ELECTION of 2020

For what it's worth, here are my picks. These are, of course, my opinions. They are based on a ton of research from a wide variety of progressive to center content providers, conversations with Democrats of all persuasions, a few Eisenhower throwback Republicans, and my own beliefs in how I want the world to run and who, at this moment in time, can stop the madness and begin to heal. I do not see this as the time for radical change. I see this as a time to stop the bleeding and I think Biden can do that. He will bring some boundaries, plans, protocols, a sense of community and unity, and new normalcy back to this divisive country. He will stop the madness so we may open the door for the next generation.

I can only list what is on my ballot so you're on your own for your own local, city, and state reps and assembly.

Candidates:

President - is there any doubt? BIDEN/HARRIS

US House of Reps: District 30 - Brad Sherman

State Senate: 27th District - Henry Stern

State Assembly: 45th District - Jesse Gabriel

County DA - George Gascon

Judges of the Superior Court: #72: Myanna Dellinger / #80: Klint James McKay /

 #162: David D. Diamond

LAUSD Board of Education: District 3: Scott Schmerelson / District 7: Patricia Castellanos

LA Community College: Seat 1: Andra Hoffman / Seat 3: David Vela / Seat 5: Nichelle M. Henderson / Seat 7: Mike Fong

City & State Measures:

LAUSD Measure RR - YES - will upgrade schools and equipment

LA County Measure J (Reimagine LA) - YES - divests at least 10% of the county’s locally-generated unrestricted revenues and directly reinvests that money back into Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.

State Propositions:

#14 - NO - no oversight, no revenues for public, needs 70% majority to make any changes

#15 - Big YES - closes one loophole in Prop 13 - does NOT affect homeowners or small business - 40% of funds go to schools (this is where the best Education system we used to have used to get its money)

#16 - Big YES - overturns the disastrous prop 209 from 1996 and restores affirmative action protocols

#17 - YES - if you did your time and paid your fine, you should get to vote again

#18 - YES - if you are 17 at the time of a primary but will be 18 by the Nov. election, you should have the right to vote in that primary.

#19 -  NO/YES - closes one loophole but opens a bigger one and mainly benefits realtors - difficult because it would help owners who got burned out in the short-term - coin toss  - I'm leaning yes because of the recent and ongoing fires

#20 - Big NO - want your DNA taken for a misdemeanor? want 51 non-violent crimes reclassified to violent? want even more crowded prisons?

#21 - YES - prevent unfair evictions

#22 - NO - no protection for workers: no healthcare, fair wages, sick leave, unemployment, etc. The big companies (Uber, Lyft, Instacart, etc.) want this so they don't have to pay the workers benefits

#23 - YES/NO - does not go far enough to fix the parasitic dialysis industry BUT it represents a real challenge to the industry’s efforts to consolidate power. soft Yes.

#24 - YES - complicated 52-page proposition but will strengthen CCPA (a good thing) and will begin the process towards more consumer privacy

#25 - NO - replaces cash bail with an even more restrictive system — handing enormous power to judges, probation departments, and racist/classist “risk assessment” algorithms to imprison defendants before trial, which essentially automates racial profiling. Democrat Party supports it because of SEIU but ACLU says no - I'll go with ACLU on this one.

That's it. Please go to lavote.net to see where your early voting centers and secured drop off ballot boxes are, step by step mail-in instructions, etc.

There is no denying the importance of this election. I have lived a while and have watched the Republican Party of Eisenhower my father used to belong to, descend from a fiscally conservative but somewhat socially conscious party to an elitist, Wall Street/wealth-comes-first, racist, authoritarian cult. Nixon to Reagan to Bush II to Trump has been a steady decline from the ideals of the Preamble and any form of collaboration towards shared common goals into party and power above all else. Truly, the future of our democracy is at stake.

VOTE