Ballot guide, part II: Candidate races and local ballot measures
President
I strongly prefer Romney over Obama, the same way I'd strongly prefer having a foot amputated compared to having the whole leg off. If I were voting in a swing state, I'd probably hold my nose and vote for Romney, but since I live in California, I have the luxury of casting a protest vote for Gary Johnson without fear of contributing to letting the greater evil win over the lesser evil. I'm still undecided, since I have reservations about my vote being an implied endorsement for the Libertarian Party (which I have despaired over ever becoming a serious political force), and since I'm not generally favorable to "sore loser" third party candidates, but I'll probably wind up voting for Johnson.
US Senate
Voting for the Republican candidate by default. I'm not a fan of Feinstein, and Emken seems like a generic establishment Republican (far from ideal, but would still be an improvement over Feinstein if by some miracle Emken were to win).
US Representative and State Assembly
Repeating my votes from the primary, for Evelyn Lee and George Yang, respectively.
State Senate
Abstaining. Both candidates are Democrats, and both appear to be very liberal (making single-payer health care core issue in their campaigns, for example). Hill appears to be trying to pivot towards the center post-primary by talking about pension reform and delaying the high-speed rail project, but a bit of digging on the latter appears that he's trying to hold up the rail project in order to force it to be bigger, more expensive, and more disruptive, which also makes me doubt his sincerity on the former.
Board of Education
Voting to reelect Grace Mah, since her opponent is running on a single-issue platform of opposing charter schools.
Foothill-De Anza College District
(Pick 3 of 4 candidates)
Voting for everyone but Geby Espinosa, who seems to be running a single-issue campaign in favor of hemp legalization. I'd be tempted to agree with her, except that has nothing to do with the office she's running for.
Fremont Union High Schoold District
(Pick 2 of 3 candidates)
Rosas appears to be basing his campaign around his support for the Occupy movement, and Newton seems to be endorsed exclusively by Democrats and Democratic organizations, so I'll be voting for Jeff Moe and casting a write-in vote for Lord Voldemort.
El Camino Hospital District
(Pick 2 of 5 candidates)
Voting primarily according to endorsements. Zoglin's endorsed by the President of the Silicon Valley Taxpayer's Association, and Miller's endorsed by Dave Whittum.
Measure A: Sales Tax
Measure B: Parcel Tax
I'm going with my general policy of voting against tax increases.
Measure M: Limits on executive/administrative compensation for El Camino Hospital
On one hand, I'm generally opposed to hard limits on executive compensation, since upper management is highly leveraged (i.e. a good top manager can add a massive amount of value to an organization compared to a mediocre top manager, even if merely by not screwing up as often, so for a medium-to-large organization it makes little sense to cheap out of hiring the best available talent for senior management), but on the other hand, I'm also generally sympathetic to arguments for austerity policies in order to spend taxpayer money as stingily as possible. The deciding factor here for me are: 1) the caps seem to be well below the prevailing rate for hospitals this size, so they probably really would be cheaping out rather than reigning in overgenerous pay, and 2) the measure appears to be backed not by groups that are likely to genuinely care about austerity, but rather by unions which appear to be retaliating for austerity measures put in place by the hospital's incumbant senior management. I'll be voting no.
I strongly prefer Romney over Obama, the same way I'd strongly prefer having a foot amputated compared to having the whole leg off. If I were voting in a swing state, I'd probably hold my nose and vote for Romney, but since I live in California, I have the luxury of casting a protest vote for Gary Johnson without fear of contributing to letting the greater evil win over the lesser evil. I'm still undecided, since I have reservations about my vote being an implied endorsement for the Libertarian Party (which I have despaired over ever becoming a serious political force), and since I'm not generally favorable to "sore loser" third party candidates, but I'll probably wind up voting for Johnson.
US Senate
Voting for the Republican candidate by default. I'm not a fan of Feinstein, and Emken seems like a generic establishment Republican (far from ideal, but would still be an improvement over Feinstein if by some miracle Emken were to win).
US Representative and State Assembly
Repeating my votes from the primary, for Evelyn Lee and George Yang, respectively.
State Senate
Abstaining. Both candidates are Democrats, and both appear to be very liberal (making single-payer health care core issue in their campaigns, for example). Hill appears to be trying to pivot towards the center post-primary by talking about pension reform and delaying the high-speed rail project, but a bit of digging on the latter appears that he's trying to hold up the rail project in order to force it to be bigger, more expensive, and more disruptive, which also makes me doubt his sincerity on the former.
Board of Education
Voting to reelect Grace Mah, since her opponent is running on a single-issue platform of opposing charter schools.
Foothill-De Anza College District
(Pick 3 of 4 candidates)
Voting for everyone but Geby Espinosa, who seems to be running a single-issue campaign in favor of hemp legalization. I'd be tempted to agree with her, except that has nothing to do with the office she's running for.
Fremont Union High Schoold District
(Pick 2 of 3 candidates)
Rosas appears to be basing his campaign around his support for the Occupy movement, and Newton seems to be endorsed exclusively by Democrats and Democratic organizations, so I'll be voting for Jeff Moe and casting a write-in vote for Lord Voldemort.
El Camino Hospital District
(Pick 2 of 5 candidates)
Voting primarily according to endorsements. Zoglin's endorsed by the President of the Silicon Valley Taxpayer's Association, and Miller's endorsed by Dave Whittum.
Measure A: Sales Tax
Measure B: Parcel Tax
I'm going with my general policy of voting against tax increases.
Measure M: Limits on executive/administrative compensation for El Camino Hospital
On one hand, I'm generally opposed to hard limits on executive compensation, since upper management is highly leveraged (i.e. a good top manager can add a massive amount of value to an organization compared to a mediocre top manager, even if merely by not screwing up as often, so for a medium-to-large organization it makes little sense to cheap out of hiring the best available talent for senior management), but on the other hand, I'm also generally sympathetic to arguments for austerity policies in order to spend taxpayer money as stingily as possible. The deciding factor here for me are: 1) the caps seem to be well below the prevailing rate for hospitals this size, so they probably really would be cheaping out rather than reigning in overgenerous pay, and 2) the measure appears to be backed not by groups that are likely to genuinely care about austerity, but rather by unions which appear to be retaliating for austerity measures put in place by the hospital's incumbant senior management. I'll be voting no.