The Kate Slate – June 7, 2016
Posted: May 26th, 2016 | Author: Kate Michelle McCarthy | Filed under: Elections, Kate Slate | Comments Off on The Kate Slate – June 7, 2016
Hasn’t it seemed like this year’s primary has lasted a gazillion years? And yet, I didn’t seem to know much about the issues on the ballot this time around, even with all the talk and speculations about the candidates. I am ready to vote!
As you likely know, I write my “Kate Slate” for every local election, and have been for almost as long as I have been able to vote. In fact, the Kate Slate may very well be having her 18th birthday (!) come this November. When I voted the very first time, I found myself in the voting booth surprised that I didn’t understand the all issues or know all the candidates on the ballot, even though I was a citizen engaged in civic activities and I followed the news closely. The next year I vowed to be more prepared. So, I studied the ballot before the election writing my notes about the slate, and shared the Kate Slate with friends.
Also, for the past ten (!!) or so years, my pal and co-host Sacha Ielmorini and I have held a Slate Party in advance of my writing of the “Kate Slate”. (Our every-election tradition is a mellow, civilized discussion among friends, who agree to disagree, for the sake of feeling confident about our own voting. If you are interested in being invited to the slate parties in the future, including for the November election, let me know.) The Slate Party has been a big informer of the Kate Slate.
For the Kate Slate, I go race-by-race, issue-by-issue, and sometimes end up voting against something that seems right up my alley if it has some fatal (to me) flaw. And, I will let you know if I think it does and why.
My opinions in the Kate Slate are my own, and in no way should be thought to represent any views of anyone other than myself. I have thoughtful engaging conversations with well-informed friends who sometime shed light on aspects I hadn’t considered, I get the tacky expensive mailers you get, and cool people like yourself send me other peoples’ slates. And, I am not affiliated with any party.
Which, this election has some consequences for you, dear reader. Those of us with no party preference may opt to vote an American Independent Party, Democratic Party, Libertarian Party, or nonpartisan ballot for this election (as those parties allow those with no party preference to vote their ballot even if you don’t register for their party). But, these parties’ nonpartisan ballots don’t include their County Central Committee slates, so they are nearly identical to the straight up no party preference ballot (except for, erhm, the Presidential primary).
If you want to vote for the Democratic County Central Committee, you would have had to registered as a Democrat by May 23. I agree that since most SF candidates are registered Democratic, and the party rules who runs, you may want to do that, but that ship has sailed for this election. Which is a long way to say that as a no party preference voter, I don’t have a full slate for the DCCC ballot. But, I listed few candidates who I think deserve a plug at the end.
And, you are on your own this election for President. You may have viable choices at this point if you are registered as either Democrat or Republican, and none of them are very good options in my opinion. Here are the choices: There is a moderate Democratic woman running who is part of the political machine but has done some good things for health care and women’s rights in the past; you have a left leaning Democratic man with some good economic ideas, lots of promises about changes to things he would have no power to change as President, and a terrible record on gun control; and you have a rich, insane Republican man running a reality show rather than a campaign who you deserve if you vote for him, but none of the rest of us deserve him, so please don’t. As I like to say, pick your poison.
Feel free to forward the Kate Slate to friends (and friends, if someone other than me–Kate–sent this to you feel free to drop me a line if you end up reading it, I like to hear who this made its way to, and I can add you to the email list for the next Kate Slate).
You probably won’t agree with me on everything, and that is okay!
Even if you don’t know your polling place, or where you were last registered to vote, you can always go to City Hall on Election Day (June 7!) 7am-8pm to cast a provisional ballot. Though, if you can, it is always best to cast your own ballot at your own polling place.
If you have an absentee ballot, you can surrender your absentee ballot for a live ballot at your polling place. The poll workers will destroy your absentee ballot and give you a live ballot. This assures you that your ballot is read and counted as you intended it. (ie. When you vote absentee, if a machine rejects your ballot, the machine depends on a human to interpret your absentee ballot. I am not trying to be all conspiracy-theorist here, but feeding your own ballot into the machine and hearing it beep is the best way to ensure your ballot is interpreted as you intend it to be.)
As always, thanks for reading, bonus points for voting.
Grab and Go (details below):
United States Senator – Kamala Harris
United States Representative – Barry Hermanson
State Senator – Jane Kim
Member of the State Assembly – David Chiu
Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 7 – Victor Hwang
50 – Yes
A – Yes
B – No
C – Yes
D – Yes
E – Yes
AA – YES YES YES
United States Senator – Kamala Harris
I’m not super-impressed with any of the many many candidates running for Barbara Boxer’s seat in the Senate. But, I think Kamala Harris is okay. As I’ve said in the past, I was glad that Kamala Harris asked the courts to allow California to continue to allow same-sex marriages while the courts were hearing the constitutionality of Prop 8, even though they denied her request. It was the right thing to do.
And she also did the right thing when she walked out of talks with big banks responsible for the mortgage crisis when the deal they were arranging was too lenient. And I like that she has been strong on gun control. I read about some of the many other candidates and none of them seemed to have the necessary experience for this role like Ms. Harris has.
United States Representative – Barry Hermanson
All you Bernie supporters who are excited about his desire to change the Democratic Party should be empathetic to my vote for Barry Hermanson. I don’t want to vote for Nancy Pelosi who is part of the Democratic Party problem. According to NPR, she attended more than 400 fundraisers in 2011–that is more than one a day for the whole year!!! And Politico says she is still doing some heavy lifting with her raising $40.1 million in 2015 at over 205 fundraisers! If you think politics has too much money, or if you think that the political machine as it exists needs to be stopped, I’d again recommend voting for perennial Pelosi opposition Barry Hermanson. As I said last time she was up for election, “It would be fun to get Barry Hermanson on the ballot with Nancy Pelosi, because even though Pelosi will win her seat back, it would be awesome to see Barry Hermanson in debates against Pelosi.”
State Senator – Jane Kim
Jane Kim has done San Francisco right as Supervisor. She hosts a listening booth to meet with the people she represents and hear what issues matter to them most. She’s been behind major increases to affordable housing included in new developments during this terrible housing crisis. She has been a champion for Vision Zero in San Francisco, the transportation principle that crashes are preventable and changes to engineering, enforcement, and education are necessary and must be implemented to reduce fatal and severe injuries. She called for the resignation of Police Chief Suhr after several abuse of force situations led to the murders of San Franciscans at the hands of police officers (amid several other police scandals). And, she worked tirelessly to revive a blighted and unsafe park in her district (that kinda seemed like a lost cause), Boedekker Park, make it completely awesome, and return it to neighbors and children. She is a real leader, her work is righteous, and I endorse her wholeheartedly. Yay for politicians like Jane Kim.
And boo for candidates like her top competitor, Scott Wiener. He is okay on transportation stuff but he was behind the No Sit and Lie law that permits police officers to hassle people sitting on San Francisco streets, he closed down parks midnight to 5am, and passed a stupid anti-nudity law to prevent specific people in the Castro to be nude (ie the naked guy) while permitting nudity for parades. Though, kudos to him for being one of the rare Supervisors that actually works on legislation. Too bad I don’t really like much of his legislation.
Jane Kim for State Senator.
Member of the State Assembly – David Chiu
I feel like Assemblymembers don’t get a lot of airtime to really shine since there are 80 of them competing for a piece of the spotlight. But, I know David Chiu has been good on sustainable transportation issues since he has been in state office (he worked on legislation that allows transit only lane enforcement in SF and on e-bike legislation). And, I know that he worked on legislation to revise the Ellis Act that allows unfair evictions (his legislation failed but was a valiant effort). I like that he still has his heart in San Francisco and is working for his constituents, so I will vote for him.
Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 7 – Victor Hwang
Victor Hwang is the only candidate that even seems qualified–and very qualified. Though he is not a member of the Bar Association of SF, he was rated by them more highly than the candidates he is running against who are members (exceptionally well-qualified vs. well-qualified). In fact, I am not sure why Paul Henderson or Sigrid Irias are running–they don’t seem to have the same level of courtroom experience (Henderson, for example is an bureaucrat). Whereas Hwang is a decorated Civil Rights attorney who has worked on issues like domestic violence, human trafficking and elder abuse. Go for Hwang!
50 – Suspension of Legislators – Yes
Currently when state legislators do bad stuff (I am thinking of Leland Yee), they can be suspended with a majority vote, but they continue receiving state salary and benefits until they resign or their term ends. This proposition would allow legislators to be suspended with a two-thirds majority, and they wouldn’t be able to collect their state salary or benefits. I think it is a fair piece of legislation because it doesn’t allow naughty legislators to be suspended at taxpayer’s expense and it sets a higher bar for the suspension to pass by requiring a two-thirds majority.
A – San Francisco Public Health and Safety Bond – Yes
Apparently SF General, ten neighborhood health clinics, fire stations, and homeless shelters are not seismically safe, and/or are in need of repair and modernization. This is a bond–not the most affordable money to spend–but the work is necessary and there will be citizen oversight. I say yes.
B – Open Space Fund Charter Amendment – No
Rec and Park currently receives money from the Park, Recreation and Open Space Fund that expires in 2031, and also receives some from the General Fund. Though, the General Fund amount is not required and varies budget to budget. What this would do would extend the existing fund fifteen years and then require a set-aside from the General Fund.
This is classic ballot box budgeting: first, we have time to come up with a better funding strategy because the existing Park, Rec and Open Space fund won’t expire for fifteen more years; and second, allocating a fixed amount from the General Fund for something makes the budget less flexible and dynamic and budgeting more difficult when the budget is tight. (And, when is the budget ever not tight?) It’s frankly not good legislation and it seems like we have some time to put something better together.
C – Affordable Housing Requirements Charter Amendment – Yes
“Affordable” currently means a rental for someone making $46,288/year (55% of median income) or real estate purchase for someone making $75,744/year (90% of median income). Right now developers of new market-rate housing are required to provide affordable housing in one of three ways: pay a fee or build new affordable housing off-site that is equal to 20% of the total units being developed or make 12% units on-site affordable. To change these requirements, it has to be put on the ballot, like this proposition.
And this proposition increases the affordable housing requirements for developments with more than 25 dwellings. It also authorizes the Board of Supervisors to change the affordable housing requirements by ordinance. I say yes and yes. We should be requiring more affordable housing from developers. And, I am happy to have the Supervisors handle adjusting the requirements to meet the needs of the city rather than the ballot box.
D – Office of Citizen Complaints policy – Yes
Prop D would require that the City’s Office of Citizen Complaints that currently is responsible for investigating complaints of San Francisco police misconduct begin investigating any incident occurring in San Francisco in when a police shooting ends with physical injury or death, and is when help from a wrongful death lawyer such as Heath A. Tuley is really useful for these cases, to get the right legal defense for this.
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I think this is a common sense proposition with consideration for the SFPD’s apparent lack of de-escalation training. We need to hold our police department and officers accountable for their use of force, and this is one step to that end.
E – Paid City Leave Ordinance amendment – Yes
First SF required Paid Sick Leave, then California enacted a law to do the same. But, they have slightly different requirements, and this would amend SF’s Paid Sick Leave so that an employer complying with SF’s ordinance would also be complying with the state law. It also allows the Board of Supervisors to amend the Paid Sick Leave Ordinance going forward. This is good legislation. Vote yes.
AA – San Francisco Bay Clean Water, Pollution Prevention and Habitat Restoration – YES YES YES
This is the most important thing on the ballot this election and I hope you, and your friends and family around the Bay will all vote yes for this parcel tax. This requires a two-thirds majority in each of the nine counties of the Bay Area (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma) to pass. And we really need this to pass!
San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority doesn’t receive an dedicated federal, state, or local funding for its work to protect and restore the San Francisco Bay. The Bay shapes everything about where we live from our economy to our environment and even our health. And, without restoration work, our lives will be severely impacted if we don’t make very real efforts to restore our bay. For example, restoring the wetlands helps prevent against sea level rise and climate change by acting like a sponge. But, for years and years we destroyed our wetlands and now we don’t have that buffer.
This proposition establishes a $12/year parcel tax with independent citizen oversight that would fund a program that will reduce pollution, improve water quality, restore wildlife habitat, provide flood protection and increase shoreline public access. Such a small price to pay for such vital work. Yes! Yes! Yes! And tell your friends in Bay Area Counties! Vote Yes!
Democratic County Central Committee candidates that get the Kate Slate thumbs up (you get to pick as many as 14!)
Cindy Wu
Bevan Dufty
Jane Kim
Frances Hsieh
Rafael Mandelman
Sophie Maxwell
Tom Ammiano
Aaron Peskin