The Presidential primary comes early to CA this time around - having been moved up to Super Tuesday on March 3rd. Given the size of CA it is easily the biggest prize on offer on that day and will likely be make or break for more than one Democratic Party candidate still standing after South Carolina.
But, before we get to that, there are a few other items on the ballot that deserve our attention.
Thankfully, there is only one statewide measure:
Prop 13: It is yet another bond measure, asking for permission to issue 15 Billion in new bonds that will be repaid via the General Fund. The entire fund is targeted for schools and colleges and while the numbering is pure coincidence, it actually does go some way towards mitigating the impact of the iconic Prop 13 from 1978 that limited property tax increases. What I like about this measure is that it doesn't favor the richer neighborhoods and will help all school districts.
My recommendation: Vote YES
There are a bunch of propositions to vote on in San Diego County, but I am going to focus on just four of them:
Measure P - Poway School District Bond measure: I am opposing this measure since I think that Poway schools already benefit from strong property values. Also, the statewide Prop 13 is already raising money for schools. Vote NO
Measure A: Voter Approval for Land Use Amendments to the General Plan
Measure B: Voter Approval for the Newland Sierra Development
I am going to discuss these two together since they are intimately linked. Measure A is a mouthful and equally convoluted to make sense of. Basically, it comes down to this: Back in 2011, San Diego adopted a "General Plan" for land use and any amendments to this plan had to be approved by the County's Board of Supervisors. This approach has been chugging along until the Supervisors approved the massive Newland Sierra project in the Vista/Oceanside area. Opponents were able to collect enough signatures to force a ballot measure (which is B). Measure A proposes to make this the normal approach - i.e., make a citizens vote required for any significant amendments to the General Plan. My instinct was to vote against this measure since I feel that the direct democracy process in CA is running amok. However, you know something is rotten in the state of Denmark when you see that the developer (Newland) has contributed over $8 Million in support of Measure B, making it the most expensive ballot measure in this Primary. Instead of laying out my reasoning in excruciating detail, let me just cut to the chase: Vote YES on A and NO on B.
Ok, this brings us to the big one - the Democratic Party Primary. There are severely polarizing candidates on the list, none more so than the current front runner, Bernie Sanders. Before I go much further though, I need to make a couple of points that are axiomatic for me:
But, before we get to that, there are a few other items on the ballot that deserve our attention.
Thankfully, there is only one statewide measure:
Prop 13: It is yet another bond measure, asking for permission to issue 15 Billion in new bonds that will be repaid via the General Fund. The entire fund is targeted for schools and colleges and while the numbering is pure coincidence, it actually does go some way towards mitigating the impact of the iconic Prop 13 from 1978 that limited property tax increases. What I like about this measure is that it doesn't favor the richer neighborhoods and will help all school districts.
My recommendation: Vote YES
There are a bunch of propositions to vote on in San Diego County, but I am going to focus on just four of them:
Measure P - Poway School District Bond measure: I am opposing this measure since I think that Poway schools already benefit from strong property values. Also, the statewide Prop 13 is already raising money for schools. Vote NO
Measure A: Voter Approval for Land Use Amendments to the General Plan
Measure B: Voter Approval for the Newland Sierra Development
I am going to discuss these two together since they are intimately linked. Measure A is a mouthful and equally convoluted to make sense of. Basically, it comes down to this: Back in 2011, San Diego adopted a "General Plan" for land use and any amendments to this plan had to be approved by the County's Board of Supervisors. This approach has been chugging along until the Supervisors approved the massive Newland Sierra project in the Vista/Oceanside area. Opponents were able to collect enough signatures to force a ballot measure (which is B). Measure A proposes to make this the normal approach - i.e., make a citizens vote required for any significant amendments to the General Plan. My instinct was to vote against this measure since I feel that the direct democracy process in CA is running amok. However, you know something is rotten in the state of Denmark when you see that the developer (Newland) has contributed over $8 Million in support of Measure B, making it the most expensive ballot measure in this Primary. Instead of laying out my reasoning in excruciating detail, let me just cut to the chase: Vote YES on A and NO on B.
Measure C - Increase hotel tax for convention center expansion, homeless programs, etc
Let's keep this simple - tourism is the 3rd biggest money maker for the SD economy and the convention center is just too old to compete with other cities for the bigger events. Even the crown jewel - Comic Con has been making noises about moving elsewhere. Anybody who has been downtown in the last couple of years will be aware of the impact of the homeless population. It's time to get these things done. Vote YES.
Ok, this brings us to the big one - the Democratic Party Primary. There are severely polarizing candidates on the list, none more so than the current front runner, Bernie Sanders. Before I go much further though, I need to make a couple of points that are axiomatic for me:
- Any Dem in the current pool - including Sanders - would be a vast improvement over Trump.
- Three years and counting of Trump have been disastrous enough - American democracy may never quite recover from a second term.
It could be argued that as long as the economy (i.e., the stock market) keeps humming along, Trump is pretty much assured a second term. I subscribe to this view, but until the elections are actually done, there is still hope.
Turnout is key to this race - if enough of the Democratic Party constituency show up to the polls as they did in 2018 Midterms, it is very likely that Trump will be defeated. The candidate has to energize the base and that might point to Sanders. His supporters are fanatical - almost as much as Trump's base, but (just like Trump) his support does not seem to transcend his base. The young people may be big Sanders supporters, but the ones that count in the polls (simply because they actually show up to vote) are the older voters. The older white male voter may well hold the key to this election. For a while I thought Pete B could get it done, but before I could be convinced enough to endorse him, he has dropped out. I thought Bloomberg could be a good alternative - in no small part due to the relentless barrage of ads - then came his disastrous debate performances. Biden started strong and then faded with a series of missteps, but the South Carolina Primary has breathed new life into his campaign. I would be very happy to see Warren as our next President, but I am not convinced she can win. Ditto for Amy Klobuchar and she is somewhat less impressive than Warren anyway.
In the end, we are back to where we started - with Biden. I think Trump had it right when he clearly believed that Biden would be his strongest challenger. A Biden Presidency does not excite me - it's not something that I would find historic in any way. However, it's chief achievement will be to deny Trump a second term and that for me will be sufficient. My endorsement goes to Joe Biden.
