CALIFORNIA VOTER RECOMMENDATIONS - AS MUCH AS I COULD CHEW ON

In today's election, I've put together a set of recommendations. The polls are open from 7am to 8pm. If you're in LA County you can find your poll at

http://www.lavote.net/LOCATOR/

If you're registered DECLINE TO STATE, you get to pick whichever ballot you want. Unless you have someone in another party you really want to vote for, ask for the Democratic ballot. Not all states allow you to do this; we're lucky in California.

I've formatted this in the order it will appear on the ballot. I've put a * on races that everyone in California votes on. Sorry if I've left out some races in your area.

Here are my recommendations for the JUNE 6 Democratic primary:

*Governor: Phil Angelides
*Lieutenant Governor: John Garamendi
*Secretary of State: Debra Bowen
*Controller: Joe Dunn (by a hair)
*Treasurer: Bill Lockyer
*Attorney General: Jerry Brown
*Insurance Commissioner: no recommendation

Board of Equalization, 4th district: Judy Chu
Board of Equalization, 1st district: Betty Yee
*US Senator: Dianne Feinstein
US Representative: I like all of the LA area incumbents: Xavier Becerra, Henry Waxman, Diane Watson, Maxine Waters, Hilda Solis, Howard Berman, Brad Sherman. I have no recommendation for the race between Jane Harman and Marcy Winograd (coast from Venice to Long Beach)

State Senator:
-Mark Ridley-Thomas where I live
-Jenny Oropeza on the Westside.

State Assembly:
-Elena Popp here in my neighborhood (45th)
-Mike Feuer (by a hair) to the west of me (42nd)
-Julia Brownley on the Westside (41st)
-Steve Bradford to the south (51st)
-Mike Eng to the east (49th)
-Karen Bass (47th)
-Ted Lieu (53rd).

Party Central Committee
If you want to change the Democratic Party - the way it works and the candidates it fields - this is your best opportunity. This committee controls the party's endorsements in LA County and moves money to candidates and voter registration drives. I'll only vote for people I know personally and I know will do a good job.

In the 45th AD:
-Christopher Arellano
-Erika Gallo
-Bill Kysella
-Shirin Buckman

In the 42nd AD
-Andrew Lachman
-Kate Sedrowski

In the 43rd AD
-Teresa "Jodi" Owen
-Robert Silver

In the 44th AD
-Karen Wingard

In the 47th AD
-Jimmie Woods-Gray

In the 41st AD
-Agi Kessler

For the judges, I ought to recuse myself, but I can't help it. I have heard from some of the judges and for the rest, I'm going to fill it in with the recommendations of Americans for Democratic Action and the LA Times:

http://home.earthlink.net/~socalada/ADAWebsite/

#8: Bob Henry
#18: John C. Gutierrez
#28: Judith L. Meyer
#95: Richard Kraft
#102: C. Edward Mack
#120: Dzintra I. Janavs
#122: Daniel J. Lowenthal
#144: Randolph Martin Hammock

*Superintendent of Public Instruction: Jack O'Connell
LA County Assessor: Rick Auerbach
LA County Sherriff: Lee Baca
LA County Supervisor (3rd): Zev Yaroslavsky

State Ballot Measures
*Proposition 81: NO
*Proposition 82: YES


Thanks for voting, people.

--davefordemocracy