Point Reyes Light - November 4, 2004
Local measures pass; president polls measly 14% in W.Marin
By Jacob Resneck & Jim Kravets
Although President George W. Bush would have lost the election if less than 2 percent of his voters had gone to Senator John Kerry, in West Marin it wasn’t even close.
In traditionally Democratic West Marin, Bush won only 14 percent of the vote. Senator Kerry received a whopping 84 percent. In Bolinas, a mere 6 percent of the vote went to Bush. The only West Marin precinct the President carried was Hicks Valley, where he outpolled Kerry by one vote.
Although Bush carried much of rural America, in the Point Reyes Station, Olema, and Inverness Park precinct, Bush picked up only 10 percent of the vote.
Only 690 West Marin voters went for Bush. Turnout here ranged from 73 percent in Woodacre to 19 percent in Marshall, with 66 percent overall compared with 67 percent countywide, and 61 percent statewide.
Historic transit vote
Measure A, a half-cent sales tax to finance improvements to roads and transit service throughout the county, received the daunting two-thirds majority needed to win. Sales tax in Marin will rise to 7.75 percent from 7.25 percent.
Supervisor Steve Kinsey, who had played a major role in the effort, called the result "monumental and historic." It is the first time in the state’s history that a transportation sales tax has passed by the necessary two-thirds majority.
Had the measure failed, West Marin would have lost the West Marin Stagecoach, its only transit link to East Marin and beyond. A loss would also have meant the rest of Marin would have suffered severe cutbacks in the number of Golden Gate Transit buses, which are under a county contract.
"The wheels on the Stage will continue to go round and round," Kinsey said. "We actually celebrated victory last night by burning the staff report that described the 50 percent reduction on our bus service throughout the county, which would have included the Stage in its entirety, had Measure A failed."
Transit in West Marin
Providing the necessary $500,000 a year in funding for the Stage, which the county hopes to expand to a seven-day-a week schedule, the measure may allow a north-south route connecting Inverness, Point Reyes Station, Olema, Bolinas, and Stinson Beach. Also under consideration is a proposed link between Point Reyes Station and Petaluma.
Kinsey noted that funds won’t become available until April, and that the county has a lot of planning to do before it starts expanding the bus service.
"Everyone needs to understand that the money doesn’t start rolling in until April, so you won’t see a bus rolling down the Olema Valley until after next April," he said.
In addition to the expanded transit links, $5.8 million is projected over the next 20 years for road improvements, with stretches of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard between Highway 101 and Platform Bridge Road as top priority.
GM-crop ban wins
Measure B, which was modeled after a ballot measure Mendocino County approved earlier this year, bans the raising of genetically modified crops in Marin County. Countywide, the ban received 61 percent of the vote. In West Marin the measure sailed through with 75 percent.
While enjoying broad support throughout the county, the GM-crop ban was opposed by the Marin County Farm Bureau, and it faired less well in agricultural areas such as Hicks Valley, where 54 percent of the voters rejected the measure. In Tomales and Dillon Beach, Measure B garnered 56 percent. In Marshall, 65 percent.
Farm Bureau’s stance
Farm Bureau president Henry Grossi of Marshall, a cattle rancher said the ban "is really unwise, and unneeded. It’s going to take a lot of time and money and staff from our Agriculture Commissioner, [and this] will take away other programs."
Grossi argued that there are no GM crops grown in Marin County that he is aware of, so the measure addresses a problem that doesn’t exist. In addition, it could even hamper the county’s ability to fight invasive plants and pests in the future, Grossi said.
"These genetically engineered products might, after years of testing, be beneficial to this area," he said, noting that nothing in the measure prevents farmers from importing GM products, only from growing them on their own land.
Supervisor Kinsey said that while he respects the Farm Bureau’s position, he believes the measure sends a strong signal that Marin County don’t want GM products in their food supply.
"This isn’t an issue of science as much as it’s an issue of consumer confidence," Kinsey said. He added that the county would not search for violators but will depend on people reporting suspected violations.
Two measures centered on education, Measure C (a bond measure to upgrade College of Marin’s aging facilities) and Measure G (a renewal of a parcel tax within the Tamalpais High School District), both passed with comfortable margins.
The vote reconfirmed the high priority Marin County residents place on education.
D’Opal elected judge
In the only countywide campaign for office, attorney Faye D’Opal garnered nearly 58 percent of the West Marin vote in the race for judge of Superior Court 2.
Her strong showing here helped her defeat county prosecutor Paul Haakenson countywide by more than 5 percent in the runoff election. Haakenson and D’Opal were the top two vote getters in a four-way race on March 2.
Not all of West Marin, however, went for D’Opal. Haakenson did extremely well in the San Geronimo Valley, picking up more than 79 percent of the vote in the San Geronimo, Lagunitas, and Forest Knolls precinct, as well as in the Woodacre precinct, where he received more than 80 percent of the vote. Haakenson also carried in Hicks Valley.
West Marin bucks state on criminal-justice laws
Proposition 66, which would have limited California’s Three Strikes Law to counting only violent felonies as strikes, passed in West Marin with 76 percent of voters in favor. Countywide, the proposition won with 59 percent. After a strong showing early in the campaign, Proposition 66 in the end got only 46.6 percent statewide.
The shift has been attributed to heavy television advertising toward the end of the campaign. A particularly effective ad showed menacing convicts being released from prison. Supporters of the proposition claimed that in reality other laws would have kept such convicts in prison.
Proposition 69, which carried the state and county vote by a wide margin, will allow police to take DNA samples from individuals arrested on suspicion of felonies or misdemeanors, including shoplifting.
The samples will be taken from even those defendants who are later found to be innocent, and civil libertarians had argued that people who are exonerated should not be entered into a criminal database.
They had also claimed the law as an invasion of privacy because DNA tests can do more than merely identify a subject. DNA samples can indicate a person’s risk of certain diseases, and the information could be used in ways that would keep some people from getting health insurance.
Some 62 percent of West Marin were in the civil libertarian camp although countywide it picked up nearly 59 percent of the vote.
Voters split healthcare board slates
Marin County voters split up competing slates for the two vacant seats on the five-member Healthcare Board. Archimedes Ramirez and Jonathan Friedman ran together on a platform stating that Sutter Health’s lease on Marin General Hospital should be allowed to expire, with the County of Marin to assume control of the county’s flagship hospital.
Judy House and Sharon Jackson ran on a platform urging continued cooperation with Sutter Health, which contracts with the Healthcare District to operate the hospital. The Jackson-House slate noted Sutter is willing to improve Marin General’s facilities at its own expense. Terry Rosenthal did not identify with either camp and was marginalized by this slugfest.
Sharon Jackson and Archimedes Ramirez, members of opposing slates, were elected, meaning that neither side will dominate the healthcare board. Observers expect a stalemate to ensue.
West Marin voters sided with the Friedman-Ramirez’s slate although Jackson trailed Friedman by a mere 339 votes in West Marin precincts.