How Pete's Voting!

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2	Vote By March 5th!	Issue/Candidate	Pete's Recommendation	Rationale
3	Federal	President	1. Take the Vote for Peace Pledge!!: voteforpeace.info 2.Vote for Marianne Williamson, or, if you can't bring yourself to do that, write in Ceasefire.	Swallow hard, friends. I wish there was a way on this ballot to more clearly rebuke the cowardly, complicit, horrific failures of the Biden administration, not only in their facilitation of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, but add his failures in humane treatement of migrants, and half assed, one-step-forward-two-steps-toward-apocalypse climate policies. Biden's people- and every candidate following him- need to see that they're complicity will not be tolerated. Don't sit this one out- jot down Williamson who has the clearest call for Ceasefire and fundamental change of all the options and will be the clearest, fastest way to show our strength. If you can't pull yourself to do that, you can write in Ceasefire. Vote Marianne! and then, sign up to pledge to vote for peace through Bay Resistance: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/vote-for-peace-in-2024
4		US Senate	Barbara Lee	In stark contrast- this is one of the few races where we get to celebrate integrity and commitment to the world we believe in. Barbara Lee has been doing the work, and would be the strongest voice of those in this race for Senate for a future with dignity and justice for all people. But this race is also a bellwether - other candidates around the country need to see that there is no political future in the quiet acceptance of the US's horrific current policies. Vote for Barbara Lee!
5		Congress District 11	Bianca Von Krieg (Not Nancy Pelosi)	This lady is seriously out here saying folks who are standing up to protect human life are funded by Putin and should "go back to China". It's long been time for Nancy to step aside and allow SF to be represented by someone who gives a damn about low income people, fighting off corporate caputre of our resources, and building towards a future where we all can thrive. Bianca's got an exciting approach, and throwing her some votes will bring into relief how off key Nancy's been signing.
6		Congress District 12	Lateefah Simon!	This is an exciting development, with Barbara Lee shooting for Senate and opening up the possibility for new leadership in the East Bay. Lateefah Simon is one of the most gifted public figures in bringing vibrant, powerful human stories directly into the spaces where they're most impacted. I can't wait for her first fire from the podium of congress- and how she's going to bring racial justice, transit justice, disability justice, parenting justice, and so many other issues to the fore. There's some other decent folks who jumped in, though gotta admit, folks like Jenn Tran have been really disappointing in how they drape themselves in the east bay vibe, but when it comes down to it, are eager to hand the keys back to police and corporate powers, and turn away from the real solutions our communities need. Vote Lateefah- she's the real one.
7		Congress District 16	Ahmed Mostafa!	Another aging congressperson heading for the exits- and a wild scramble of folks trying to fill the shoes. This is a group of political climbers and one dynamite candidate who are all grabbing at the same ladder. Tech dude Rishi Kumar has been vocal about Medicare for All, but don't think that he's got the wheels for this one. Evan Low shouldn't be allowed to bring his brand of uninspired moderation to congress. I think Sam Liccardo is really smart, and when he's on your side, he makes a formidable and impressive dance partner- unfortunately, he's more often on the side of police, developers, and tech giants than I would like. Joe Simitian is a long time muckity-muck, who's probably a decent bet. But my choice is women's rights attorney, progressive champion, and an early and consistent call for permanent, lasting ceasefire. Vote for Ahmed!
8	State	Proposition 1	Just too much of the bad and not enough of the good. Vote NO!	EDIT: Mea Culpa friends- after hearing from some trusted friends and the most thoughful and dynamic organizers around mental health and homelessness in California, I'm changing my recommendation on this one. What remains true: it's a ton of money aimed at mental health, it's an attempt to real deep issues that we need to confront, and with the Governor's war chest behind it, it's very likely to pass. However, upon second look, the money, while reaching more people, comes with long and pernicious tentacles that codify carceral solutions to mental health. Almost all of the new bed this would create, while needed, would be situated in systems that seek to treat people navigating mental health struggles cages- kinder, softer ones, but cages nonetheless- not the liberatory and loving resources we all truly need to heal. I won't be mad at you if you vote for it, but there are definitely better ways to make sure that everyone in our communities is well and cared for. Apologies for the oversight, and huge humble gratitude for those doing this work day and night!	Here's my orginal post- deepest apologies again for shifting on this one! : The one statewide measure this election (after a masterclass in strongarming by Gov. Newsom to make sure it was the only one) is some decent ideas smooshed together. it would put a whole bunch of money into housing (good), half of which set aside for vertans (sure), lots more mental health beds (great). It's also got such a momentous backing and basically no opposition, so it's very likely to pass. There's some significant bummers though: some of those big piles of money are pulling money away from current funding for mental health at the local level. Also, there's no guarantees that these dollars won't go to carceral solutions- definitely not what we need. In the end though, probably in the "better than the status quo" camp.
9		Senate 3	Jackie Elward	Jackie's an educator, supported by labor, and would bring a powerful progressive voice to Napa after years of decent but not great moderation from Bill Dodd.
10		Senate 5	Jerry McNerney	Stockton is becoming known for some bonkers politics, and this one fits the bill. Featuring a husband and wife team who switched offices they were running for mid-race, an old Congressman being convinced to come out of retirement to stand in the way of that conservative duo, and someone literally named Rhodesia Ransom- this race has it all. In the end, decent guy Jerry McNerney would be the better choice over corporate/cop darling Carlos Villapadua.
11		Senate 7	Jovanka Beckles!	You want someone committed to fighting for a just future for all people at the state legislature, look no further than Jovanka Beckles. She's spent her career lifting up working people, immigrants, queer folks, fighting against the influence of Chevron, police unions, and their ilk, and she's well prepared to do so in Sacramento now. This is the most important race to send someone to the legislature in the bay, and the shoes of Nancy Skinner are big ones to fill. Kathryn Lybarger is a talented organizer and would be decent in the role, but I wish she had the throughline of convictions that Jovanka has. Dan Kalb and Jesse Arreguin are in tight competetion for the Most Mediocre Elected in the Bay, and we deserve better than that. Vote for Jovanka, knock on doors, make calls, get this powerful person into the senate!
12		Senate 9	Marisol Rubio!	Hooray! Steve Glazer is done, and taking his cynical corporations over all attitude with him. Marisol Rubio is an excellent community leader who's ready to bring a progressive voice to this much maligned district. Vote Marisol!
13		Senate 11	Ugh. Write in Tom Ammiano (or anyone else.)	Scott Weiner is just about the worst that SF has to offer: pushing hard to hand the keys to San Francisco to developers and corporate educators, doubling down on reactionary inhumane "solutions" to homelessness and drug use- and all that was BEFORE he led the racist, obscene, factually inaccurate assault on Palestinian organizers and allies by weaponizing the Jewish Caucus towards a full throated endoresement of hate. This dude needs to be stopped. Sadly, the only person running against him is someone who's entire campaign is "we need more police," with a pile of anti-trans vitriol thrown in- which, i would say, is not exactly a visionary platform. Vote for someone else, and then show up at Weiner's office and demand he represent all the people of San Francisco, not his priviledged few.
14		Assembly 2	Chris Rogers	Chris is a solid progressive and would be an improvement from Jim "Meh" Wood who'w taking his uninspiring career and calling it a day. Also signing up for this dance- Rusty Hicks, the current chair of the CADEM party, who in addition to having a hilarious name (not his fault), only recently moved to the district to run (certainly his fault), and has done a great deal to push the party rightward toward cowardice and toward losing many more seats than they should have (really his fault with real consequences for real people). No to Rusty, yes to Chris!
15		Assembly 6	Evan Minton	Evan's been doing important work in the capitol for a long time, and will make a good assembly member- as well as becoming the first trans person elected to the legislature. Vote Evan!
16		Assembly 14	Margot Smith	Gotta admit, I'm kind of surprised Buffy Wicks didn't thow her hat in for the other offices opening up around here- but her choosing to stay put doesn't mean she shouldn't be challenged to get better on housing, health care, protecting workers, taxing corporations, and policing. Vote for Margot to make Buffy answer the hard questions.
17		Assembly 15	Monica Wilson	Monica will be an improvedment on her predecessor for Contra Costa county and bring her important voice from Antioch into the legislature.
18		Assembly 19	David Lee	Phil Ting is finally done in Sacramento, after a lot of state budgets and some extremely gross extramarital activities. Catherine Stefani has spent her years on the board of supervisors making life harder for low income, unhoused, students and people of color (including trying to stop the ceasefure resolution). Long time educator David Lee will make a much better choice.
19		Assumbly 26	Omar Din (or Tara Sreekrishnan)	Evan Low is moving on, creating an opportunity for this district to have someone as progressive as the electorate. Omar Din has taken courageous, powerful strides in pushing for meaningful interuption of the genocide in Gaza, and deserves to be lifted up for that. Tara has strong bona fides and would probably make a good assemblyperson as well.
20	Alameda County	Democratic County Central Committee District 14	Avery Arbaugh, Alfred Twu, Poala Laverde, Michael Cheng, Carol Coyote Cook, Sadia Khan, John "Chip" Moore	This is a strong group of progressives that have been clear on calling for a ceasefire, pushing for progressive investments, and pushing against corporate influence in the democratic party. Give them a nod!
21		Democratic County Central Committee District 18	Austin Tam, Chaney Turner, Yoana Tchoukleva, Desmond Jeffries, Andrea Luna Bocanegra, Howard Egerman, Pamela Price, Kalimah Priforce, Royl Roberts, Iris Merriouns	Strongest set of folks fighting for a party that truly fights for everyone- including folks who've been leading the charge on Palestine solidarity. Vote for this crew!
22		Democratic County Central Committee District 20	Victor Aguilar, Dolly Adams, Austin Bruckner Carrillo, Jatinder Sahi, Barisha Spriggs, Joseph Mauro, Anish Mohanty	Strong progressive voices here too, pulling the party to the human, not the corporate side.
23		Measure A	Yep	Reduce the time folks need to wait to fill civil service positions- which will help fill the many empty roles in the county.
24		Measure B	Yes!	Have you noticed there's been a lot of recalls lately? Do you think it might be because right wing asshats know they can't win campaigns on the issues, so they want to distract, provoke, and waste resources of folks who envision a world built for all of us, not just for them? Me too! This is a simple measure that would align Alameda County's (currently whackadoodle) recall rules with California's, and make it harder for big money interest to throw firebombs at our democracy. Vote yes!
25		Supervisor District 1	Ugh. Write in someone.	Hard to believe that no one has been willing or supported to run against David Haubert, an actual legit rightwinger, in Alameda County. Maybe next time, team.
26		Supervisor District 2		There's no one running against Elisa Marquez either- so far she's been hit and miss, hopefully putting dynamite people on the board with her will lead her to the light.
27		Supervisor District 4	Jennifer Esteen!	Jennifer Esteen is the realest of deals. She came into her leadership as a mental health nurse fighting a county adminstration to support her union, low income communities and folks of color, and folks lacking access. Now, she's out front bringing to light the huuuuuuugely dissapointing Nate Miley, who for years has been an exemplar of unaccountable, waffly, leadership. This guy has spent his multiple decades in office telling us he cares about our folks, but at every turn, pouring more money into the most murderous jail in the country, undercutting real mental heath care, and doing all he can to make the county more opaque and harder to engage with. Nate Miley's gotta go, and Jenn is going to be absolutely brilliant in this role. Vote Jenn!
28		Supervisor District 5	Nikki Fortunato Bas!	It's hard for me to think of another elected official I trust more than Nikki Bas. She knows how to take courageous stands (driving a unanimous ceasefire vote) build coalitions and stay accountable to them, and always, always keep her eyes on the prize. Let's put her in this role, then help her tear down the jail, build truly affordable housing, and supporting east bay workers. Vote Nikki!
29		Superior Court Judge Office #5	Ugh. Write in judge judy.	It's always sad when a judge race is uncontested- especially when the one and only candidate ran for DA with a lock'em up campaign. He lost that one, but now gets to walk unabated into a job where he'll hold folks lives in his hands. Bummer. Anyone out there wanna run for judge?
30		Superior Court Judge Office #12	Mark Fickes	Mark is a decent fellow with decades of experience, and is amenable to alternatives to incarceration- and he's significantly better than his cop-and-conservative backed opponent.
31		Board of Education 2nd Trustee	Angela Normand	A lifelong educator who's well positioned to bring thoughtful, justice minded perspective to the board.
32		Board of Education 5th Trustee	Guadalupe Angulo	Lupe is an exciting, fresh young voice who's ready for this role- and she's running against virulent anti-trans dude Joe Ramos. Javenette would also be a decent choice, but Lupe's voice is essential. Vote for Lupe!
33	San Francisco County	Democratic County Central Committee District 17	Peter Gallotta Kristin Hardy John Avalos Jeremy Lee Vick Chung Patrick Bell Gloria Berry Adolfo Velasquez Michael Nguyen Sydney Simpson Joshua Rudy Ochoa Sal Rosselli Jane Kim Anita Martinez	This is a powerful bunch of folks, including some of the smartest folks in SF- vote for them to lead the Democratic Party in SF!
34		Democratic County Central Committee District 19	Natalie Gee Greg Hardeman Frances Hsieh Leah LaCroix Connie Chan Queena Chen Sandra Lee Fewer Mano Raju Hene Kelly Gordon Mar	Another incredible crew of folks- ranging from their 20's to their 80's, and all deeply connected to movements.
35		Prop A	Yes!	Bonds funding affordable housing, including for domestic violence survivors- good things! Sadly comes because SF decided to let developers pay less than what they owe to fund future housing. Vote Yes! !
36		Prop B	NO	Yaargh. This would disregard the will of you all (the voters) and bring back the guaranteed minimum number of police that SF taxpayers need to pay for, which is 1. a budget busting, poor priority bad idea, and 2. already was voted down just 4 years ago! Also, this would put a bunch of money into a "recruiting fund" that the police could do whatever they see fit- including a SFPD reality show. Really. Stop this nonsense. No on B.
37		Prop C	No	A decent idea with crappy application- this is presumably to encourage the conversion of commercial space to residential, but it does nothing to advance affordable housing, and ends up giving tax breaks to corporate landlords. No thanks.
38		Prop D	Sure	Ethics commission putting further regulations in place on gift giving- which has been quite a thing in San Francisco's recent past (ahem- Mayor Breed.)
39		Prop E	NO	What is the likelihood that a police union written, right wing billiionaire funded boys-with-toys initiative will be good for the people of SF? Especially if that initiative encourages cops to chase- in a car, with guns, paid for by us- anyone "likely" to commit a crime? Or gives the cops carte blanche to experiment with whatever surveillance technology they want? You'll be not shocked to find that this one doesn't beat the odds. Vote No.
40		Prop F	NO	Man there's a bunch of terrible crap on this ballot. London Breed is doing her best impression of a 1980's Republican, and this mandatory (!) drug testing for unhoused people is the latest and greatest example. This would cruelly strip housing, meals, and other resources from folks on the street, and do nothing to make the city safer. Send this crap back, vote no.
41		Prop G	No	You thought the stuff above was ridiculous- this would make an unbinding change to algebra in SF schools that is ... wait for it... going to happen anyways! This is a bunch of blowhards trying to stir more hate in the heated SF schools scene- vote no to encourage them to stop playing games.
42	City of Oakland	Measure D	Yep.	There's this funny thing that forces a vote of the voters every once and awhile to prove that we really meant it when we voted to allocate more money to services and housing and such. Spoiler alert- we did. Vote yes!
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