November 2, 2010 Voter Guide

Here at False Profit LLC, we care about politics. And we know that you care about politics too. We noticed that one time you read that article about politics and stuff and shared it on your Facebook account. That was totally cool. Now we have another opportunity to make a difference.

Whether or not you believe voting makes a difference doesn’t matter. You should do it because it’s awesome. And nowhere does it matter more than in local elections. Best of all, voting gives you the right to complain. As a San Francisco resident, that’s an inalienable right that they can’t take away from you, no matter how hard they try.

So be sure you vote on Tuesday, November 2. Or else Olivia Wilde will be very pissed at you.

Right below is your handy Cheat Sheet to take to the polls. Click through to the full post to see Explanations of our recommendations and a Resources section you can use to do your own research.

Remember: The country you love could be your own.

False Profit Voter Guide Cheat Sheet

CA Prop 19, Marijuana Legalization – YES
CA Prop 20, Congressional District Redistricting- No
CA Prop 21, Vehicle License Fee to Fund State Parks – YES
CA Prop 22, Prohibits State from Taking Local Funds – Yes (with dissent)
CA Prop 23, Suspension of Air Pollution Control Laws – NO NO NO
CA Prop 24, Repeal of Corporate Tax Loopholes – YES
CA Prop 25, Simple Majority State Budget Passage – YES YES YES
CA Prop 26, Approve State and Local Fees with 2/3 Vote – NO
CA Prop 27, Eliminate State Redistricting Commission – Yes

SF Prop AA, Vehicle Registration Fee – YES
SF Prop A, Earthquake Retrofit Bond – YES
SF Prop B, City Retirement and Health Plans – NO
SF Prop C, Mayor Appearances at Board Meetings – NO
SF Prop D, Non-Citizen Voting in School Board Elections – YES
SF Prop E, Election Day Voter Registration – YES
SF Prop F, Health Service Board Elections – YES
SF Prop G, Transit Operator Wages – YES
SF Prop H, Local Officials on Political Party Committees – NO
SF Prop I, Saturday Voting – YES
SF Prop J, Hotel Tax Clarification and Temp. Increase – no
SF Prop K, Hotel Tax Clarification and Definitions – yes
SF Prop L, Sitting or Lying on Sidewalks – NO NO NO
SF Prop M, Community Policing & Foot Patrols – Yes & No
SF Prop N, Real Property Transfer Tax – Yes & No

Jerry Brown or Laura Wells – CA Governor
Barbara Boxer – US Senate
Debra Walker – SF City Supervisor District 6
1) Rafael Mandelman, 2) Rebecca Prozan – SF City Supervisor District 8

Explanations

CA Prop 19, Marijuana Legalization – YES
FP: This is a step in the right direction. We believe that prohibition has never worked and continues to fail our communities today — it only empowers those who are willing to operate in the margins of the law.

CA Prop 20, Congressional District Redistricting- No
FP: This is a tricky one. Prop 20 would put districting decisions in the hands of an independent commission rather than elected officials, which would probably end up being more fair. Democrats are the incumbents, however, so Republicans will gain ground in a fairer system. We say No, for those reasons, even if it’s not the most principled stand.

CA Prop 21, Vehicle License Fee to Fund State Parks – YES
FP: As with SF Prop AA, this is a small fee ($18) that will raise much-needed funds for infrastructure that’s gotten short shrift in the economic downturn.

CA Prop 22, Prohibits the State from Taking Local Funds – Yes (with dissent)
FP: Many of us believe that there are limited situations where the state should have access to local funds. That tricky negotiation should be conducted through existing processes. Most other organizations agree with this opinion. However, some of us believe that a hard line is needed, here, preserving local funds where policymakers know best how to use them.

CA Prop 23, Suspension of Air Pollution Control Laws – NO NO NO
FP: If you vote yes on this proposition, Momma Earth will come to your house and beat you with a stick.

CA Prop 24, Repeal of Corporate Tax Loopholes – YES
FP: There was some pretty gross sausage-making in the last budget deal, and part of it was that big corporations got a bunch of tax breaks. This measure simply rolls those back. False Profit is a California company and all, but we’ll go against our own interests here and recommend that you vote Yes.

CA Prop 25, Simple Majority State Budget Passage – YES YES YES
FP: Our budget approval process has been dysfunctional for a long time due to the 2/3 vote required. It’s allowed the Republican minority to exercise disproportionate control over our political system. This measure corrects a long-standing systematic problem that Legislature may never have been able to fix themselves. Vote YES.

CA Prop 26, Approve State and Local Fees with 2/3 Vote – NO
FP: For the same reasons we recommend a YES vote on Prop 25, we say NO on Prop 26. Any 2/3 vote is a recipe for political gaming by the political minority.

CA Prop 27, Eliminate State Redistricting Commission – Yes
FP: We recommend a vote of YES on Prop 27 for the same reasons we recommend a vote of NO on Prop 20.

SF Prop AA, Vehicle Registration Fee – YES
FP: This raises registration fees by a modest $10, bringing in much-needed funds to fix roads and make roads more bike- and pedestrian-friendly.

SF Prop A, Earthquake Retrofit Bond- YES
FP: The proceeds from this general obligation bond would retrofit permanently affordable housing and single room occupancy buildings that have seismically vulnerable soft-story conditions. Soft-story buildings represent our most vulnerable class of buildings, and we need to retrofit them so their residents will be safe and can shelter in place after an earthquake.

SF Prop B, City Retirement and Health Plans – NO
FP: We have a health care cost problem, that’s for sure, but we should be figuring out how to reduce costs and insurance company profit margins rather than penalizing our city’s workers. The benefit reductions proposed here are also severe and unfair. A single mom making $40k a year would have to add an additional $5,600 on top of the $8,100 she already pays for health care. And cuts to her benefits are no different from someone making twice her salary, or more. Vote No.

Link to Tammy’s notes.

SF Prop C, Mayor Appearances at Board Meetings – NO
FP: No. Our ballot should not be a high school slap fight.

SF Prop D, Non-Citizen Voting in School Board Elections – YES
Bex: Since the 1982 Supreme Court decision Plyer v. Doe, all children of illegal immigrants are legally granted access to public education and in SF, an estimated 30% of students are children of undocumented parents. The SF School Board consists of 7 members, elected by SF citizens, and sets policy for all public schools. Voting in school board elections allows parents to vote for board members whom they believe will best represent the interests of their children as students. All students, whether their parents are undocumented or documented, should have the opportunity to be represented in school policy decisions. Additionally, parental participation in US public schools is strongly correlated with improvements in local schools and student performance, so a YES vote is a vote to create the possibility for 100% parental participation.

The entire SF School Board supports this proposition.

SF Prop E, Election Day Voter Registration – YES
Dorland: Any citizens who is eligible to vote on election day should be allowed to register and vote; in 8 states, same day registration increases voter turnout 3-7% and youth turnout by as much as 14%. In the 2008 elections, the 5 states with the highest turnout were those with election day registration.

SF Prop F, Health Service Board Elections – YES
Dorland: The Health Service Board, which oversees the Health Service System and medical and dental benefits to city employees consists of 7 members, 3 of which are appointed and 4 of which are elected. The terms of elected members are staggered so that 1 new member is elected four out of every five years. Prof F consolidates elections for the Health Service Board so that 2 new members are elected 2 out of every five years. This consolidation will yield an estimated savings of $30,000 annually providing cost savings without reducing services provided by the Health Service System.

SF Prop G, Transit Operator Wages – YES
Dorland: Prop G allows for collective bargaining for wages, benefits, and working conditions and will make it easier for the city to balance its budget by negotiating MUNI wages towards an end of fiscal responsibility.

SF Prop H, Local Officials on Political Party Committees – NO
Dorland: Serving on a political party committee represents no clear conflict of interest while holding local office. Not a single ethics complaint regarding dual office holding or division of loyalties has ever been filed.

SF Prop I, Saturday Voting – YES
Dorland: Saturday voting increases voter turnout and makes it possible for people who have little flexibility with their weekday work schedule to go to the polls.

SF Prop J, Hotel Tax Clarification and Temp. Increase – no
Dorland: The proposed temporary increase in hotel room tax rates from 14% to 16% may reduce tourism and convention business. With this increase, SF would have the highest hotel tax rate in the US. The same hotel tax increase in NYC led to a drop in convention business and a forced repeal.

SF Prop K, Hotel Tax Clarification and Definitions – yes
Dorland: The hotel tax rate should remain at 14% despite the fact that we’re not entirely comfortable with the “poison pill” included to invalidate Prop J. This is a misuse of ballot process.

SF Prop L, Sitting or Lying on Sidewalks – NO NO NO (if you vote yes on this, John will trip you the next time he sees you on the sidewalk)
Bex: Prop L prohibits all people from sitting or lying on the public sidewalks between the hours of 7am and 11pm. To enforce this, police are allowed to first issue a warning to offenders and if ignored, may issue a fine of $50 or $100, and maximally, to charge the offender with a misdemeanor and jail time.

This proposition criminalizes the acts of sitting and lying on the public sidewalks of San Francisco. Proponents claim that this law could help increase safety on public sidewalks, but this proposition fails to include language to require that this law is enforced when those sitting or lying are also threatening public safety. Additionally, it is so inclusive, criminalizing everything from sitting on the sidewalk while overseeing a garage sale to sleeping on the sidewalk, that it cannot possibly be enforced uniformly. It will therefore likely be enforced selectively on already marginalized groups.

SF Prop M, Community Policing & Foot Patrols – yes/no
Dorland: The only agreed upon good thing about Prop M is the poison pill it contains to revoke Prop L (sit/lie) if it passes. Otherwise it contains some new requirements for police to increase foot patrols and create a community plan (something which the No folks argue that they already do). We’re pretty ambivalent. The Yes argument is largely because of the poison pill. The No argument is largely because we don’t think that propositions should tell departments what to do.

SF Prop N, Real Property Transfer Tax – yes/no
Dorland: Yes – Vote yes if you believe the general fund needs more money and that these transactions occur amongst high net worth individuals and corporations, thereby taxing the wealthy for the benefit of all.

No – Although real estate transfer taxes are an appropriate mechanism for generating tax revenue, the fact that these funds would go into the general fund raises a red flag for us. We would like to see some discipline introduced into the general fund management process. As it stands, this transfer tax isn’t clearly linked to fixing our structural deficit. And it isn’t clearly linked to the provision of greater social services (like, say, the creation of a permanent source to fund affordable housing), which is a missed opportunity.

Jerry Brown or Laura Wells
Running for Governor
Kenny: Brown has a pretty good lead. If you feel more connected to her platform, you might consider voting for Laura Wells, the Green Party candidate. She (along with other candidates) has been excluded from the debates and was actually arrested while trying to attend the last debate as an audience member.

I actually really like and respect Jerry Brown, but it is also good to try to keep the democratic system open and have room for more voices.

Ralph Mandelman/Rebecca Prozan
Running for SF City Supervisor, District 8

Logan: Rafael Mandelman is the progressive candidate. Rebecca Prozan is status quo and is progressive on some issues and moderate on others (much like the current supervisor Bevan Dufty — indeed, Bevan has endorsed Rebecca). The others are downtown business candidates. With ranked choice we recommend voting 1) Rafael Mandelman and 2) Rebecca Prozan.

Debra Walker
Running for SF City Supervisor, District 6

Dave and Michael: Debra Walker is a veteran of the San Francisco live/work scene. Since the 80′s Debra has lived at Developing Environments, one of the first legal artist live/work spaces in SF. She is a supporter of group living in former industrial spaces and is interested in finding ways the city can encourage it – from financial subsidies to code or rule changes (at one point she served as president of the Building Inspection Commission). She is also an accomplished painter herself who appreciates the importance that creative, artistic people play in the local community, and has reached out to members of the FP community to help with some of our art space projects. If she successfully nets the District 6 Supervisor slot she will be in a great position to use her perspective and influence to improve San Francisco’s policies about live/work and artist warehouses.

Barbara Boxer
Running for US Senate

Logan: Boxer is one of the most progressive members of the Senate and is being attacked, among other reasons, for being strong woman and asking a military official to address her as Senator just like her male colleagues (instead of the pejorative “ma’am”). What’s more, she’s pro environment and pro gay marriage, pro small business, pro job stimulus, anti-war, supported the public option to the very end, (I could list a million amazing progressive stances if you’d like). Carly Fiorina represents everything that got us into this economic mess (corporate greed, outsourcing middle class jobs, corporate tax breaks, etc). Fiorina is also pro drilling off the CA coast and proudly supported prop 8. Fiorina is also avidly pro-life while Boxer has been a vocal advocate for a woman’s right to choose. Boxer is a clear choice for any Democrat, progressive, middle class worker, small business owner, environmentalist, gay rights supporter… the list goes on and on.