit more invective] ………
…That leaves me with a guy who I have spoken to a few times. Unlike Edgar he actually listened, and we had a very healthy discussion of alternative ways that we can address the current jobs crisis in California without “giving away” tax dollars or even spending them on things that don’t create jobs (like tax breaks for the wealthy). Allen doesn’t appear to be in anyone’s pocket and he seems to be something Edgar isn’t; honest.
Being a (D) with no horse in this race, I find that when I remove the desire to just vote for Edgar to get him the heck off my City Council there really seems to be only one choice. I have watched Edgar manipulate the system locally for personal political gain for six years now. I have watched him hurt fine people doing nothing more than being involved in making their community better, just because they don’t support what his corporate backers want. I have watched him belittle the people he is supposed to represent. And while sending him to Sacramento would get rid of him from here, the down side is that he will swim like a shark in that cesspool of corruption.
I guess I’m voting for Allen.
Beyond that, I’m excited about a couple of Democratic candidates who both happen to be teachers – the very secular and eccentric Professor James Corbett who’s running against the crooked, nasty Diane Harkey in the South County, and the radiant liberal Sharon Quirk-Silva who’s taking on slightly unhinged conservative Chris Norby up north, and might actually have a chance.
It’s hard to get up even enough energy to write a sentence about the other OC Assembly races. I’ve become convinced that Bob Rush, the “Democrat” running against Mansoor in the Newport/Mesa area, is a fake Prop 14 candidate whose only function was to knock Leslie Daigle out of the race. The best we Dems could put up against wingnut Don Wagner in the Irvine area was a pretty perennial candidate who is also the quietest woman in the world. And in SanTanaheim … there basically IS no race any more.
Do what you want.
*******************
OC’s Cities: The Laboratories of … something.
Costa Mesa: the tip of Scott Baugh’s Spear
NO on V! NO on the Baugh/Righeimer charter! If Goat Hill must have a charter, it should be one written in the interests of the people, not in the simple short-term interests of today’s politicians and their desire to quickly outsource the City’s workforce with no resistance. The people of this town are tired of living in a Petri dish for the OC GOP’s rightwing social engineering.
And if that’s how they feel, as I believe they do, they should vote for the TOP THREE names on their ballot – Sandy Genis, John Stephens, and Harold Weitzberg. Damn. That will be a great council, with those three on it.
Anaheim – can it break out of its “Pringlehold?”
The defining struggle this year in Anaheim, is much different – will Orange County’s largest city break free of its complete political control by local corporate interests – Disney, the resorts and developers, and above all ex-Mayor / master lobbyist / puppeteer Curt Pringle. And that means cutting down the Pringle-ites’ current three-member council majority to two. And that essentially comes down to, what we always say, DEFEATING JORDAN BRANDMAN. Keeping Pringle candidate Jordan Brandman off the Council.
Otherwise none of Mayor Tait’s reforms will move forward this year: “Letting the people vote” on future corporate subsidies; Moving to district-style elections and settling the ACLU suit; and forming a citizens’ oversight committee to keep the police in line. So, like I said in my last Anaheim article, Democrats and progressives who want to vote for the candidates who most reflect their values should NOT vote for “Democrat” Brandman, but for Duane Roberts and John Leos; while if you want to be more pragmatic and pick the two candidates who are MOST LIKELY to beat Brandman, you should go for the Mayor’s choice: Leos and Lucille Kring.
And for the school board, my friends John Santoianni and Al Jabbar! (If you live in the Hills, though, you’re in Orange USD, so see Orange below…)
Fullerton: How scary IS Bushala? More than Chevron?
Fullerton, where the two biggest issues are whether to let Chevron do whatever it wants to Coyote Hills, and support serious reform of the Police Department. NO ON W, and vote Jane Rands and Barry Levinson for Council! I’ve just met Barry Levinson, and he is in NO WAY the Bushala puppet OR anti-government libertarian that some have caricatured him as. He and Jane are the only candidates who BOTH oppose Chevron’s Measure W AND back serious reforms of the FPD, including a citizens’ oversight committee. Candidates Rick Alvarez, Jan Flory and Jennifer Fitzgerald are in the pockets of both Chevron and the police union; Republicans Alvarez and Fitzgerald appear to be empty suits with no records in the community who will say anything to anybody, and Flory has a TERRIBLE, embarrassing record that no Democrat should embrace.
I’m helping organize a “candidate meet and greet” tomorrow night at 7 (Monday Oct 29) at the church where I work – Orangethorpe United Methodist Church on Orangethorpe, near Gilbert. Flory, Alvarez, Rands, Levinson, and Jaramillo will be there. I’ll be writing more about this gathering later; come and see for yourselves! Monday night, tomorrow, at 7.
Huntington Beach
NO ON Z! What a stupid, destructive, deceptive stink bomb departing Mayor Don Hansen has left us. NO! They claim this will “end” a “pension tax” – the pension obligation ain’t going anywhere. What it WILL do is force EVEN MORE CUTS in city services, after all the cuts Surf City denizens have already suffered through for the past decade. I mean, look right here for what-all will be cut, and pension obligations won’t be touched. Your taxes may go down unnoticeably, but you’re not gonna want to live there any more.
And the best candidates – the ONLY good candidates for City Council in HB this year – are Jill Hardy and Jim Katapodis.
Additional HB tips, from Debbie Cook:
- Keep the good school district incumbents for the High School District: Michael Simons, Susan Henry, and Duane Dishno.
- Yes on Measure AA – Sunset Beach paying the same taxes as the rest of us.
- And yes on the education bonds. Hey, Debbie’s a fiscal conservative and I trust her.
Santa Ana
Having become all too familiar with the baneful influence of the Small Dark Lord, Santa Ana’s Mayor For Life Miguel Pulido, on the OCTA Board and elsewhere in the County and state, I’m all for this Glorious Revolution. And my new old buddy Councilwoman Michele Martinez summarizes this revolution thusly:
- David Benavides for Mayor! (I count him as an accidental hero of the 405 – anything to get Toll Troll Miguel off the OCTA Board!)
- Sarmiento, Reyna, and Alderete for Council
- Valerie Amezcua and Miriam Tinajero for School Board; and
- YES on GG! (Good Government.)
City of Orange
My progressive environmentalist troublemaker pal in the famous Ruled-by-Clowns city weighs in:
- Most Imporantly, No on FF! Orange Needs Parks, and plus Jerbal’s for it, so you KNOW it’s wrong!
- TITA Smith for Mayor
- Mark Murphy and Mike Alvarez for Council!
- Orange USD – Vote AGAINST the incumbents – vote for Tracey Columbo-Curtis and Robert Ausmus!
*Los Alamitos* (NEW)
ONLY Richard Murphy for Council.
NO on Measure DD.
See JM Ivler’s comment below for more details. (Thx JM)
Westminster
Diana Lee Carey, heroine of the 405, and nobody else. A friend continues, “Sergio Contreras is still trying to figure out the school board agenda after 8 years. Nice but just plain dumb, and a professional staffer to a legislator to boot. Stop him now before he becomes the next Lou Correa.”
Fountain Valley = A Nice Place to Live!
A longtime Fountain Valley insider writes:
“Cheryl Brothers and Steve Nagel. Even though she comes with the endorsements of The Moorlach, OCTAX and Janet Nguyen, she is one of the smartest and hardest working people out there. With dimwits Mark McCurdy and Michael Vo joining drunken John Collins on the dais, you need every single IQ point you can get, when they go to replace long-serving City Manager Ray Kromer.
“Nagel’s not great, but the others suck so badly. Duy Nguyen doesn’t even bother to show up…”
I have to add another Hero of the 405 here (in anticipation of my article “Heroes of the 405”) – termed-out FV councilman and OCTA Board member Larry Crandall is running for Municipal Water District of Orange County Division 3. I have no reason to think he’s better or worse than the guy he’s running against, but if he shows the common sense, honesty, hard work and responsibility he’s showed while keeping toll lanes off the 405 while on the Water Board … well, then ándale!
*BREA* (new!)
Our distinguished contributor Greg Diamond weighs in from the northeasternmost corner of the County with these Brea picks, supported with typical eloquence over here:
- NO on Measures T and U and Steve Vargas!
- Instead, for Council, he’ll vote for (without actually endorsing) Christine Marick and Marty Simonoff!
*MISSION VIEJO* (new!)
Our brand new MV blogger The insufferable Dan Avery pontificates:
- Mission Viejo Council: Frank Ury and Wendy Bucknum
- SOCCD: Dave Lang, William Jay, Timothy Jemal (Chairman Vern hears bad things about Lang, but there’s not really much choice)
- Saddleback Valley School District: Ginny Fay Aitkens, Suzie R. Swartz, Don Sedgwick
- Capo School District: you guess is as good as mine, they all seem corrupt (Chairman Vern says Alpay, Pritchard, McCormick and Hanacek are NOT corrupt!)
Capistrano Unified School District
You KNOW we back the bipartisan pro-education moderates of “Capistrano Unified Children First” – John Alpay, Gary Pritchard, Amy Hanacek, and Carol McCormick. And that’s not just because they pay me thousands and thousands of dollars to advertise on this blog. Not at all. In fact, it’s the other way around.
South OC Community College Board
Finally, and this is very disturbing – Word on the street is that the infamous John S Williams, whom we thought we’d driven off to Tampa after his tragicomically disastrous stint as Public Administrator – Public Guardian, is BACK for more pension money, trying to get back his old seat on this College Board. A dazzlingly diverse array of figures has united to try to stop that from happening – from Don Wagner and Todd Spitzer to Loretta Sanchez and Roy Bauer – and what they want you to do is VOTE FOR TIM JEMAL! (And also William Jay.) I will have much more on this in a couple of days. Civilization hangs in the balance.
NO, NO NO on 30, 38 or any stupid proposition that begs for more tax money from anyone and I don’t want my sales tax to go up any amount-when does it end? The Sac-hoilans get plenty of money already from our already sky high taxes, so what are they doing with it?
It’s not my fault or any other tax payer’s fault that old Geritol Brown and his team of vicious vultures, ares using the infamous scare tactic that schools and public safety will be cut-Geeze enough! Stop renting cars for public employees so they can make liquor runs…yes, this is true and is documented by an expose video by David Goldstein-here it is http://www.kfiam640.com/pages/jk2010.html?article=10528186
And, I repeat, no new freaking taxes. period. Why does Bown or Munger just write out a check every month-they’re rich, they can afford it.
Well said Merijoe.
And I would add to vote YES on Prop 32. Why should unions or corporations be allowed to contribute to candidates? That is not allowed for federal elections and that works just fine. Why should the state be any different?
*Since we agree with 98% of all your suggestions Chairman Vern……don’t be listening to Merijoe people …..Chairman Vern is doing God’s work now…just in time for the election. Should Obama prevail…..our wonderful Republican Representatives may
soon return to their roots….and assist in doing God’s work….as well.
It’s not God’s work to encourage half truths and promote lies all in the name of a party.
Nope to new taxes, I stand by that , and so do the majority of taxpayers in California, rather, those of us who have been paying sky high taxes for years with the same rationale given before the big sales promotion, “if you dont give these taxes, then there is no hope”, and yet, still, the schools need more on 11/6, what do you know.
Public workers, how about you stop wasting the tax money you already have, on rental cars so you can make liquor runs in the middle of your shift, and take home to use as private vehicles, that out to be a windfall and a bundle of money you can put into the schools and public safety-now that’s the truth-God’s work.
now that the winships sails have turned sharp left merijo right on no on 30 , yes on 32 , you see this group of people on this site want to keep feeding the beast , the unions , brown , nobama , total failures on all fronts and they want to keep on the same course .
32 is a misleading lie.
Corporations do not make their political donations from payroll deductions, which this would prevent. The rich CEOs simply forgoe raises for their employes (but not themselves) and contribute from the profit of the companies they run. Their employees have no choice.
California law already requires that union members get to choose whether payroll deductions are taken for political purposes. And they can choose No, if they want.
This is a solution looking for a problem.
I voted no on all prop’s except 40, because on 40 “YES” means no change.
“vote for the DEMOCRAT for Congress this year” Yep don’t even think for yourself, just do what your masters tell you to do.
*Too bad you never served in the Armed Forces……it shows!
After you leave the armed forces, you are no longer subject to the UCMJ and then allowed to free think again. (with some exception dealing with secrets)
Reminder that Vet’s month starts in a few days at Knotts Berry Farm. Nov.1 to 21st, Vet’s and 1 guest no charge and up to 6 more at $19.
All you need is your activy duty ID or DD-214.
One hell of a deal.
*They also take your VA Card …if you are nice!
I did.
And I was a lifelong Republican until I could not stomach their lies any more.
Yes, I check my facts. I probably spend too much time on it. But that is my duty, no?
Judging from his other endorsements, it looks to me as if Vern would be perfectly happy to endorse a non-Democrat. (Emken. Really?) It just so happens that in all of the Congressional races this year, the Democrats are clearly superior to their opponents. Vern’s just calling them as he sees them.
oh yes diamond the dems ae superior , the lost the house , getting ready to lose the senate , and the big one the pres . AND ESPECIALLY THE HUFF DIAMOND , RACE ,, that one will be a real close race , as soon as the polls open they might as well call it .
You are hurting my feelings.
Silly Cook … let’s see how many Republicans I’ve endorsed here. Not counting Emken, because I don’t want or expect her to win.
Travis Allen. Sandy Genis. John Leos and Lucille Kring (and by extension, Mayor Tait.) Barry Levinson. PROBABLY those Orange candidates as far as I know. Definitely all the Fountain Valley candidates. In CUSD, Alpay and McCormick. Tim Jemal – no idea, but I doubt Don Wagner would be backing a Dem.
And then all the third party candidates – from the Presidential ones to Duane Roberts and Jane Rands.
But nationally the Republicans are on a rampage, and the Democrats need control of Congress for everybody’s good.
Most of the candidates I voted for last week are Democrats, Not my fault as they make their own choices.
Well, I agree with by far the majority of what you wrote, but you know I’m going to disagree with you on Fullerton. I also disagree with your invisible friend on Sergio Contreras — I appreciate everything that Diana has done on the 405, but I believe that one does get two votes for council and that Contreras will be better than the alternatives.
Are you doing Irvine, Brea, and Garden Grove? Sigh — more work!
Ugh, Irvine, I forgot. I’m agnostic on Irvine. The City of Beige, Master-plannedistan. Dan C can have it.
The whole idea of Agran conniving with PROBOLSKY to exclude real Republicans … I dom’t want anything to do with it.
Peopl in Irvine can still vote for Tim Jemal .. and against John Campbell.
Excellent write up, Vern!
“YES on GG! (Good Government.)”
How is repealing or restricting voter rights equal to good government?
Term limits is all about taking away the right to vote. (If we eliminated the right to vote entirely would that equal great government?)
Vern, would you recommend that we return to the original voting rights at the birth of the USA? White men who own property get to vote and no others.
Since I have come to California, 1992, it seems to me that the Republicans here act more like Democrats in their spending money, and the Democrats here are so liberal that I can’t understand why they have not legalized even heroin yet. All of the politicians here seem to want to allow everyone in the world to come here, papers or not, and for us to pay for their education. The way I feel this election year is that I should just shut my eyes when I vote and just hope for the best.
continue god’s work Vern. We could sure use you here in Florida tho I suspect Obama will prevail. About the MWDOC Board positions. NO VOTES for Flannigan. She is a dead horse in more ways than one.
Great piece Vern. If I get out in time ill see you tonight. Text me more info or put in on FB. I can get word out to some if the candidates.
I think we got enough there – the nice cnurch lady already invited FLory Alvarez and Kitty – she figured they must be the best since Mayor Sharon appears to be backing them – and I insisted on bringing along Jane and Barry. So AT LEAST the people can get a balanced view on Measure W and police reform. I don’t think we need any more to add to the confusion. Bruce and Travis can take care of themselves as incumbents, and … shit, who needs to hear from Fitzgerald?
I’ll have a story up just on tonight’s thing, momentarily.
I see, on the google, that the FAMOUS John and Ken did make a voters guide this year. (First couple of times I did this, they hadn’t bothered.)
Hm… we disagree on almost every proposition. Usually we agree on SOME at least.
Maybe if I link to them they won’t sue me, till after Election Day… http://www.kfiam640.com/pages/Election.html?feed=452967&article=10448674
Santa Ana voters 113,424, expected turn out based on history 68,054
(poll 23,818) (VBM etc 44,235)
VBM ballots issued in Santa Ana 55,000
(44,235/55,000= 20 percent lost, that sound about right)
VBM ballots received to date 6,507
Dem 31,470 / 3,243 (10 percent)
Rep 12,799 / 2,164 (17 percent)
NPP 9282 / 902 (10 percent)
You back Lucille Kring? She’s sending out racist campaign literature with a brown man being arrested by white cops to all of her supporters trying to scare them into voting for her.
See http://www.gophoto.it/view.php?i=http://ocpolitical.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/kring_half_page_front.jpg#.UI7pBq6wbE0
What a crock of &^%^ she is.
I’m looking at this image. I’m not that enthusiastic about Kring, I’m just enthusiastic in wanting to beat Brandman, that should be clear from my qualified endorsement.
But still … that’s a complicated image. It could cut either way. “Enough” of police over-reaction and brutality is one literal way to read this flyer, and that’s backed by Kring’s statements in recent months – like all the serious candidates EXCEPT BRANDMAN AND LODGE, Kring has decried police brutality and called for a citizens’ oversight committee. (And, as though it were still the 80s, she calls for more “neighborhood policing.”) In that context, this flyer DOES mean enough police killings and brutality.
But I have to admit, other people can see it the opposite way – ENOUGH of gangs, crime, the underclass, Latinos. The race of the cops and the suspects makes it even more problematic. This is a very clever flyer, nearly demonic, a Rorschach Test. I want to find out who made this for her. And see what she will say to explain and defend it, or not. In fact this is worth discussion, so I’ll put the image up here:
WhaT do readers think, especially people of color and liberal or progressive readers?
People, If you Googled this site for John & Ken’s voters guide (the real John & Ken from KFI 640 FM talk radio) this is NOT it. This is a BS website that promotes more taxes on ever one and protects union interests. These are people who let unions and freeloaders make decisions for our great state. Go to KFI’s website for the real information on how we can help ourselves out of this mess that our state government has buried us under!!
Correct, this post is not associated with KFI’s Jhn and Ken — as clearly stated within it.
Incorrect, everything starting with “BS website.”
Hear hear! This guide has nothing to do with the two popular radio guys on KFI, who disagree with us on more than ever this year. There are many Johns, and many Kens, in this great nation. If you-all instead are looking for clues on how to further afflict the afflicted and comfort the comfortable – how to help the rich get richer and poor get poorer while strengthening the prison-industrial complex …. then by all means go to the KFI guys’ guide, which we’ve already linked to here:
http://www.kfiam640.com/pages/Election.html?feed=452967&article=10448674
The Orange Juice Blog (the OC’s Political Mosh Pit) regrets any confusion!
ed you describe this site to perfection , toss in heavy leaning socialist views and you got the whole enchalada
We even have some token moderate Republicans here too 🙂
You guys ain’t token. You, Ryan, Overbutnotout, Bushala … you represent the future of the Republican Party, and I wouldn’t call you MODERATE as that’s come to mean only slightly conservative, and you guys are plenty conservative – you’re just not assholes!
Thank you for determining that my rant against Mr. Edgar was worthy of repost as part of your explanation as to why Mr. Edgar is wrong for AD-72.
I noticed that you didn’t touch on Los Alamitos as a local vote.
Just wanted to share the scorecard there.
Dean Grose: You may all remember Mr. Grose. He helped make Los Alamitos an international laughingstock with his Watermelon E-Mail. Well, like the mask-wearing killer from an epically bad Halloween slasher movie…. he’s back! When he ran and won eight years ago he was Troy Edgar’s partner in every vote. I guess that alone should have warned us of his bad judgment. If the smart voters stick us in Los Alamitos with Troy for his remaining two years, Dean again will be a consistent vote showing the bad judgment that he has so well embodied in the past.
Ken Stephens: I like to think of Mr. Stephens as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Ken is very personable and likable. If fact I like him. Unfortunately his 98% voting record with Troy Edgar means that he is absolutely useless when presented with factual evidence that shows why he should leave the puppet masters side and vote in the best interests of the people rather than those of Mr. Edgar and his campaign contributors. Mr. Stephens somehow found $2K to deliver to Mr. Edgar’s campaign making him one of the largest individual donors, and if you narrow it down, I believe he would be the largest donor who lives in rental housing. Which makes one wonder, with Mr. Edgar’s illegal funneling of corporate cash into his campaign if Ken was a dupe for some nasty shenanigans from Troy yet again.
Demi Devaney: A recent arrival from Cypress she showed up out of nowhere to run. She has no record of any political involvement in the City of Los Alamitos and no one can remember her even attending one City Council meeting. Now where have I seen this same story before. Oh yes. Mr. Edgar shows up in Los Alamitos from Rossmoor and runs for public office with absolutely no prior involvement in any part of the City; not even having attended City Council meetings. Deja vu allover again?
Richard Murphy: Finally someone who actually has a record of sorts. A council watcher and attendee for the last two plus years I have agreed and disagreed with Mr. Murphy’s principled and well considered stands. Murph, clearly a upstanding member of the GOP’s uncrazy wing, is well versed in the challenges that the City faces. He has in the past attempted to be a peacemaker and wants to take that show to the dais. While I think that is a nice sentiment, I also hope that he will see that it’s time to actually investigate Edgar’s criminal behavior and help the long standing minority get things moving forward in this city, as well as clean it up.
So, you get to vote for two, and like the OC Register I am stuck saying that a vote for anyone other than Murphy is not only a wasted vote, but one that waters down Murphy’s ability to state that he was sent by the people with a mission to clean up Edgar’s history of graft.
In addition there is the Edgar “sales job” on the ballot. Hey, let’s not say I put words into Troy’s mouth here. Edgar himself called DD a “sales job”. His attempt to flim-flam the voters and pass a tax on every possible way of using future technology to communicate in any way between two people is worse than bad law, it’s almost criminal. His threat that if we didn’t vote for it we would lose police and fire protective services is absolute bull. And his desire to get people to vote against their best financial interests by throwing a lowering of the tax by 1% was accurately described by Edgar himself as a “sales job” meant to confuse the people into voting for a crap piece of legislation.
If you wonder why Edagr’s name is all over a post dealing with Los Alamitos politics, it’s because for four of the last six years we have been stuck with Mr. Edgar leading a majority council that has, as Superior Court Judge Banks put it, violated the law. Heck, when they make an error and actually vote in Council for something in the best interests, Edgar has just had the vote “modified” after the fact to represent whatever he wants and then publishes the new results in the meeting minutes. There is a reason that his detractors like to refer to him as “King Edgar”, it’s because in this small town he has been acting like one for the last six years. It also explains why his detractors have grown from a small handful of people who were involved in City politics to a larger community that is actively promoting in the community for Travis Allen.
So, in Los Al there are TWO votes you want to make.
No on DD and Yes on Murphy.
[PS: Carol Sylvia is ethically challenged and any vote on the sever district that doesn’t include her is a good vote, the rest of the candidates are all good people.]
You can always read more at:
http://letsfixlosal.com/blog/your-los-al-election-2012-cheat-sheet/
To whom it may concern,
The Carpetbagger is Pedroza.
How do you know that — or are you just choosing the most obvious guess?
Stanley, what do you think of SA’s Messure GG?
Hmmm…. when I switched this over from an October piece to a November piece, changing the title slightly … I’m glad to see all the comments stayed with it … but it lost all its 552 Facebook likes! Quickly, like it, everybody!
vote out the incumbents for ousd, but leave murphy and alvarez on council. that warrants an explanation.
should have said bring back former council members, not incumbents. why not labrado and douglas?
Excellent work, Vern.
One thing, though. Williams is more likely to drive off to Orlando than to Tampa, unless he’s changed his m.o.
Saw him a few days ago. Still looks like boyish shit.
He still has that hair, too.
i am voting for john williams and greg diamond…the entertainment value alone is worth it
We’re in non-overlapping districts — although I suppose you could write me in for President.
i try to vote not only in as many districts as possible but in as many states as time allows. you have already gotten two of my votes
You frighten me, sir.
When I ran for Junior class Vice President in high school, I figured out how to vote for myself ten times. But then I felt guilty, and went and voted for my opponent ten times.
I didn’t win.
i have never seen the distinction between liberals and conservatives expressed as articulately…it all comes down to guilt. liberals see it as a sign of evolution, conservatives see it as a sign of weakness. that earns greg two more votes
I heard that Richard and Pat Nixon have not missed voteing since they came back to Yorba Linda.
Fot those who are interested
Write in candidates President of US
Stewart Alaxander
Ross c “Rocky” Anderson
Stephen Durham
Virgil Goode
James Harris
Ron Paul
Sheila “Samm” Tittle
Jerry White
Ftn Vly Sch District
Nicola Weiss (many aka’s)
Because of the top two, no other write in’s are allowed unless they were one of the top two.
Does anybody know the candidates for Muni. Water Dist. 4? I’ve been searching and haven’t found a damn thing about any of them besides their party affiliation. I know it’s random, but I don’t want to vote for some lunatic, no matter the office.
“Prop 30 – YES! Governor Brown’s temporary, modest, 5-year tax increase, as compromised with us progressives’ original “Millionaires Tax,” is crucial for our state’s schools, health, public safety and infrastructure, which have already been cut down to the bone during the recession, and we can afford it – we’ll hardly notice the extra 1/4% sales tax for 5 years. Vote YES on 30 so that Capistrano USD schools won’t have to put cell phone towers, swap meets, and strip clubs on their campuses.”
By the way, its a 7 year “temporary” “modest” increase, not a 5 year and it’s retroactive from January of 2012- and that 1/4 added on to the 7.75-9% we already have and, next year he’ll ask for another 1/4 “modest” “temporary” increase and yes, I’ll notice and no, it’s not “crucial” why don’t they just cut back and stop renting cars for themselves?
And the tax money they get from everyone is not guaranteed to go to the classrooms like old Jer lies about. Vote NO way to prop 30
State law says that 40 percent of the budget goes to schools.
This tax increase does not change that.
If this give the schools 6 billion directly, then 6 billion of property taxes will be deducted from the schools and sent elsewhere.
Cancell the gold plated unearned pension and move the state workers into social secuirty and let them self fund their own IRA’s and 401k’s
MEJORE IM WITH YOU , no on 30 , 38 , and yes on 32
U see what happens with all the education cuts thatll be necessitated if 30 fails, MEJORE?
Vern,
Okay maybe “corrupt” wasn’t the mote juste; there’s been so much infighting at Capo that the entire lot of them should be junked. The kids would be better served and that should be the focus. I thought MV politics were brutal until I took a gander at the Capo abortion. That district ranks 113th in the state and should rank a lot higher.
Costa Mesa Charter
In a recent post-election newspaper article I was struck by Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Righeimer’s comment that “I think through this whole process we heard the community loud and clear.” “The community wants more of a committee-type process.” “And that’s what I’ll be bringing forward to get the community (involved in the writing) of the charter and to make sure any of the concerns and safeguards are put in the charter to make the public feel comfortable.”
The desire for an elected charter committee (community involvement) to write the charter was expressed in public comments when the charter was first proposed by Righeimer and at nearly every city council meeting thereafter. But now, since his proposed charter was voted down, Righeimer says that he hears the community loud and clear. It should not require an election to communicate with him. If that is the case, we will need an election every month.
There are a few other points worth noting. Righeimer told us that he was opposed to using a charter committee to write the charter because it would take too long. So he rushed through a flawed charter that was defeated and it may now take another year or more to clean up the mess. Haste makes waste.
Righeimer also said, authoritatively, that an elected charter committee wasn’t needed because he hadn’t found any other city that used a committee to write their charter. He frequently referenced Newport Beach’s charter but evidently didn’t read their charter history. If he had, he would have known that they used an elected charter committee to write their charter. Can we trust what Righeimer says to us in his authoritative way, particularly when we now suspect that he never really studied this issue in any detail?
There are some other issues of trust. Remember that he tried to rush the first even more flawed charter onto the June primary election ballot. This strategy has been used by others before because the voter turnout is usually lower and this can be used to gain an advantage for getting Measures (charters) passed. He might try this strategy again in 2014.
Also, he tried to force the current proposed charter onto the citizens of Costa Mesa that, by his own admission now, does not have detailed safeguards for the city residents. Can we trust a person that knowingly tried to push through a charter with such a flaw?
I am glad to hear that he is now considering a charter committee, and it should be an elected committee; but, I am still not convinced we need a charter. However, if we do, we need someone other than Mayor Pro Tem Righeimer to lead the effort. We need a different leader because of his deafness to residents, hasty actions, questionable credibility and trustworthiness, and his repeated oversight of details. I suggest that Councilwoman Leece and past Mayor and now new Councilwoman Genis be considered to lead the restart of the charter effort.