redqueeninla ~ a musings locality

Next Propositions to consider after the:

• Billionaires imbroglio, (Yes on 40 – No on 41 – NO on 42), the
• Kid-critical, (YES on 3 – NO on 43), and
• Housing (+ nominal-housing/actually environmental) (YES on 1 – YES on 37 + NO on 45), …

are three very important proposals around the electoral process. The first two – easily recalled as the ones with single-digits – are absolute YESes for the absolute common good, while the double-digit one is an absolute Hell-No!

Prop 4 would allow for public financing of political campaigns up and down the state. Currently, only “contract cities” are allowed to authorize public financing of campaigns. Proposition 4 would bring equity to the other 74% of California’s “general law” cities. Public financing of elections facilitates diversity of socioeconomic, and racial classes, in local government.

Critically, this proposition does not mandate public financing of election campaigns, it simply allows municipalities to choose whether to arrange for the public financing of campaigns. And these ‘public funding systems’ can be very different from one another; read about some examples and their benefits here.

Vote YES on 4, the California Fair Elections Act, to “allow public funding of campaigns so elections are won, not bought”. Countering the weight of corporate and oligarchic money in elections is crucial to enabling the people their voice, and ensuring a healthy democracy.

Prop 5 detaches the recall process for statewide officers, from the matter of their immediate replacement. The separation centers the election solely on the issue of performance and recall, cleaving ideological principle from practical reelection.

Untangling this confounded process is important because the demographics of the electorate in a recall election winds up being very different from that of a general election. Resulting in a very different set of people (currently) reelecting a recalled officer than happens organically in a straight forward election.

Consequently, the only organized committee at all, either for or against this Proposition, is Asm Carl DeMaio (R, AD75) in opposition along with Republican legislators, whose party comprises just 25% of the registered voters in California. As a minority they were uniquely successful in electing a Republican governor because that vote was improperly tied to the recall election and its particular constituency. Secretary of State, Dr Shirley Weber, rightly declares this biased setup should not be the way recall elections are constituted: YES on 5.

The last electoral reform proposition is even more plain than the patent Props 4 and Props 5:

Prop 39 seeks to separate voters from their ballot and it’s a HELL NO. Proposition 39 would effectively institute regressive voting interference measures for Californians that just simply is not our way, and is not needed, not one teeny tiny millimeter of the way.

But worse, as speculated by consultants, no one, not even the proponents of this travesty, actually think there is voter fraud that needs this sort of response. The measure is on the ballot to crank up Republican participation in November’s election. This is a faux-solution to a non-problem, which sounds plausible to credulous MAGA. Pumped full of verbiage by California’s most onerous, right-leaning fear-mongers, the theory that they are plunging money into this fool’s errand not for its own righteousness but for the atmospherics that draw voters out, makes a lot of sense. Do not fall for it, At. All.  HELL-NO on 39. It’s an electoral and ethical embarrassment.

Here’s a summary of rqila Propositions positions. The essay discussing each is hyperlinked. Stay tuned for the last.

Proposition	position	Shorter name	Short name
Prop 1	YES	Housing bond	Bond for Housing Affordability Programs
Prop 2
Prop 3	YES	Sets top tax rate	“Millionaires tax” (retains highest-income taxation)
Prop 4	YES	Fair Elections	Permits Public Financing of Campaigns statewide
Prop 5	YES	Recall Reform	Reforms statewide Recall-Elections procedure
Prop 37	YES	Loan program	Loan Program for Middle-Income Home Buyers
Prop 38
Prop 39	NO	Voter ID	Prohibits citizens from voting without government ID
Prop 40	YES	Billionaires tax	“Billionaires tax” (back fills looted healthcare dollars)
Prop 41	NO	Prop 40 buttress	Designed to cancel Prop 40
Prop 42	NO	Prop 40 buttress	Designed to cancel Prop 40
Prop 43	NO	Curbs local taxation	Constrains local taxation choice
Prop 44
Prop 45	NO	CEQA	Modifies Environmental Review