Tim's journal

This is my voter guide for the June 5, 2018 primary election in Alameda County, California. Some measures/candidates are statewide, some not. If you're not eligible to vote in California, you can probably stop reading here, unless you're really nerdy. Eligible to vote in California but not registered to vote? You can register to vote, and vote early, on the same day, at your county elections office, right up until the election. (I haven't verified this is true for counties other than Alameda, but I assume so.) In Alameda County, that's the basement of the courthouse at 1225 Fallon St. in downtown Oakland.

I wasn't going to post this publicly, because it's lower-information than my usual standard I impose on myself for sharing endorsements, but some friends encouraged me to do it. Do your own research if you can, or if you don't, don't complain to me when the candidate I recommended turns out to eat baby seals. If you're curious why I picked somebody, feel free to ask and I'll try to remember my reason for picking that candidate.

Some other voter guides:
My friend Yar's voter guide for Oakland/Alameda County (mostly agrees with mine, but with more explanation in some cases)
Voter's Edge -- nonpartisan guide to California elections, shows all the major financial contributors to each candidate, which is very useful
Alameda Green Party voters' guide -- I appreciate their analyses despite not agreeing with all of their conclusions.
San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters
Friends Committee on Legislation of California voter guide
Frustrated Socialists' Voter Guide (East Bay)


Prop. 68 (environmental bonds): yes
Prop. 69 (transportation taxes): yes (also: nice)
Prop. 70 (Republican tax scam): no
Prop. 71 (delaying ballot measures going into effect until after all votes are counted): yes
Prop. 72 (not taxing rain capture improvements): yes

Alameda County Measure A (sales tax for social services for children): yes -- sales taxes are regressive, but social services are good.

Bay Area Toll Authority Measure 3: yes, more money for public transit should be a no-brainer (n.b. a friend on Facebook pointed out that it's a regressive tax that subsidizes Caltrain and the ferry -- services used by richer people -- disproportionately. I voted for it anyway, though.)

Oakland Measure D (money for libraries): yes

US Senator: Kevin de Leon; it's important to vote for somebody who isn't Feinstein in order to reduce the chances that a Nazi will be one of the candidates in the fall. That's true even if you support Feinstein, because she will be one of the candidates no matter what. de Leon has the greatest chance of winning, so given the top-two primary, I'm voting for him (if not for the top-two primary, I'd probably vote for David Hildebrand).

US House of Representatives: Barbara Lee

Governor: Delaine Eastin; the other candidate who looks reasonable, Amanda Renteria, doesn't have a word about queer rights on her issues page on her web site.

Lieutenant governor: Gayle McLaughlin

Secretary of State: Ruben Major

Controller: Betty Yee

Treasurer: Fiona Ma (Vivek Viswanathan, the other Democratic candidate, looked interesting at first, and then I saw he took donations from Kleiner Perkins, and hell no).

Attorney General: Dave Jones (he opposes the death penalty; Xavier Becerra supports it).

Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara

Board of Equalization Member, District 2: Malia Cohen

State Assembly, District 15: Jovanka Beckles

Superintendent Of Public Instruction: Tony Thurmond (Whatever you do, don't vote for Marshall Tuck, a former charter school executive. The other candidates also seem to lean towards the privatization side.)

Alameda County Superior Court Judge, Seat 11: Karen Katz

Alameda County Board of Education Member, Trustee Area 1: Joaquin Rivera

Alameda County Assessor: John Weed (I switched from Phong La since Weed seems to be more strongly in favor of Prop 13 reform).

Alameda County District Attorney: Pamela Price

Alameda County Auditor and Controller: Melissa Wilk

Alameda County Sheriff and Coroner: Write in anybody. (I wrote in Boots Riley.)

Other unopposed races where there doesn't seem to be anybody worth endorsing:
Alameda County Superintendent of Schools
Alameda County Treasurer and Tax Collector