February 5 Ballot Initiatives

Ok. Get your pencils and papers ready. I'm going to going to tell you how I'm voting on the ballot initiatives that will be on the ballot for next month's primary election. I'll have to admit that I paid scant attention to these until recently and it doesn't sound like any of them are all that exciting. I'm taking No Position on most of them.

I went ahead and checked what positions, if any, the Libertarian Party of California had taken on these initiatives. Looks like I went along pretty much with them, as is usually the case. One thing the LP CA still doesn't do, and I've suggested more than once, is give a brief reason for why they choose the position they chose. I'll never understand why they just say Yes, NO, or No Position.

Prop 91- Transportation Funding: No Position

This seems to be another one of those things where a commitment is made as to how a certain allotment of money is spent. Actually, as I read it, this just guarantees money from gasoline taxes is spent on transportation needs as it was meant to be.

That sounds good. I'd almost support it. Problem is, a lot of our budgetary problems seem to stem from trying to commit certain monies from certain sources for certain things. I feel like voting Yes, but think that might ad fuel to the fire. I'll stand aside on this one.

Prop 92- Community College Funding: NO

I have a soft spot in my heart for community colleges but this seems to be another one of those spending mandates with no specific source of funding. We already have too many such mandates and it's caused spending to go into overdrive in some cases.

Prop 93- Term Limits: NO

I've said before that I'm ambivalent on term limits, but I'll vote NO on this just because the people who wrote it are going on as if it strengths term limits. It actually rearranges term limits and allows many current legislators (especially the initiative's authors) a little more time in office.

I'm with [the Sacramento Bee's] Dan Walters: A good case can be made for ending, or at least modifying, California's current term limits law. Go ahead and make the case for changing term limits, then. Don't try and deceive voters with misleading titles to your initiative.

Props 94 thru 97- Indian Gaming: No Position

I'm not even going to bother educating myself on these ones. They're different versions of a referendum to overturn some indian compact the state legislature made a while ago.

I'm getting a little fed up with the way the state legislature seems to be joined at the hip with the indian casinos. At the same time, I don't care all that much what the casinos do, I just don't like how the indians get to do things no one else can.

I'll wash my hands of the whole affair and stand aside on all of these.