Josh Haden's Guide To The California Statewide Special and Consolidated Elections, May 19, 2009

Note to Gov. Schwarzenegger:

You can't go around blaming the people for problems you helped create and not expect the people to get angry.

If the measures you support (1A - 1F) don't pass, don't blame the voters for an even more "dire" state of the state.

The voters don't trust you!!

California is at least as bad off now if not worse than when you replaced Gray Davis. All of the problems we are experiencing now happened under your watch.

You need to take responsibility and step down!

What is this b.s. about 1F?

There needs to be a measure on this ballot saying that, as a step towards balancing the budget, and as a way of admitting responsibility for the current crisis, and as a gesture towards showing the people they honestly want to change things, all California lawmakers must cut their salaries down to $1 a year for the next four years. I'm sure that would save California a lot of money.

Thus, for the State Measures, my strong recommendations are:

1A: No
1B: No
1C: No
1D: No
1E: No
1F: No

I know, for once I agree with the California Republican Party, but I don't think for the same reasons. The California Democratic Party support 1B, 1C, and 1F (on the rest they officially have "no position". Hmmm... Weren't these measures written by Schwarzenegger and the Democratic Party in the first place?)

For Los Angeles City Attorney, I endorse Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich. Not that I think he's any better than Jack Weiss, I just think Weiss is a little too friendly with Villaraigosa for my taste. 

For the Los Angeles Community College District I endorse incumbents Angela J. Reddock and Nancy Pearlman. They seem OK to me.

My recommendations hold true for my district only. Other districts will have other and additional measures/candidates to vote for.

LAist has posted a guide to the myriad of endorsements for this election, including L.A. Times, Young Progressive Majority, and others. Kudos as always to Zach Behrens and LAist.

Josh Haden's Guide To The California 26th State Senate District Special Primary Election, March 24, 2009

Last night my wife Lisa and I rented Gus Van Sant's film entitled Milk.

After it finished, for about fifteen minutes I decided to give up my music career and go into politics.

Where are the politicians today who inspire, who gather the masses under a legitimate common cause and bring them marching en masse into the streets, not just for a day-long CNN photo-op to sell advertising spots? Where are the politicians who aren't already entrenched in politics, who don't already come from a political family or a political history, where are the politicians who are so passionate about their beliefs they grab a soapbox, a megaphone and set up on a street corner, starting from a grass roots effort, until thousands of people rally around them and effect real change, not just the kind of change politicians call change.

Is Obama the closest we can get?

All I've received from the candidates in this latest L.A. election are 13 one-sheet and small pamphlet mailers and two oven mitts.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the oven mitts, but I was expecting a little more.

If the number of mailers I've received are any indication, Curren Price will be the clear winner of this race (I've received eight mailers from him). Robert Cole and Jonathan Friedman (two mailers each, although they did include said oven mitts with one of their mailers) will tie for a distant second.

However, I endorse Saundra Davis, for the mere fact she is endorsed by Congresswoman Diane Watson, and you can't go wrong with Diane Watson, at least not yet. Lots of politicians have been disappointing me lately.

Harvey Milk would never have disappointed me. Rest In Peace, Courageous Man.

For a full list of candidates for the 26th State Senate District Special Primary Election, see my previous post here.

Josh Haden's Guide To The March 3 Los Angeles Municipal Elections

I wanted to write a much longer blog entry on today's Los Angeles election, in which we Los Angeleans, amongst other things, get to vote on a new mayor, but I simply didn't have the time!

Its frustrating because this is a very important election for Los Angeles, even though probably most registered voters will be ignoring it.

An incredibly fascinating article about the corrupt and out-of-control politics of our city was published last week in the L.A. Weekly, I encourage everyone who's interested to read it.

Every city's political machine is corrupt to a certain extent and Los Angeles is no exception. Watch the movie "Chinatown" with Jack Nicholson to see how twisted it is and how far back the corruption goes.

Anyways, I love my city no matter what!

Please note this guide only applies to my voting district. There are many offices and candidates I won't be covering here, a great source to check out for other districts is the Young Progressive Majority.Org Voter's Guide.

My picks for the election, without fanfare and very little if any explanation:

Mayor: David "Zuma Dogg" Saltsburg

City Attorney: None

Controller: None, there really is no good candidate running for this important office, and that's sad because this office oversees audits of city government operations and financial disbursement programs, amongst other things. The apparent front runner, council district 2 representative and council President Pro Tempore Wendy Greuel is so much a part of the problem in L.A. city government I don't know how anybody could expect her to have a proper neutral perspective to do a good job. Her television advertisements are so disingenuous (me paraphrasing: "such and such office hired a firm to teach its employees Zen meditation! Horrible! With me in office there will be no governmental funding of Zen meditation on L.A. city property!"). I'm not sure we should trust her. I hope she proves me wrong.

Los Angeles Community College District:
Member Of The Board Of Trustees, Seat No. 2: Angela J. Reddock
Member Of The Board Of Trustees, Seat No. 4: None
Member Of The Board Of Trustees, Seat No. 6: Toss-up between Robert Nakahiro & Nancy Pearlman.
Member Of The Board Of Trustees, Seat No. 7: Miguel Santiago

Measure A: YES
Measure B: NO (A good article about this measure can be found here.)
Measure C: YES
Measure D: YES
Measure E: NO

Happy voting!

I'm going to sleep now!

Los Angeles Municipal Elections March 3, 2009

Tonight (actually last night) I was flipping through my Time Warner-supplied TV channels and thought I had tuned in to the resurrected L.A. Public Access Channel.

It was actually L.A. CityView 35 with their informative yet low budget look at the Mayoral/City Attorney/City Controller candidates for the upcoming L.A. Municipal Election.

I learned on this year's mayoral ticket there are two socialists, a pastor-pro-marijuana legalization guy, and a self-described "entertainer". Everyone's favorite L.A. watchdog and City Council superstar, Zuma Dogg, is running, he appeared minus costume, dressed in suit-and-tie and sounding quite intelligent, and only ranting a little bit. Of course there was the man himself, current defending champion Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, you know, the other politician who cheated on his wife.

Does anyone know if Zuma Dogg ever cheated on his significant other? Who cares? David Saltsburg (Zuma's real name) has my vote.

In the City Attorney category I was impressed with Michael Richard Amerian's professionalism and dedication, but rival Noel Weiss did quote D.H. Lawrence in his speech, and that counts for something.

I liked all of the candidates for Controller, although I was smitten by Nick Patsaouras' genuineness. I wonder if maybe Zuma Dogg might be better off starting his L.A. political career by running for Controller, as both he and current councilperson Wendy Greuel are using the "get rid of Waste, Fraud, and Abuse" platform.

All of the respective candidates' video statements can supposedly be seen on-demand at the L.A. CityView website, although I couldn't find them anywhere.

So, to all my L.A. friends, don't forget to vote March 3!