Insightful
commentary on the ballot measures coming up, right after a word from the “sponsor”
of this week’s column, the Petaluma Phoenix Theater… Did you know that the
Phoenix is open for drop-in use by local youth seven days a week, fifty two
weeks a year? And that the kids not only skateboard, play music, do homework
and hang out in a safe and cool environment, but can avail themselves of free
health services like the weekly medical clinic and quarterly dental clinics?
And that all this depends entirely on the generosity of volunteers and donors?
And that you can support the Phoenix by having a great time at the Fourth
Annual Phoenix Theater Spooky Chicken Halloween Ball, the best Halloween party
this side of the Golden Gate? It’s Saturday, October 21, from 7:30 to midnight.
Great music, dancing, catered food and costumed merriment, for $30. Contact me
via email or see www.petalumaphoenix.org/event.html
to buy tickets online. Now back to our column.
Question:
what do Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and Petaluma’s Mayor David Glass have
in common? They both attribute their electoral success to public funding for
their campaigns. Napolitano and Glass accepted limits on private fund raising
in order to qualify for the “clean money” programs. The beauty of clean money
is that the obligation they have to their campaign contributors is an obligation
to the general public.
What
Arizona, Maine, and, briefly, Petaluma have done to root out the biggest threat
to democracy can now be done for California offices, including the Governor,
Senate and Assembly. Proposition 89, the California Clean Money and Fair
Elections Act, is based on legislation killed in the legislature by the special
interests it seeks to control. It levels the political playing field by 1)
enacting stricter limits on contributions, especially from lobbyists,
government contractors, corporations and unions, 2) provides clean money for candidates
who show strong grassroots support (specified numbers of $5 individual
contributions) and who reject other private funding, and 3) establishes tough
disclosure and enforcement, to prevent the tainted-money candidates from hiding
their tainted contributions behind front groups.
(As I was
writing this, North Korea exploded its first nuclear weapon. It was one of
these political front groups, the anti-Kerry Swift Boaters, who helped elect
the Haliburton Administration. Bush’s geopolitical blundering,
in turn, is helping another “royal family” leader, Kim Jung Il,
advance Kim’s madman’s agenda. The passage of Prop 89, with California’s trendsetting
influence, could help bring an end to “one dollar, one vote” in our nation’s
capital.)
Prop 90 is
the eminent domain initiative. It was sponsored by a millionaire libertarian
who was outraged when the Supreme Court last year ruled that local governments
could force property owners to sell out and make way for private economic development, even if the property is not blighted.
Prop 90 puts restrictions on eminent domain abuse, but it does dangerously more.
90 contains a stealth provision that would require
public agencies to pay for the calculated loss in value to property owners and
developers resulting from land use and environmental regulation. In evidence of
the extreme nature of this measure, a surprising mixture of organizations have
lined up in opposition: the Sierra Club, the California Farm Bureau and Chamber
of Commerce, League of Conservation Voters, California Taxpayers Association,
all the major unions, and dozens more (see www.noprop90.com).
Prop 90 is
a disaster. Ironically, Clean Money campaign measures at the State (and eventually
local) level, by removing the corrupting influence of real estate speculators
on local land use decisions, will do more to check eminent domain abuse than
Proposition 90.
I’m support
Sonoma County Measure R, the “SMART” train measure. It’s a necessary investment,
making possible the concentration of future development around the rail
stations, vitalizing city cores, creating sustainable commerce and walkable communities. Plus, once you realize that getting
to the station (on foot or bike) replaces your time at the fitness club, and that
you can do your offline email while you ride the train or connector bus, the
connector problem is solved. So get SMART, and vote on November 7th.