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So the recall election is on for Tuesday, October 7. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against its earlier 3-judge panel ruling, and we will be making some important decisions in a little over a week.

If you think you might be unable to vote on the 7th, please request an absentee ballot. Your application for the ballot must be received by the County Election Official by Tuesday, September 30. Here's a list of officials.

Recall - Vote NO

As you know, the recall was brought about because Republican House member Issa provided $1.6 million of his personal money to gather signatures for the recall petition. The petition only required a number equal to 8% of the number of voters in the last gubernatorial election. I don't know about you, but the fact that such a small minority of Californians was able to push this through with the backing of a wealthy partisan politician really irks me.

What's even scarier is the fact that if this recall fails and voter turn-out is even lower, then some other wealthy person could spend even less money to get another recall on the ballot.

This sets a bad precedent. Leadership means making hard choices, and sometimes those choices will be unpopular in the short run but turn out for the best in the long run. If every elected official could be recalled within 6 months of winning office, why would anyone ever make a tough decision? Why have representative government at all?

But isn't Davis a bad guy? Well, yes and no. He's a politician, and there's been some mismanagement, but for the most part, the energy crisis and the state economy and budget have not been his fault.

Big energy companies like Enron used some shady practices to create an artificial shortage and drove up energy prices. In this environment of looming brownouts and angry Californians, Davis signed long-term contracts which fixed prices but guaranteed power. Once those were in place, the energy crisis disappeared. You can read the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's initial report on this.

As for the economy, the national economy has slumped since 2001, and 48 of the states faced deficits this year. California was hit especially hard because of the large technology economy in Northern California. Combined with the federal tax cuts, state revenues have been down significantly. Moreover, about two-thirds of the state budget is tied up with mandatory spending on debt and voter propositions. That doesn't leave a lot of room to try to create a budget, especially with Republicans opposing passing a budget in order to fuel recall support.

But Davis hasn't done anything that merits a recall. He's a victim of his own bland personality, distasteful politicking, and an organized coup attempt by this state's right-wing minority.

So please vote NO on the recall.

Replacement Candidate - Vote Cruz Bustamante

Contrary to some people's opinions, you can vote NO on the recall and still vote for a candidate.

I support Cruz Bustamante because a) he is the most legitimate choice for Governor, since he was elected Lieutenant Governor by the people in the last election, and b) he is most likely to win over the Republicans. Since the recall is a Republican-funded coup attempt, they must be denied victory.

If this were a normal general statewide election, I would support Arianna. But this isn't an election about who should be governor, it's an election about thwarting power-grabs by partisan right-wingers. Let Arnold, Arianna, and all the rest run in the next regularly-scheduled election, and let them win on the merit of their platforms.

If the recall fails, this is a non-issue. But if it succeeds, we cannot hand over power to an actor with no management experience and no knowledge of how government works. Would you hire Arnold to work at your company?

Prop 53 - Funds Dedicated for State and Local Infrastructure - Vote NO

This is another instance of budgeting by proposition. Bad idea. Voters can't see the big picture of the budget. If they could, they could decide on infrastructure vs. education, infrastructure vs. health care, etc., and achieve a balance of spending and cuts. It's what we do when we choose to buy a new TV or save money to buy a car later on. But in an initiative process, we can't see that the new bed we buy today means not paying the rent next month.

Prop 54 - Classification by Race, Ethnicity, Color, or National Origin - Vote NO

This is touted as a way to make the government "color-blind." Sounds good. It sounds like it's against discrimination against minorities. But that's not the case. What it means is that we won't know what's happening to which Californians. Hate crimes, racial profiling (i.e., driving while black/brown), public health issues (e.g., diseases affecting certain minorities), education policy--all these things rely upon having accurate demographic data about where we've been and where we are, and inform our representatives about problems so they can solve them.

Prop 54 is a bad idea. Please vote NO.