However, before we hop off of that fence, let's examine a few of the candidates and issues and be sure we are at least somewhat educated before we enter the polling booth. Here are some highlights of concern to Mendocino County voters. You are urged to further investigate on your own.
Governor
While Davis and Simon are scrambling to find out who is going to foot the bill for their respective television smear campaigns, there are a few third party candidates who are actually focusing on some tough issues.
Green Party candidate Peter Miguel Camejo bases his platform on ten key issues that face Californians. Camejo is a financial investment advisor, which gives him a strong background in finance, a must-have in California politics. Here is his platform:
Energy - Stop paying for bad decisions and corruption in the utility industry. End the bailouts that have destroyed our budget surplus. Support municipal utility districts and renewable energy sources like wind and solar.
Living Wage and Labor Rights - It is unacceptable that many people who work full-time are earning so little that they are still in poverty. Enact living wage laws statewide. Fight for the rights of workers, unions, and prevailing wage rules.
Free and Fair Elections - Make sure that people are free to vote for the candidate of their choice, and have their vote count. This includes using run-offs in state-wide elections, to uphold the principle of majority rule (using instant-run-off voting, so voters can rank their first and second choices). Camejo would work for campaign finance reform, to eliminate bribery and corruption.
Civil Rights and Equality - End racial profiling by police and the criminal justice system. Enact a moratorium on the death penalty. End the mistreatment of undocumented residents. Legalize undocumented workers. Provide legal driver's licenses for all immigrants who qualify. Support programs to overcome past discrimination and its lingering effect, and equality for people of all sexual orientations, including equal civic rights for same-sex couples. Protect religious freedom for all by guaranteeing separation of church and state. Advocate for women's rights and reproductive freedom.
Old-Growth ForestÑCalifornia only has four percent of our ancient trees remaining. Camejo supports all efforts to protect the last remaining old-growth trees, so that they will still be alive for our descendants.
Education - Guarantee a quality education to everyone, including equal access to resources such as books, school facilities that work, and great teachers who are paid enough to stay in the profession. California now ranks near the bottom in the country in our support for education; Camejo would work to raise our commitment to at least the national average. Camejo would work to protect and enhance public education, and opposes the privatization of our schools.
Law and Order - To protect Californians from corporations that endanger our economy, health and safety, end the practice of being soft on corporate crime. Increase rehabilitation and training for people in trouble. Abolish California's "Three Strikes Law."
Treat Drug Addiction - Camejo would treat drug addiction as a disease, saving our state billions of dollars by avoiding the need to imprison thousands of non-violent people. Tobacco kills over 1,000 people a day in this country, and should not receive government subsidies. Camejo would work to de-criminalize marijuana, and to improve the availability of drug treatment programs, trying to end addiction by focusing on demand.
Health - Guarantee universal health care to every Californian. Use a not-for-profit system and avoid waste, so that every Californian can have high-quality health care, including preventive care and easy access to local providers, for less money than we spend now for our inadequate system. Retain good health care workers by improving working conditions, nurse-to-patient ratios, and living wage guarantees. Protect public health by enforcing our air and water quality laws, cutting the use of toxic pesticides and other hazardous chemicals, and require labeling and regulation of genetically modified foods.
Transportation, Housing and Smart Growth - Traffic congestion and smog are getting worse, and must be addressed. Those who do not or cannot drive become more isolated as development sprawls out, and farms and open space are destroyed. Support "smart growth" to develop housing (including affordable housing), schools, jobs and services in pedestrian-friendly styles that are accessible by transit and bicycle. Create a program to help first time homebuyers with down payments, and help people find, and afford, housing near their jobs.
Another notable third party candidate for Governor is Gary David Copeland of the Libertarian Party.
Libertarians have an interesting perspective on government and politics, which emphasizes the ideas of self-governance and personal freedom, with little government involvement in people's lives. From an environmental standpoint, this policy seems to leave a lot of room for abuse on the part of corporations and individuals, however Libertarian ideals are somewhat utopian in nature and worth a look. Copeland makes some good points, but be advised that a closer inspection of his campaign outline reveals some questionable attitudes on the issues of offshore oil drilling and gun control. Here is his basic platform:
An end to the Drug War and its destruction of our First and Fourth Amendment rights.
The separation of school and state, by replacing an arcane educational system, rooted in the nineteenth century industrial America, with a private educational system that encourages innovation, creativity and effective choices for parents.
No state laws that interfere with an individual's right to self-determination, unless said individual violates the right of another.
No business should be conducted by the government that otherwise could be provided by the private sector.
An end to the state income tax. The only taxes that the state should collect are use taxes and fees for services.
No individual should be forced to serve the government without prior consent of that individual.
For State Assembly District One, Doug Thron of the Green Party is a very strong candidate. Thron hails from Pennsylvania but has lived in Humboldt County for ten years. He is a wildlife and ecology photographer, lecturer, and has lobbied in Washington and Sacramento on behalf of conservation efforts. He's been a leader in the fight to save Headwaters Forest, and his photographs have been featured in countless publications.
While his plan to reduce assembly salaries seems like a bit of a stretch, Thron has a solid and well thought- out platform.
Three of Thron's priorities are: 1) education, 2) the environment, and 3) campaign finance reform. In his administration people and the environment would always come first, not the corporations, which would enable us to properly fund education, health care for everyone, etc. Unlike the candidates from the two major parties running for this seat, Thron will not accept any large corporate donations, which he considers legalized bribery.
Education - Thron supports more funding of education, smaller classes and increased pay for teachers. He would work to make sure all schools are properly funded regardless of enrollment size. He believes this can be accomplished without raising taxes, but instead by prioritizing educational funding over other things that the government shouldn't be doing in the first place, such as bailing out energy corporations
Environment - Thron supports Senator Barbara Boxer's soon-to-be-introduced California Wild Heritage Act, which would protect as wilderness up to seven million acres of federal lands. Boxer has said strong local political support is key to including many of the areas in this district. Trinity County, which was recently added to this district, currently has no elected officials who are supportive of this bill, so the winner of this seat could make a big difference in making sure roadless ancient forest areas in Trinity County are protected. In this District alone, over 400,000 acres of ancient forest on National Forest lands could be included in Boxer's bill. Democratic Party candidate Patty Berg of Eureka has received money from numerous timber companies, including one that logs ancient redwoods. Also, Patty Berg has the backing of extremely pro-timber politicians such as Bonnie Neeley and two Trinity County Supervisors, and could be very detrimental to the passage of this wilderness bill.
Thron would fight strongly to see that the water of the Klamath, Trinity and Eel Rivers is kept and returned into these rivers, so that the salmon and steelhead populations can be restored. He supports a ban on clearcutting and herbicide use on industrial timber company lands, as they are detrimental to people and the environment, as well as an indication of unsustainable industrial logging practices.
Campaign Finance Reform - Thron supports real campaign finance reform, since you cannot have true democracy with a huge corporate influence. The last time this seat was open, the two major parties spent over one million dollars each in an effort to win the seat.
Women's Rights - Thron strongly advocates a women's right to choose if she wants an abortion or not, and feels it's not the government's business to make that choice for her. What is the government's business is trying to get equal pay for equal work for female employees
Energy - Thron supports renewable energy and would work to overturn parts of the deregulation legislation. He does not support bailouts of the energy corporations. This past year both of the major parties agreed to give billions of our hard-earned tax dollars to the energy companies. Thron feels that a much better solution would have been to let many of the energy companies go bankrupt, thus forcing companies like PGandE to sell off power plants cheap. At this point the California government could have bought most if not all of these power plants with all the billions they gave the companies last year. By buying the power plants instead of more corporate welfare for the energy companies, we would no longer be held hostage by the energy companies and the California government would make money from the energy being sold, which could eventually enable our taxes to be lowered.
Fiscal Responsibility - Under the two parties in control, year after year our state government has increased its spending much faster than the rate of inflation. Billions and billions of dollars are spent every year on excessive costly government projects and outright corporate handouts. As a small business owner, Thron is tired of unwise government spending of hard-earned tax dollars, and knows this will never change under the two-party system, since both parties are so dependent on corporate money. Almost all the elected politicians say they will work to cut out the excessive spending, yet they still want the excessive spending known as "pork spending" for their districts. The two major party candidates for this seat are both tied to corporate money and have expressed support for many such projects, despite our state's financial crisis.
Humboldt County resident Patty Berg is the Democratic Party candidate for State Assembly. Berg's platform centers mostly on health care and education. She seems to have somewhat of a handle on environmental issues as well.
"Water Quality, Supply and Safe Drinking Water Projects. Coastal Wetlands Purchase and Protection. Bonds. Initiative Statute."
Don't be fooled by the by the enviro-friendly heading, folks. While the passage of Proposition 50 promises $3,440,000,000 in general obligation bonds for water projects that include urban and agricultural efficiency projects, Colorado River water usage reduction, restoration of urban wetlands, and grants for other water management projects, it also allots funds for water desalination projects, which would be likely to consume the bulk of the funding. Desalination is an enormous expense and is not the answer to California's water issues.
Additionally, Prop 50 only allots funds for the start up of such projects, and leaves the fiscal responsibility for maintenance, upkeep, and expansion in the hands of the locality in which the project originates. Prop 50 will draw an estimated $5.7 billion out of the general fund over 25 years to pay back the bonds, $2.24 billion of which will be paid in interest.
County Supervisor, Third District
This race looks to be a closely contested battle to the finish between political neophyte Hal Wagenet and John Pinches. With Wagenet it is difficult to gauge his true sympathy, as he has no real record on which to run. Wagenet was previously a mill manager and his environmental credentials do not seem overly impressive. With vital issues like the Grading Ordinance likely to make it to the Board of Supervisors next year, we would have been fortunate to have a stronger candidate.
With Pinches you know what you are getting. While his candor is well- respected, his politics tend to short-change environmental concerns.
For more information on the November 5th election, including candidates, ballot measures, and propositions not mentioned here, visit the homepage of Secretary of State Bill Jones at www.ss.ca.gov. The site includes a listing of candidates for all state offices up for election as well as ballot initiatives. For a fax listing of local candidates and ballot measures, contact the Mendocino County ClerkÐRecorder's office at 463-4370.
The views contained herein are the opinion of the author and are not intended to be an official endorsement of any candidate by the Mendocino Environmental Center. Information concerning political platforms was obtained from campaign literature. Not all of the candidates on the ballot were represented. You can find out more about the candidates by visiting their sites on the World Wide Web. You can obtain a list of relevant sites by calling the Mendocino Environmental Center.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2002
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited