The presidential primary election, sneaking up on us on March 5, may have one of the shortest ballots we’ve seen in a while, but it’s also full of confusion. First off, why do I have two different, hefty voter pamphlets?
The one labeled “Marin County” in green on the cover contains your sample ballot. Thumb through this one to find your sample ballot; it’s the one for the political party you chose when you registered to vote. If you registered as a “no party preference” voter, your ballot does not contain any choices for president. However, you still may be able to vote for a presidential candidate, as explained on the booklet’s fifth page. Toward the back you’ll find paid candidate statements for the local congressional, state assembly and county supervisor races.
The other booklet is headed “Primary Election” in red on the cover. Most of it is more than you’ll ever want to know about Prop. 1, the only statewide measure on this year’s ballot. It also includes fascinating, and sometimes macabre, statements provided by candidates for U.S. Senate. (One statement on page 22 is so vilely over the top that the Secretary of State appended a unique disclaimer in boldface type disavowing candidate views and opinions.)
All West Marin ballots, no matter which party they are for, have the same lists of candidates for U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, State Assembly and Marin County Supervisor. You’ll vote twice for the senate seat, once for the full six-year term that begins on Jan. 3, 2025, and separately for the remainder of the current term expiring on Jan. 3, 2025, which became vacant when Dianne Feinstein died.
The G.O.P. is pinning its hopes for the senate seat on Steve Garvey, a one-time distinguished baseball professional who has distinguished himself on the campaign trail to be a know-nothing candidate. The viable candidates are three veteran Democrat members of Congress, Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam B. Schiff. I’m entirely comfortable with any of the three, but I am leaning toward the frontrunner, Schiff, who turned in a memorable performance as a lead member of the House committee that effectively exposed Donald Trump’s complicity in abetting the Jan. 6 insurrection. You should vote for the same person in both Senate races.
Once again, it is a pleasure to urge a vote for incumbent Jared Huffman for another term in congress. Similarly, I endorse the election of Damon Connolly for a second term as our member of the state assembly. I was a bit iffy about Connolly when he ran the first time, but he’s done an excellent job during his inaugural term.
The most interesting race locally is for the county supervisor seat currently held by Olema’s Dennis Rodoni. His only challenger is Francis Drouillard, a Trumper who is so far (read far-right) out of touch with local political mores that even the county’s Republicans have parted ways with him. When asked if Joe Biden won in 2020, he blathered about “serious problems with the 2020 election” and proceeded to form a Marin Election Integrity Committee. This was more than the Marin County Republican Central Committee could countenance, and they expelled his group. Vote for Rodoni.
Finally, there’s the omnibus Prop. 1, which was placed on the ballot in a rare but remarkable display of bipartisanship by almost unanimous votes in both houses of the state legislature. In fact, one of the key organizers of the failed 2021 attempt to recall Governor Gavin Newsom has penned an op-ed piece endorsing Prop. 1, which asks Californians to approve a $6.38 billion bond issue to build mental health and substance abuse treatment centers and to provide housing for the homeless.
I’m amazed that so little opposition to this whopping bond issue has emerged. There are, of course, the familiar anti-tax knee-jerkers, but the credible opponents’ concerns focus on a second part of the proposal. In addition to the bond component, the measure redirects some existing tax revenues to provide funding for specific mental health, drug and alcohol treatment programs. The rub is that this money currently goes to the counties, and under Prop. 1 it would go to the state.
Without getting too far into the wonky weeds here, the issue is a voter-approved 2004 proposition that surcharges earners with incomes over $1 million to fund mental health programs in the counties. It produces as much as $3.5 billion annually, 5 percent of which goes to the state and the other 95 percent is distributed to the counties (Marin’s share has been in the range of $16 million to $23 million annually). Prop. 1 would increase the state’s take from 5 percent to 10 percent, commensurately reducing the share that goes to the counties by $140 million annually.
The framers of Prop. 1, led by Gov. Newsom, contend that after a decade, the 2004 measure needs tweaking, most glaringly because it restricted use of the funds to mental health disorders. Thus, a key feature of Prop. 1 is to allow the funds to be used more broadly, such as for substance abuse, early intervention and housing programs, which I think most of us agree are needed desperately. Marin supervisors agree, and they became the first county Board of Supervisors in the state to support Prop. 1.
Is Prop. 1 a panacea? Probably not, but it does seem to offer a strong and reasonable leap in the right direction. Yes on Prop. 1.
If it’s election season, it must be time for Inverness resident Wade Holland’s voting recommendations.