Hyper-local candidates rarely hit the media with big headlines and heated hashtags. How do we know which Judges to vote for? I’ve decided based on yard signs. If the yard promotes other candidates I favor, I’ll vote for the Judges that yard promotes. Not the best system to create an informed electorate. I’d rather hear from you than your yard.
Together we can crowdsource a voter’s guide to Butte County, CA-01 and the 17 state propositions. I’ll list some main candidates and issues in my part of this area. I’ve not included every town in the county nor all of this huge District that stretches to the Oregon border. So if you want to discuss issues and candidates from other towns in the county or CA-01, add these to the comments and I can edit them into the text for more attention. Also I will note my opinions — all are open for discussion — and at the end add links to sources of info. I’ll begin with State Propositions and then narrow down to more local.
state propositions
For an overview of all 17 in an easy to digest fashion, check out the Haiku State Propositions (h/t to Damian Carroll haiku master). I’ll add a few of them in to break up the monotony (my opinions are in parenthesis).
- 51 — School bonds (I’m for it despite my concerns with allocations. See the story I’ll publish early next week on school districts.)
- 52 — Medi-Cal Hospital Fee Program (think I’m for this one too)
- 53 — Revenue bonds (sounds good but ??)
Bonds for big projects
(Like high speed rail and Delta)
Would need people’s vote
- 54 — Legislature, Legislation, and Proceedings (fairly sure No on this one — good idea poorly written)
- 55 — Tax Extension to Fund Education and Healthcare (Yes — it extends an existing tax on the people who should pay more — those with high incomes)
- 56 — Cigarette Tax to Fund Healthcare, Tobacco Use Prevention etc (Messy stuff. I don’t smoke cigs and probably will vote Yes. But adding $2 per pack is a hardship for many people who should stop smoking. Is forcing this by adding to their expenses our call?)
- 57 — Criminal Sentences Parole etc (OMG this requires haiku! I’m all for fewer people in prison. Yes.)
Earlier parole
Of prisoners serving time
For non-violent crimes
- 58 — English Proficiency Multilingual Education (Only those opposing this are the Repub and Libertarian Parties and one guy here on DK. All the Latinx families, ESL teachers, and educators I know are in favor. Yes.)
- 59 — Corporations Political Spending (If you want to overturn Citizens United, vote YES with me but sadly it’s not binding.)
- 60 — Adult Films Condoms (Everything I read says this will lead to messy silly lawsuits. Let the industry manage itself. I vote NO and promise if I’m ever in an Adult Film, I’ll use a condom.)
- 61 — State Prescription Drug Purchases (Sounds better than it is. No, with haiku explanation.)
In theory, lowers
The cost of some state-bought drugs
(But it could backfire)
- 62 and 66 — Death Penalty (with haiku — I’m going Yes/No.)
Proposition 62
Vote for this one if
You want to eliminate
The death penalty
Proposition 66
If you want the state
To execute more people
This one is for you
- 63 — Firearms Ammunition (Yes but I don’t know if there’s a nasty catch to this one.)
- 64 — Marijuana Legalization (Oh, I’d never use marijuana but if I ever somehow for any reason decide to puff but not inhale, I want to be legal about it. Plus it raises a ton of $$ for the state. Yes. If this passes, does it over-ride our County Measure L’s results?)
- 65 and 67 Plastic Bags (need moar haiku)
Proposition 65
Plastic bag makers
Put this one on the ballot
To punish grocers
Proposition 67
To ban plastic bags
Vote “yes” on 67
“No” on 65
CA-01 CANDIDATE
Once again we have legacy-candidate idiot pseudo-farmer Doug La Malfa (RWNJ TP) opposed by perennial opposition candidate Jim Reed (Democrat) Guess which guy I favor.
county measures
- Measure J — Butte College Repair/Safety/Job Training (Probably Yes.)
- Measure L — Medical Cannabis and Commerce (Using the yard sign criteria: stupid f’king signs NO ON L Public Safety Think About The Children!!! I’m voting Yes and thinking about the kids.)
county candidates
The offices to be voted on in November in Butte County include the following. If you wish to comment on or ask about others, add them to the comments and I’ll copy them into the text. All links associated with candidates go to their website.
Board of Supervisors 5th District — Doug Teeter (Incumbent) vs Maurice “Big Mo” Huffman (Democrat)
This one is easy for me. Although neither candidate represents my views, Big Mo has my vote because he’s not Teeter. Big Mo has never held public office but my conversations with him lead me to think he doesn’t want to develop the shit out of the area to generate money. He’s a musician who opposes legal marijuana. Sad that he’s the best we can do; the other guy is worse. Teeter claims to be “fiscally conservative” and has this statement on his website (my bold added). His ideas about how to generate income from our natural beauty are inconsistent with retaining it.
Butte County is the “Land of Natural Wealth and Beauty”. In order to develop our economy and increase jobs we should be leveraging our greatest resource, our land. I believe the key to Butte County’s growth and success is promoting agri-business, tourism, and amenities such as recreational opportunity.
Other elections in the county are divided into districts with different candidate options, such as the Butte County Board of Education and Butte-Glenn Community College. Speak up if you want to discuss these.
selected local positions and candidates
Paradise Unified School District — vote for no more than 3
Candidates: Rich Gingery (Parent/LocalBusiness Owner); Melissa Crick (Parent); Michael Greer (Special Education Teacher); Donna Nichols (incumbent); Chris Clifford (Retired); Roger Bylund (Retired Educator/Businessperson)
I have strong opinons on this based on solid info I’ll publish in more detail early this week. The first three on this list (Rich, Melissa, and Michael) are my choices. Bottom line: the current School Board promotes segregation, discrimination, elitism and is bad for the children, their parents, and the world.
Rich is active on his children’s Magalia school Site Council and made valuable changes despite School Board obstructionism. Melissa is a parent who works with local social service nonprofit CORE. She’s smart with a big heart. Mike lives locally and works out of the area as a Speech and Hearing therapist in another public school. These are good people. The School Board doesn’t need any more retired whatevers or incumbents.
Chico City Council - vote for no more than 4
Ann Schwab (Councilmember/Non-Profit Director); Mercedes Macias (Community Volunteer); Karl Ory (Nonprofit Housing Director); Tammi Ritter (Councilmember/Family Mediator); Randall Stone (Councilmember/Small Businessman). These are the five I favor but I don’t live in Chico. You can only vote for four.
The others and why I wouldn’t vote for them.
Loretta Ann Torres (Farmer/Businesswoman) Endorsed by scum of the earth Larry Wahl. I won’t even go into the UPS Stores he owns. Lisa Duarte (Veterinary Hospital Coordinator) She doesn’t sound too bad (won’t support the Walmart mega-monster) but has sorta-fine-sounding mush on issues like homelessness, crime (“I would like to make the police conduct sobriety checkpoints every night of the week.”) Jovanni Tricerri (Businessman/Nonprofit Consultant) He might be the best of this bunch but I can’t tell from his website info if he has real social justice credentials or is a missionary. Sean Morgan (Businessman/Councilmember/Professor) He’s endorsed by idiot La Malfa. Jon Scott (Entrepreneur/Property Investor) No website but his job description puts me off. Jeffrey S. Glatz (Business Consultant). Ditto.
city of chico measures
- N — change the time of the City Council Meeting held on the first Tuesday in December of each even-numbered year from 7:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m
- O — proposals for public works contracts to be provided on the city's website or other approved methods
- P — permit the council to contract with a newspaper for publication of legal notices and official advertisements without advertising for the contract when there is only one newspaper of general circulation in the City
I don’t know — you can read the impartial analysis here. I suspect Measure P is from the Enterprise-Wretched who wants to be considered “the one newspaper of general circulation in the City” but that omits the News and Review, which I favor. I don’t even use the ER to line my parrots’ cages.
city of oroville
City Council, Parks and Rec etc are on the ballot and if you want to talk Oroville, bring it on. The only one I’ll mention here is Measure R, a 1 percent local sales tax to fund public safety. Everyone here knows that the public generally isn’t all that safe in Oroville but will a tax help? The ER wrote an article about it here — remember it’s the ER’s so . . .
The intention is that this tax is for public safety, outlined in the text as: “police protection, fire suppression, vehicle repair and maintenance, finance analyst and human resources.” However, since it is a general tax, the revenue could go toward anything approved by the council.
paradise town council
Melissa S. Schuster (Businessperson); Greg Bolin (Incumbent/Businessperson); Mike Zuccolillo (Businessperson); Steve “Woody” Culleton (Incumbent/Retired); Stan McEtchen (Mechanical Engineer)
I think the Paradise Town Council is important, don’t know the candidates. For example, Zuccolillo has a great name but this is one of his positions: “Create a Business Friendly atmosphere at Town Hall.” I suspect they all suck because really, this isn’t paradise.
and so on
I’ve run out of steam on typing in names of unknown candidates. I think the Paradise Irrigation District (PID) election is important and know why but I don’t know which candidates represent my opinions. One candidate for PID, Cliff Jacobson, has the website named spraychem — I’d not vote for him just due to that, but is this the best basis for decision-making? Area Parks and Recreation are important, too, especially in Chico where keeping Bidwell Park healthy and natural is my high priority.
Let’s help each other with these offices and add others to the comments.
Everyone knows something. No one knows everything.
links but i’m not saying these are worthy opinions
Stories on Daily Kos