On this Hallow’s Eve 2012, we are only 6 days away from another scary event – Election Day! Here in Oregon, we have the luxury of mail-in voting, and though we got our ballots almost 2 weeks ago, I just opened mine yesterday, and don’t intend to send it in (actually, bring it in to the county offices) until the last minute, as I always do. It’s the closest I can get to going to my polling place, as I used to do in Seattle, before I moved to Astoria, and before Washington also went to mail-in voting. I really miss that community-enhancing event, which I participated in both on the voting side and even on the other side of the table once, when I volunteered to be a polling place helper in Seattle. I met a good portion of my neighbors at election times, and in Seattle we had elections multiple times a year, for all sorts of local issues and races, as well as the big state and federal deals. These were always pleasant affairs, where you could discuss not only the issues being voted on, but also catch up on the latest neighborhood gossip.
In the spirit of sharing my views with the wider community and generating some discussion on the issues of this election, I thought I’d go through my ballot and let you know what and who I’m thinking of voting for, and let you try to talk me out of it. Sort of like the caucus, a much better way of voting, if you ask me. I attended a couple of these in Seattle. In one, the Democrats in my neighborhood gathered at a friend’s house and tried to choose a presidential candidate in the 1992 elections. I ended up being an alternate delegate for Jerry Brown (yes, the current governor of California). It was a great discussion, and much more fun than a secret ballot scratched out at home and mailed in.
Here’s the ballot I got in the mail, edited slightly to conform to the web (including hyperlinks and color!) and for brevity. I’m also going to add candidates that didn’t make the ballot (in gray below), some of which I might very well vote for.
United States President and Vice President
Democrat
Barack Obama, Joe Biden
Pacific Green
Jill Stein, Cheri Honkala
Progressive (also Justice Party in other states)
Ross C (Rocky) Anderson, Luis Rodriguez
Libertarian
Gary Johnson, James P Gray
Republican
Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan
Constitution (also the Independent American Party in other states)
Will Christensen, Kenneth L Gibbs
Peace and Freedom
Roseanne Barr, Cindy Sheehan
Socialist
Stewart Alexander, Alex Mendoza
The rabbi’s choice: It’s a toss-up between my party, the Pacific Greens and Dr. Jill Stein, Rocky Anderson of the new Justice Party, and Roseanne. If they could get together and run a shared ticket, that would be heaven. I’m leaning to the Greens, because of their established status, and their wonderful Green New Deal. I will monitor the polls up until Election Day. If there’s a chance in hell that Obama will lose Oregon, I will vote for him, reluctantly.
Representative in Congress, 1st District
Bob Ekstrom, Constitution
Delinda Morgan, Republican
Suzanne Bonamici, Democrat & Working Families
Steven Reynolds, Progressive & Libertarian & Pacific Green
The rabbi’s choice: I voted for Steven Reynolds in the special election earlier this year, and I’ll vote for him again in this one. Interesting that he got the Libertarian Party nomination. Not perfect, but has the right ideas. Bonamici is a shoe-in at this point, but again, I’ll vote for her if polls on Election Day say there is some chance that she won’t win. I really doubt it, since the opposition is split, and Morgan is crazy. But the House is very important, and every Democratic seat must be kept, and more added, if the country has any chance, until we change our Constitution, and allow for more inclusion and fairness to our voting system and representation.
Oregon Secretary of State
Seth Woolley, Pacific Green
Robert Wolfe, Progressive
Bruce Alexander Knight, Libertarian
Kate Brown, Democrat & Working Families
Knute Buehler, Republican & Independent
The rabbi’s choice: Another toss-up between Seth Woolley, who has been a big name in the Pacific Green Party for a while now, and Robert Wolfe, whose voter pamphlet blurb is really impressive. I have to do more research on this one before making my decision. Brown has been a typical mainstream Democrat who has made it harder for third parties to participate in elections while coming across as the candidate for liberals. I do have a worry about the secretary of state job going to a Republican, as this has been a problem for voting in other states, but I think I’ll go third party here too.
State Treasurer
Ted Wheeler, Democrat & Working Families
Cameron Whitten, Progressive
John F Mahler, Libertarian
Michael Paul Marsh, Constitution
Tom Cox, Republican
The rabbi’s choice: Definitely Cameron Whitten. What a cool kid! A 20-something black kid who came to Portland in 2009, homeless and abused. You gotta read about this guy! Check out his web site at http://www.cameronwhitten.com/.
Attorney General
Chris Henry, Progressive
James L Buchal, Republican
James E Leuenberger, Constitution & Libertarian
Ellen Rosenblum, Democrat
The rabbi’s choice: Gotta be Chris Henry, this time not running on the Green ticket. I voted for him against David Wu in 2010 to be my representative, and I’m sure he would represent my interests more than the establishment Democrat Rosenblum.
State Representative, 32nd District
Jim Welsh, Constitution
Deborah Boone, Democrat
Perry Roll, Libertarian
The rabbi’s choice: Easy. Debbie Boone. Welsh is a raving right-winger from the Manzanita area, and must be kept out of state politics, and I have no idea who Roll is. Too bad the minor parties didn’t get anyone to run for this position to challenge Boone from the left. Interesting – no Republican.
Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries
Bruce Starr
Brad Avakian
The rabbi’s choice: I hate non-partisan races. I’ll vote for Brad Avakian, the Democrat, since the Republican Starr is endorsed by all the business groups and sounds like a Romney clone. Another race ripe for minor party participation. Maybe I’ll write in a friend. Anybody out there want to become labor commissioner?
(I’m leaving out the judge races. No idea…)
Clatsop County Sheriff
Jim Pierce
Tom Bergin
The rabbi’s choice: I really don’t like Bergin. He has spent lots of time and money on trying to rid the Highway 26 corridor of trees, and hasn’t ever seen a big tree that he likes. I’ll vote for Jim Pierce. Not really a much better choice, but maybe he wouldn’t be able to garner the support to mow down the trees so fast. Any progressive type want to be sheriff?
Clatsop Soil and Water Conservation District
The rabbi’s choices: No challengers for these positions. I know Jerome Arnold, and will probably vote for him, but don’t know the others (zone 5 doesn’t have a candidate) and probably won’t vote. This is a very important government body that almost never has any challengers. The candidates must own over 6 acres of land, which counts me out. I’ll write in anyone that I know will try to protect the environment, and who owns some land. Contact me by commenting below.
City of Astoria, Councilor, Ward 4
Russ Warr
The rabbi’s choice: The rabbi! I ran against Warr 4 years ago and lost by 3 votes. This time, though I didn’t get on the ballot, I just can’t stand to see that smug smirk on Warr’s face, so I’m unofficially in the race as a write-in. Some friends and neighbors have already written me in. Same platform as 4 years ago – transparency, representation, communication, balance. I’d add this time a change to the Parks and Recreation Department to make it the Environment and Recreation Department, giving it a broader mandate to take care of the urban forest and wildlife, and get involved in sustainability and environmental issues. I’m a Green; Warr is Republican. Enough said.
State Ballot Initiatives
77 Removing spending limits in emergencies
The rabbi’s choice: No. This requires a constitutional change? Come on. The constitution should be a simple document that lays out how our government functions. This kind of stuff shouldn’t be in it. Oy!
78 Grammatical and spelling changes to Constitution
The rabbi’s choice: No again! You’ve got to be kidding! We’ve got to vote to fix spelling mistakes?! No one’s noticed until now?! Come on! Fix the damn mistakes yourself!
79 Prohibits real estate transfer taxes
The rabbi’s choice: Definitely No. Why should we prohibit a potential revenue source? I don’t see anything wrong with charging a tax on real estate transactions. Especially when so much government investment is required to provide utilities and access to buildings. Let’s keep the option open.
80 Legalize Pot
The rabbi’s choice: Yes. It’s definitely time to get rid of the stigma of cannabis. Not the perfect measure, but on the right track. We definitely need to start growing hemp for clothing, food, fuel and medicine.
81 Ban Gillnets
The rabbi’s choice: Yes. Everybody here is against it, which only makes me for it that much more. Our fish are being killed in quantities unsustainable in even the short term. We have to get a handle on fishing. Our local commercial fishermen need to switch to catching small quantities of fish for locals. It’s the only option left, really. Allowing the use of seine nets could be overturned in another ballot measure.
82 and 83 Allow privately-owned casinos
The rabbi’s choices: No and no. Can’t you hear me? I said no! I can’t stand mega-casinos, and these measures would start us on the road to more. I would vote for getting rid of the tribes’ casinos too. I’d rather give them monetary handouts than destroy the land for these mega developments. I am happy that you asked my opinion about a development no where near my house, though. Please keep putting mega-developments on the ballot so we all can vote on them. Hey, I think I’ll gather signatures against the LNG terminal and Walmart here in Warrenton!
84 Phase out inheritance taxes
The rabbi’s choice: Hell No! Again, another big revenue source. Benefits mostly the rich, who should be paying more taxes, not less. Hard to believe that these measures get enough signatures to get on the ballot.
85 Corporate kicker to education
The rabbi’s choice: Yes, though an even better measure would be a direct tax on corporations that is targeted to education, so revenue could be forecast better. On the other hand, depending on corporate success in the state to fund education is not a good thing either. We definitely need comprehensive tax reform, but in the meantime, this rare initiative coming from the left is something I can support.
Many reasonable choices here, Bob.
My counterpoints on the presidential race are listed in my comments to you and Tevan. The only other suggestion I have is that you consider the downside of a decision based on polling (ie. voting for Jill, Rocky, or Roseanne because you think there are enough other people like me who say we’re voting for Barack). It sounds stronger when a third-party voter simply says they cannot in good conscience support either major party candidate. Period. I know and respect folks who stand by that reasoning.
Of course I respect you too, Bob, and I know you put a good deal of thought into your political decisions. I’m merely saying that connecting the decision to vote third-party with an assessment of how others plan to vote seems like a less sturdy position. Especially when that assessment relies on polling as close as it currently is. I dislike our national obsession with polls, but confess I’ve been keeping close tabs at talkingpointsmemo.com.
I was hoping (and still am) for some good argument on specific choices. That was the reason I made my choices public BEFORE I actually voted. On the contrary to your position stated above, Watt, I believe that voting decisions are, like everything else, connected. In this case, connected to others’ decisions. The caucus vote, where you discuss your choices with friends and neighbors, seems somehow superior to the secret ballot, where you hide in a corner and make sure no one is copying, like they teach you in school. Another move towards individualism that is in direct conflict with community, sharing, and compassionate, understanding government (and living).
I think it’s great to make your choices public. I’m all for caucusing and discussion. Just saying that the decision to vote third-party seems stronger if it isn’t contingent on others voting for your preferred major party candidate. That makes it sound like you’ll vote your conscience so long as enough other people do the dirty work of electing the lesser of two evils.
When I posted this on Facebook last night, my friend Markus immediately wrote back that my opinion on the need for more revenue was not right; spending is the problem. I thought about this overnight, and came to the conclusion that both revenue AND spending are important. Not just in total amounts, but more importantly, in distribution. It matters from who and how much we take in revenue, and it matters to whom, where and how much we give out. As always, the discussion on taxes and spending needs to be more thorough and detailed. My point in the post was that spending on things I find important in the state (i.e. education, environment) is way down, and important services are not being supplied; more revenue is obviously needed for these things. And this revenue needs to come from people who have done well under our system, and that is what it seemed would be happening under the proposed ballot measure.
So, the results are in, and oy, only one of my candidates won (the Democrat Debbie Boone). Dems won all the major offices in the state, and of course the Dem won the presidency, and the Dem won in my Congressional district. Locally, Drew Herzig, who I didn’t get to vote for, won a seat on the Astoria City Council, and my write-in candidacy failed (I know I got at least 4 votes!). In Warrenton, all the more progressive candidates lost for city council, which bodes poorly for our environment.
The state ballot measures were a little disappointing. Voters approved the silly constitution editing measures, and shockingly, the ban on real estate transfer taxes (I voted against all of these). They voted no on the marijuana measure and the gillnet measure (I voted yes on both). The voters wisely voted against private casinos, as I did, for keeping inheritance taxes on millionaires (ditto) and for putting corporate kicker money into education (again ditto).
Statewide, Jill Stein, my pick for president, got about 1% of the vote. We’re just not anywhere near where we need to be in the electoral process. In every race, almost all the vote went to either Dems or Reps. As long as the two parties hold a grip on power, we won’t have a full spectrum discussion of issues during elections. That Green New Deal was awesome, man!
The statewide candidates I voted for got between 2-5% of the vote. These views are left out of the mix, and serious reform can’t happen. That’s got to change.
Overall, the national vote showed some progressive movement, but some of the initiatives that were really important, like the GMO labeling proposal in California, didn’t make it. I’d like to think that the nation is slowly turning left, but some of the southern and plains states are neanderthal. My guess is that the next 4 years will be something like the previous 4, but then again, outside events and influences might give us a whole different ball game. We’ll see.
Now we come to the fiscal cliff; hopefully not to Armageddon. The Mayan calendar does end in a little over a month…
The rabbi wishes you all shalom – peace – and happiness. I hope all your electoral wishes came true yesterday, or some of them today or the next few days or weeks, as the last ballots are counted, and recounted.