Green Party of Sonoma CountyRecommendations - Fall 2010 November Election
Here are some perspectives and positions on the propositions from the Sonoma Green Party.
Prop 19 - YES
Legalizes, regulates, and taxes cannabis (“marijuana” is Mexican slang for cannabis) in ways similar to how alcohol is regulated. Local governments retain some powers of discretion of how to regulate. Estimated increases in state revenues of $2-3B/yr. After 70 years, the war on “reefer madness” has clearly failed, has jailed thousands of individuals, mostly from communities of color for non-violent possession, and has increased profits and powers of murderous drug cartels. Prohibition did not work in the 1920s, isn't working now, and is creating modern mobsters. When you don’t learn from history, you’re condemned to repeat its mistakes. It's time to try a fresh, less repressive approach that saves money, creates new jobs, awareness and income for the state.
Prop 20 - YES
Every ten years after the census current law requires the party in power in California to re-draw the 53 congressional districts boundaries to make districts roughly equal in population again, according to the constitutional principle of "equal representation." The corporate sponsored parties, acting in their own self-interest, use that law as an opportunity to manipulate or "gerrymander" district lines in ways that ensure their candidates are easily elected and re-elected again and again. Computer programming and mapping have now enabled those parties to pre-determine with precision who will be elected (99.5% of the 212 CA congressional elections from '02 - '08, when only one district changed parties). Maximum electoral predictability and a lack of real electoral choices are characteristics of repressive tyranny, not a democratic republic. Prop 20 establishes a multi-lateral commission to draw district lines according to geographical considerations, maintaining compact, contiguous, towns and cities rather than chopped up, separated, bisected and divided communities for purely political power motivations.
Prop 21 - No Position
The Green Party of Sonoma County is a strong supporter of State Parks. We also support fees on automobiles to help pay for their externalized impacts and to act as a disincentive to their use. We do not like the regressive nature of this proposition, in that it imposes the same $18 fee on a working person driving a small, fuel-efficient vehicle that it imposes on an investment banker driving a large SUV. Prop 21 also creates a perverse incentive, motivating people to increase their vehicle miles by offering free admission to all state parks to surcharged vehicles. We acknowledge that there are not a lot of options on how to travel to state parks, but that doesn’t mean that the state should incentivize driving at a time when the state is trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Prop 22 - YES
One of the ten key values of the Green Party is decentralization, which implies greater local control of resources and decision-making. Prop 22 helps to safeguard local control over local resources, in this case tax revenues. State raids on local transportation and other funds make it extremely difficult to carry out transportation and other planning.
Prop 23 - NO
Funded mostly by two large Texas-based oil companies, Valero and Tesoro, this proposition would effectively kill California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, a noble first attempt at reining in the state’s greenhouse gas emissions which are about 2% of global emissions from a population that is only 0.6% of the global population.
Prop 24 - YES
Closes loopholes, ends tax write-offs, tax breaks, and tax cuts of $1.7Billion/year, recently opened and granted to the state's biggest, most profitable corporations, by our Republican and Democrat state legislators, while they cry crocodile tears for laid off teachers, firefighters and police. Who supports and who opposes this Proposition? -- Follow the money: Funding support by California Teachers Association ($2.2 million). Opposition funding by Fox Group, Time Warner, CBS, General Electric, Cisco Systems, Amgen, Walt Disney Company, and Genentech Inc.
Prop 25 - YES
The Green Party strives for consensus-seeking decision-making. When consensus cannot be reached, we seek to arrive at decisions with high voting thresholds. The purpose of this process is to make a sincere effort to hear and involve all points of view, promoting maximum inclusion in the best solution. A 2/3 vote threshold would be a good thing in the budget process in that it is a way to bring out and address all concerns in order to reach the high threshold. Unfortunately, the reality is that the high threshold has been abused for irrational reasons not based on merit, resulting in gridlock and a stranglehold on the ability of the legislature to pass the state budget in a timely manner.
Prop 26 – NO
The state legislature is currently restricted by the 2/3 requirement needed for passing new taxes. In order to get around that restriction, state lawmakers have been passing various fees, levies and surcharges that appear on consumers’ bills (e.g., utility bills). These fees only require a 50.1% threshold and are thus easier to pass. Utility companies and other corporations pass on these extra charges to consumers. Proposition 26 is an attempt by large corporations to avoid the increased costs for natural resources they extract, for airwaves they use, pollution they cause, or harm to public health they’re responsible for. It’s an abuse of supermajority thresholds for the sole purpose of protecting corporate profit.
Prop 27 - NO
Prop 27 is diametrically opposed to Prop 20 - (see above). Prop 27 was masterminded by Howard Berman (House Rep, D - LA, 28th Dist). Berman ran unopposed in the last election in his heavily gerrymandered district. He and other incumbents try to avoid true electoral competition by promoting this Proposition which eliminates the Redistricting Commission which is dedicated to stop gerrymandering in state legislative districts, and which was approved by the voters by Prop 11 in 2008. Prop 27 tries to confuse and confound voters into voting against Prop 20 and overturning Prop 11.