Guide can be viewed at:http://theballot.org/2010/sf

Governor

Jerry Brown

Endorsed Vote: No Endorsement

Yo Jerry Brown. Let's talk. We would totally vote for the "Governor Moonbeam" version of Jerry Brown our parents tell us about: the bold Democrat who stood against the death penalty and for the environment. But we aren't down with how you did Oakland. When you were Mayor there, you were too friendly with real estate developers, non-commital on gay marriage, and the way you responded to Oakland's crisis of violence with regressive measures like zero-tolerance and curfews? Not cool. And now your hemming and hawing about reforming Prop 13 and talking "no new taxes" and we're like, "Dang, Jerry Brown! What's up? There's no way we're gonna vote for Meg 'Goldman Sachs' Whitman, but seriously, you gotta give us something here. Stand up and be a proud progressive Democrat!"

Lt. Governor

Gavin Newsom

Endorsed Vote: Yes

How crazy is San Francisco politics? We're endorsing Gavin Newsom, a guy who blocked us on twitter! We disagree with Gavin a lot. He talks a good game at being progressive, but most of the time he's on the "big money" side of crucial local issues: selling out Bayview/Hunters Point to Lennar, siding with PG&E against public power, etc. His policy of reporting immigrant youth to ICE before they've been convicted of any crimes is horrible. But when you take him out of SF and compare him to the usual hacks who run for office statewide, Gav looks pretty good. He supports reforming Prop 13 and is semi-serious about addressing climate change. His opponent in the primary is Janice Hahn. Her politics seem pretty good, but we don't think she's ready for prime time. She's gotten by on her family name and just doesn't have the experience.
Pssst! Here's a poorly kept secret: the main reason we want Gavin to become Lt. Governor is because if he wins, the Board of Supervisors gets to pick his replacement, and we're hoping that would mean that we'd finally get a Mayor we could be excited about! Some of us are afraid this could backfire on us: Gavin goes on to become Governor or Senator and uses his clout to support candidates and policies that we don't like. Hmm. It's a tough call.

Secretary of State

Debra Bowen

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Controller

John Chiang

Endorsed Vote: No Endorsement

Treasurer

Bill Lockyer

Endorsed Vote: No Endorsement

Attorney General

Kamala Harris

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Insurance Commissioner

Dave Jones

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Board of Equalization

Betty Yee

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Larry Aceves

Endorsed Vote: Yes

State Senate District 8

Leland Yee

Endorsed Vote: No Endorsement

State Assembly District 12

Fiona Ma

Endorsed Vote: No Endorsement

State Assembly District 13

Tom Ammiano

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Superior Court Judge Seat 6

Linda Colfax

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Superior Court Judge Seat 15

Michael Nava

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Democratic County Central Committee - Assembly District 13

(This is the group running on the East side of town.) Please, don't skip this! We know it's obscure and random and you have to look through a whole bunch of names. But the winners get to call the shots for the City's Democratic Party, and that's important. If you generally agree with our endorsements, you want our DCCC candidates to be the ones who pick the Democratic Party's endorsements. Trust us. We made them answer 40 questions about previous elections to check them out. They're solid. You can vote for up to 12 candidates.

Debra Walker

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Aaron Peskin

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Eric Quezada

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Hope Johnson

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Alix Rosenthal

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Michael Goldstein

Endorsed Vote: Yes

David Campos

Endorsed Vote: Yes

David Chiu

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Rafael Mandelman

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Kim-Shree Maufas

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Carole Migden

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Robert Gabriel Haaland

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Democratic County Central Committee - Assembly District 12

Unfortunately we only found 9 we liked in Assembly District 12 (the West side of town). You can either only vote for our 9 or check out another group you trust to find 3 more.

Chris Gembinski

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Michael Bornstein

Endorsed Vote: Yes

John Avalos

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Hene Kelly

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Sandra Lee Fewer

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Eric Mar

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Milton Marks

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Jane Morrison

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Jake McGoldrick

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Prop 13: Property tax break for earthquake retrofits

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Prop 14: Open primaries = no more 3rd parties

Endorsed Vote: No

Prop 14 would set up an open primary in California, meaning that you could vote for whoever you wanted, regardless of party, in the June primary for all statewide offices. Then, the top two vote-getters appear on the ballot in November. As Stephen Colbert said, "So the two richest guys win!" We see right through this one. While it'd be nice to have more choices to vote on in primaries, this prop would make it almost impossible for third party candidates to even make it onto the general election ballot.

Prop 15: Public financing for Secretary of State

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Prop 16: PG&E wants to buy your vote

Endorsed Vote: No

Prop 16 would make it virtually impossible for local governments to expand or start up new electricity service--it would require a 2/3rds vote to do so. WTF, PG&E??? We want less 2/3rds rules in California, not more! These 2/3rds rules mean a radical minority can thwart the will of the majority. PG&E is way behind on meeting the state mandate for renewable energy. So instead of investing our ratepayer dollars into wind and solar, they're spending it on Prop 16 so we won't have the ability to ditch them for greener, government-run alternatives. Dang, PG&E! That's cold.

Prop 17: Car insurance scam

Endorsed Vote: No

Prop 17 would allow auto insurance companies to jack up the rates on people who have a lapse in their insurance. That lapse could be because they forget to renew their insurance or (gasp!) they didn't have a car for awhile. Prop 17 is Mercury Insurance's attempt to carve out a loophole for themselves in California's landmark auto insurance regulations that were created by 1988's Prop 103.

Prop A: Renew parcel tax for schools

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Prop A renews a parcel tax to pay for school facilities that is about to expire. We're down with that. If anything, we think they should increase the amount of the tax and index it to inflation instead of just renewing a tired, 20-year old tax.

Prop B: Seismic safety bond

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Prop B is a bond to seismically retrofit the Hall of Justice, the emergency fire cistern system, and some fire houses and police stations. We are suspicious of bonds in general, but this is the sort of thing they're supposed to be used for.

Prop C: Revamp the film commission

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Prop C would split the appointments to the Film Commission between the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors and it would let the Commission hire and fire their Executive Director. Right now, the Mayor runs the whole show. Prop C would also diversify the commission by requiring representation from neighborhood groups, film industry peeps, and workers on film sets. Cool.

Prop D: Keep retirement costs from going crazy

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Prop D is wonky and complicated, but basically it makes City employees (including police and fire) pay a larger share for their retirement benefits. It would also limit a loophole that the SFPD and some others have been exploiting to jack up their retirement payouts. Retirement costs are threatening to bankrupt the City. This is a first step to straighten that out.

Prop E: Transparency for the SFPD's Budget

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Prop E would make the SFPD report how much they spend on security for elected officials and visiting dignitaries. That's it. Can someone tell us why we have to vote on this? Sounds like common sense, good government 101 to us.

Prop F: Cut broke tenants a break

Endorsed Vote: Yes

Prop F would let tenants who have hit tough times apply for temporary protection from rent increases. Tenants who are unemployed, on social security or disability, or had their wages cut by 20% could apply for financial hardship protection. A judge would review their application, and the judges decision could be appealed to the Rent Board.

Prop G: Good but now-irrelevant policy statement

Endorsed Vote: Yes

This guide uses the Cityscape - colorful design by Nica Lorber