Ballot: June 7, 2022 California Primary (Alameda County)
✅ next to a race indicates my endorsement of others choosing the same.
National Representative Races
Senate (Full Term): Alex Padilla ✅
Senate (Partial Term): Alex Padilla ✅
There’s a weird law about appointed senators that means we have to vote for Padilla twice (if we like him). He was appointed by Governor Newsom to take Kamala Harris’s seat when she became VP.
Congress Representative for District 12: Barbara Lee ✅❤️
Barbara Lee continues to be one of my favorite politicians working today.
California State Races
If there’s anything consistent across this ballot that annoys me most it’s the “Left Unity Slate” candidates. There’s maybe one decent one (Parker) that talks about this phrase, but the rest all appear unserious at best and unqualified in many cases.
Governor: Gavin Newsom ✅
The Cons:
- Newsom made some stupid political mistakes during the pre-vaccine era of the pandemic.
- He ignored the unique needs of different types of small businesses as he lumped them together when deciding when they could reopen.
- He hasn’t done enough to compassionately improve homelessness in the state, and has allowed private interests to bulldoze camps near my home.
The Pros:
- Newsom temporarily stopped our use of the death penalty, and I hope we’re able to permanently ban it entirely in the near future.
- Expanded Medicare in the state.
- He doubled the size of California’s Earned Income Tax Credit, which sends cash to low-wage workers.
- He signed a law that attempted to make it harder for Uber and other gig economy employers to categorize their workers as independent contractors and dodge worker protections. (CA proposition 22 passed that negated some of this, but it’s still being fought in the courts)
- Is working on banning fracking in the state and phasing out gas-powered cars.
- Made mostly good decisions about education controversies during the pandemic. I don’t think I know any two people who agree about exactly how schools should work during COVID, but I’ll do some quick bullets about my opinions:
- Remote attendance should be available to every family, forever.
- Free [School] Lunch without requirements of proof of income should be available for every child, forever. Dine-in or to-go.
- COVID vaccines should be included in vaccine requirements for in-person attendance.
- Schools should not re-open for in-person attendance until vaccines are approved for the age groups of its students.
- He signed a bill for limiting the use of force by law enforcement, which hasn’t been proven completely successful yet but I believe it’s a step in the right direction and it’s only been in effect for 16 months so far.
- I’m hoping he succeeds at closing some of our prisons. I’m sympathetic toward those on the ground level who will need to find new jobs, but I consider that a boon. Profiting from the prison industry is not the kind of work/investment I want to protect with my tax dollars.
- Made some decent attempts to ease the financial burden on renters.
I think Newsom does more good than harm, and I don’t think anyone else on the ballot would do better than he’s been doing so far. It would take a truly excellent challenger (I like Luis Javier Rodriguez, but don’t think he’d win or be effective as governor) or some much bigger mistakes for me to vote otherwise.
Lieutenant Governor: Eleni Kounalakis ✅
I still like her a lot, and she’s acted as I expected she would when I voted for her last time.
Secretary of State: Shirley N. Weber ✅
She’s been great.
Treasurer: Fiona Ma ✅
I have no complaints and her opponents seem awful.
Controller: Malia Cohen
This race has a few decent contenders from what I can tell. I’m leaning toward Cohen now, but I could also see Galperin or Yiu being fine.
Attorney General: Rob Bonta ✅❤️
Bonta keeps saying all the right things as I’ve followed him since I moved here over a decade ago. I still think he’s great.
Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara
The candidate statements for this position are so varied that it made me question if I fully understood what the state’s Insurance Commissioner actually does. After some research to refresh my memory, Lara seems like the one who is both aligned with me and understands the job. He isn’t trying to broil up unrelated controversies to get into office. Jackson would be my backup choice if I heard something new that turned me off to Lara.
California Board of Equalization District 2 Member: Sally J. Lieber ✅
Lieber has her sights on the people who truly need representation. Her opponents are red and blue flavors of wealthy land owners who seem to care more about their own taxes than the other 99% of us.
State Superintendent of Pubic Instruction: Marco Amaral ✅
I voted for Thurmond. While he hasn’t been completely awful at his job, he does have a story following him around that rubs me the wrong way. From what I can tell, he gave his buddy from Philadelphia a cushy, murky position pulling six figures and the dude’s only qualification is that he’s a self-help content creator. This feels sketchy as hell to me.
At the same time, Amaral is saying a lot of things that resonate with me.
State Assembly District 18: Mia Bonta ✅
This is an uncontested race, but I like Bonta enough to endorse her in general.
Alameda County Races
District Attorney Pamela Price ✅❤️
I should’ve voted for her last time she was on my ballot. I’ve been following her ever since and she’s exactly who I want as my DA.
Superintendent of Schools: L.K. Monroe ✅
Castro has been endorsed by friends, but Monroe is pretty great. The biggest thing going against Monroe for me is her endorsement by Nancy O’Malley, who seems politically at odds with Monroe’s stated stance of abolition (which is a big plus for me). I’m frankly surprised she accepts such an endorsement. That being said, being able to work productively with others we disagree with is a good takeaway from that.
Sheriff: Yesenia Sanchez
I don’t know that I’ll ever endorse a sheriff candidate, but friends who work with the state and local police have recommended Sanchez to me as a lesser evil at the very least.
For clarity, my positions on police are:
- Police do too much, and their skillsets aren’t ideally suited for many of the things they currently do. Their role in American society should be reduced and a portion of their funding should be allocated to more specialized and effective methods of de-escalation and social work.
- Police forces that do not embrace transparency and accept accountability when one (or more) of them act unethically or break the law need to have their entire department — especially leadership — investigated and replaced.
- Any law enforcement worker who is found to have ties to known hate groups should be immediately terminated and their supervisors should be investigated.
- Police unions tend to fight against transparency and accountability to the public. If they were truly seeking to serve and protect the public this would not be how they spend their resources, so I distrust them and will vote against their interests until they change their tune.
- #ACAB is not a productive slogan, though I understand the rage and frustration that it comes from. I think it pushes people in the grey areas on the topic away, and I prefer #defundThePolice.
Because of these (and other more detailed reasons cut for brevity), I don’t trust law enforcement. This invalidates everything about what being labeled a “criminal” means. Being given this label places one into an incredibly brutal system of retribution that makes little to no effort to rehabilitate them back into society. Because of these truths, I can’t support any new law that criminalizes anything except the most egregious acts, I’m more likely to want to decriminalize more behaviors, and I’m generally more likely to vote not guilty as a juror. If I had more trust and faith in enforcement, I might act and vote differently.
One rotten apple [when not acknowledged and removed] spoils the bunch.
If anyone wants to discuss this with me, feel free. I don’t think my voice on the subject is the most eloquent, nor do I think my stances are that unique, but I definitely have enough feelings about the topic to write a full post about it if that’s something readers want.
Don’t Forget to Vote!
Wherever you are, be sure to get your vote counted.