Since there is again one ballot measure for this primary, I am combining the posts.

Propositions

Proposition 1- NO. It would cut county funding for mental health services, and current interest rates make bonds more expensive than normal.

Candidates

US Senate, Full and Partial Term- Barbara Lee. She has been fighting for us for decades, and has had the courage to fight for peace when nobody else dared.

President of the United States- Joseph R Biden Jr. While I disagree with how he’s handled the Gaza conflict, I think the work he has done fighting inflation, covid, and working to fix long-lasting problems in our society and infrastructure has earned my vote.

United States Representative, District 8- John Garamendi. He’s been an effective voice for the region in congress and has done good work with his newsletters.

State Senator, District 7- Jovanka Beckles. She’s done good work in Contra Costa County both in her time on Richmond City Council and as a transit director for AC transit. Her ties should balance the default tendency of the District to focus on Oakland and Berkeley.

Member of the State Assembly- Buffy Wicks. She’s done good work as an assemblymember.

Democratic County Central Committee District 1- Cameron Sasai, Devin Murphy, Jamin Pursell, Floy Elizabeth Andrews, Maria Alegria. I know all of them have fought for progressive values and will support younger candidates in the county.

Federal

Senate (short and regular term)- Alex Padilla. He’s done fine as a Senator, and the policies he’s pushed for on abortion, climate change and preserving Democracy are a closer fit to my values than his opponent.

US Representative, District 8- John Garamendi. He’s done a good job as a congressmember and directed resources to Pinole in particular. The laws he has pushed for on abortion and voting rights earn him my support.

State

Governor- Gavin Newsom. I would prefer that he more strongly back single-payer healthcare, but he’s done a good job taking the state through Covid-19 so far.

Lieutenant Governor- Eleni Kounalakis. As her statement notes, she’s fought to block new oil development, which is critical to fight climate change. Her desired policies (in the event of Newsom’s retirement or election to another office) are closer to what I would prefer than Jacobs’.

Secretary of State- Shirley Weber. She’s done a good job at expanding and maintaining ballot access, given the limitations of our county-based elections systems. For example, Contra Costa County is not a part of the Voter’s Choice Act system, but that’s a county-level decision, not a state-level one.

Controller- Malia Cohen. She has experience doing statewide auditing work through her current role as head of the Board of Equalization, and explicitly promises to ensure that tax credits claimed by major corporations are actually used for their intended purpose (her platform, page 2- PDF), and to push for effective, audited climate action (pages 4 and 5, ibid).

Treasurer- Fiona Ma. Seems to have managed the state’s funds well, has the right background experience for the job by her statement.

Attorney General- Rob Bonta. He’s done a good job as Attorney General, fighting for the issues I care about- voting rights in particular, as seen here. His priorities- fighting ghost guns, for Roe V Wade, and against polluters and pharma companies by his statement seem worthwhile.

Insurance Commissioner- None. My objections to Ricardo Lara from the primary remain- he’s still under investigation by the FPPC to the best of my ability to determine for redirecting funds from insurance companies he regulates into independent action groups working to support his re-election. I don’t see how being a cybersecurity equipment manufacturer qualifies Robert Howell to be Insurance Commissioner. Therefore, I will be leaving this portion of the ballot blank.

Superintendent of Public Instruction- Tony Thurmond. He’s had to deal with incredibly challenging conditions with Covid-19, and in my opinion has earned another term.

Board of Equalization, District 2- Sally J. Lieber. She worked at the state and local levels to fight for equity, and wants to make sure that property tax burdens aren’t shifted off of the major corporations and on to the rest of us by her statement.

State Assembly, District 14- Buffy Wicks. She’s continued to impress in her work fighting for equity in housing, workplaces and welfare.

Judicial- in my opinion, we should vote to retain unless there is clear evidence of failure to perform their duties by the justices. I haven’t seen any evidence of such, so I will vote yes for all.

Local

Clerk-Recorder: Kristen Connelly. She hasn’t taken down her opponent’s signs, and her opponent has. It’s important that the clerk-recorder of all local officials conduct their campaign with integrity.

Pinole City Council: Rafael Menis, Anthony Tave, Cameron Sasai. I’ve been fighting for a more sustainable and just Pinole for years, but there’s limits to what I can do as a citizen, or even as a planning commissioner. I ask for your vote to build a more transparent, engaged and resilient Pinole.

Anthony Tave is a great guy who has done important work with integrity on the council. Cameron Sasai’s passion and vision for Pinole is an inspiration.

All proposition quotes are to the complete voter guide pdf, linked here.

Proposition 1- Yes. Incredibly simple, and abortion and contraception rights should be codified in the state constitution. Could still be overridden by a federal ban, but that’s the Supremacy clause for you.

Proposition 26- No. If it’s just about permitting online gaming on tribal lands, why are roulette and dice games explicitly added to the permitted games list (page 79, section 19f)? Why only permit civil lawsuits the state doesn’t deem it worthwhile to pursue (page 81, section 19990 b2)?

Proposition 27- No. 10% (page 94, section 19775 a) is an excessively low rate (as you’d expect for a measure funded by gambling companies), as you can see in the rate comparison chart from the tax foundation here. Section 19776 somehow tries to enforce a 15% tax on the individuals who gamble illegally (not the providers) (page 95), except on tribal lands (page 96, subsection e). This would seem to heavily incentivize illegal gambling on tribal lands, even while other portions of the proposition require tribes to surrender their sovereign immunity except for that case (pages 92 and 93, section 19770). Finally, the amendment threshold is absurdly high (5/6ths majority) and likely to be struck down for that reason alone (page 99, section 19790 b).

Proposition 28- Yes. We’ve been gutting arts education in schools for years, and requiring funding for that with mandatory online reporting on uses (pages 106-7, section 8820 g4) is a start to fixing it.

Proposition 29- Yes. Aside from the core issue of expertise, required reporting to the state on infection rates to be posted online would be a significant public health benefit (page 109, section 1226.8 b).

Proposition 30- Yes. While I dislike that a significant portion of the revenues (about 23% between page 117, section 80219 and page 113, section 80205) set aside by the tax would go to reimbursing purchases of new ZEVs (rather than used, or the numerous other worthwhile areas set aside elsewhere in the proposition) (page 117, section 80221 c1), there are still substantial portions set aside for fighting wildfires (page 118, sections 80224-6); funding single and multi-family EV charger installations (page 115, sections 80213-4), and getting more ZEV mass transit (page 117, section 80220).

Proposition 31- Yes. Remove the incentive for companies to target minority communities with flavored tobacco advertising and they’ll stop doing it, naturally decreasing demand over time. With regards to medical devices, I think that the way the proposition references section 104495 (link here) excludes nicotine replacement products registered with the FDA because of subsection 8B, but I could be wrong on that.

Since there’s only one ballot measure for this primary, I’ve combined the two posts.

Measure G- YES. It is about as minimal a tax as can be (one dollar per vehicle), and generates revenue to help the county with removing abandoned and wrecked vehicles. Of note, nobody formally filed an argument against it- which is practically unheard of for any tax measure. Since the county’s website won’t create a reproducible link for the text of the measure, you can find it at ballotpedia here.

State Candidates

Governor- Gavin Newsom. I would prefer that he more strongly back single-payer healthcare, but he’s done a good job taking the state through Covid-19 so far.

Lieutenant Governor- Eleni Kounalakis. As her statement notes, she’s fought to block new oil development, which is critical to fight climate change.

Secretary of State- Shirley N. Weber. She’s done a good job at expanding and maintaining ballot access, given the limitations of our county-based elections systems. For example, Contra Costa County is not a part of the Voter’s Choice Act system, but that’s a county-level decision, not a state-level one.

Controller- Malia Cohen. She has experience doing statewide auditing work through her current role as head of the Board of Equalization, and explicitly promises to ensure that tax credits claimed by major corporations are actually used for their intended purpose (her platform, page 2- PDF), and to push for effective, audited climate action (pages 4 and 5, ibid).

Treasurer- Fiona Ma. Seems to have managed the state’s funds well, has the right background experience for the job by her statement.

Attorney General- Rob Bonta. His priorities- fighting ghost guns, for Roe V Wade, and against polluters and pharma companies by his statement seem worthwhile.

Insurance Commissioner- Marc Levine. He’s acted to create better insurance systems and won’t take money from the insurers he regulates by his statement. By contrast, Ricardo Lara is under investigation by the FPPC, per the San Diego Tribune, for funds from insurance companies being effectively laundered into an independent expenditure committee supporting his campaign. While it’s only an allegation at this point, I’d rather support the candidate who doesn’t have those allegations against them.

Board of Equalization, District 2- Sally J. Lieber. She worked at the state and local levels to fight for equity, and wants to make sure that property tax burdens aren’t shifted off of the major corporations and on to the rest of us by her statement.

Superintendent of Public Instruction- Tony K. Thurmond. Working to have more mental health counselors, teachers and food for children by his statement seems worthwhile. While I appreciate Marco Amaral’s ambition, I’m not at all sure that most of his goals could be accomplished in the role.

Member of the State Assembly, District 14- Buffy Wicks. She’s worked to improve vaccine access and for equity, as per her statement (which is not on the county’s website).

Federal Candidates

US Senate, Full and Partial Term- Alex Padilla. He’s fought for Medicare for All, and to build the infrastructure we need for renewable energy like heat pumps in the US.

US House, District 8- John Garamendi. He’s fighting for Medicare for All, voting rights and to stop climate change per his statement (which, thanks to the inadequacy of the county’s elections website, I can’t link). Cheryl Sudduth’s arguments for equity are also impressive, but I haven’t seen her campaigning in Pinole. I have seen Garamendi.

County Candidates

Supervisor, District 1- John Gioia. He’s done a great job fighting for our interests and progressive values- equity, sustainability, and re-opening fire stations. Even public speakers who oppose him at Board of Supervisors meetings praise his effectiveness at serving our area. He deserves another term.

County Assessor- Floy Andrews. She’s qualified, has integrity- a literal master’s degree in Ethics, and would be a far superior assessor to her opponent. He’s engaged in several unethical acts and faced suits over a hostile workplace environment.

Clerk-Recorder- Devin T. Murphy. As I’ve noted several times, I have issues with how the county election’s office has their website set up to limit online access to candidate statements. Devin Murphy would work to make information more accessible, fight for expanded voter access, and make sure our elections are safe and secure.

District Attorney- Diana Becton. She held a violent cop accountable, against significant pushback from her own office and the Sheriff’s department. Her opponent would not have. She’s also worked to establish cold case units, eliminate rape test kit backlogs, and remedy unjust sentences.

County Sheriff- Benjamin Therriault. He supports establishing community policing, and his opponent advocates for convicted, violent cops.

County Treasurer- None. At best, I can find limited, decade-old information about incumbent Russell V Watts. Without a candidate statement, website or current biography I don’t have enough information to evaluate him.

County Superintendent of Schools- Lynn V Mackey. She has a lengthy background on both the educational and administrative sides of the system, and prioritizes accountability while keeping students sane.

County Auditor-Controller- Robert Campbell. There’s not very much current information I can find for him, but there is some, which notes his experience and background. He’s also had to argue for his work in multiple recent contested elections.