LP of CA Election Recommendations

I guess I'll have to get my Fred's 2005 Special Election Recommendations web page up and running now that it looks like the election will be held and the Executive Commitee of the Libertarian Party of California has come up with their recommendations on how to vote on the initiatives.

The LP of CA assessment of the ballot is pretty much in line with mine with one or two exceptions. They voted to Support Props 74 through 77 and Oppose 78 through 80. They voted to take no position on 73 (to get a brief synopsis of what each initiative is about, check out State Senator Tom McClintock's recommendations, included below, which mirrors the LPC's except for Prop 73). Unlike LPC, Tom McClintock does take a position on 73 (Support) but takes the LPC positions on the other ones.

I appreciate the LPC finally taking a "No Position" on a ballot initiative since I've been critical in the past when they insisted on taking a Yes or No position on an initiative that had equally good or bad points and the general membership was split on. But I think I'll vote Yes on Prop 73, which requires parental consent for minors to get abortions. I'll comment further on that on my Elections web page, coming soon.

Anyway, here's Tom McClintock's recommendations with a brief synopsis of each inititiative:

From: "Tom McClintock's E-Team"
Subject: Tom McClintock on the Propositions
Dear E-Team,
I've been getting calls about the various ballot propositions for the Special Election. Here's how I see them:

Proposition 73(LPC- No Position): Parental Notification for Abortion.
If parental consent is required for a child to use a tanning booth or
get her ears pierced, shouldn't parents at least be notified if she's
getting an abortion? YES. Whether you're pro-life or pro-choice, this
should be the all-time no-brainer.

Proposition 74(LPC- Yes): Teacher Tenure.
Do parents have a right to expect a higher level of competence before a teacher is granted life-time tenure? YES. This modest measure simply increases the teacher probation period from two years to five years.

Proposition 75(LPC- Yes): Public Employee Union Dues.
Should public employees decide for themselves which candidates they will support with their own money? YES. This measure requires that before a public employee union can take money from that employee for political donations, it has to get the employee's permission.

Proposition 76(LPC- Yes): State Spending.
Should government live within its means? YES. This measure restores the authority that the governor of California had between 1939 and 1983 to make mid-year spending cuts whenever spending outpaces revenue without having to return to the legislature.

Proposition 77(LPC- Yes): Re-districting.
Should voters choose their representatives in legislative districts that are drawn without regard to partisan advantage? YES. The most obvious conflict of interest in government is when politicians choose which voters will get to vote for them by drawing their own legislative district lines. This measure puts a stop to it.

Propositions 78 and 79(LPC- NO): Prescription drug discounts.
Do you want the same people who run the DMV to run your pharmacy? NO. These are rival measures, one supported by drug companies and the other by liberal activists -- both of which purport to lower drug prices. What they really do is assure that one group of patients gets
to pay higher prices to provide subsidized prices for others. There's no such thing as a free Levitra.

Proposition 80(LPC- NO). Electricity Regulation.
Do you want the same people who run the DMV to run your electricity company? NO. This measure locks in monopoly control of your electricity by the bureaucratized utilities and forbids you from ever being able to shop around for the lowest-priced electricity available.

Sincerely,
Tom McClintock
****************

The local Greens recently took positions on some of the initiatives. This Eureka Reporter story tells about that. The Republicans took positions, as well, but I was unable to find the Times Standard article after doing a search on their web site.