dietsch ::

My ballot, 2006

As I've done the last two years, I dug up the major races on this year's Election Day ballot, for my district. I'm doing this mostly for my own benefit, as I hate to enter a polling place with no idea in advance about the less-publicized races. Here are a few thoughts.

First, there don't appear to be any ballot initiatives, unless I'm misreading the Board of Elections site.

Second, the governor's race has two interesting candidates: avuncular author Malachy McCourt (brother to Frank) and Jimmy McMillan, of the Rent Is Too (Damn) High party. You gotta go out to that link, by the way, and listen to the musical accompaniment to the RTH website.

Third, the Socialist Workers party is running a sewing-maching operator in the comptroller's race. Is it so terrible to say that's no qualification at all?

Now for the candidates. All links below go to SmartVoter.org, unless otherwise noted. Also, a party key follows, in case you don't know your SEP from your SWP.

GOVERNOR & LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR:

John Faso (Rep Con)
      & C. Scott Vanderhoef (Rep Con)
Eliot Spitzer (Dem Ind Wor)
      & David Paterson (Dem Ind Wor)
Malachy McCourt (Gre)
      & Alison Duncan (Gre)
John Clifton (Lbt)
      & Don Silberger (Lbt)
Maura DeLuca (SWP)
      & Ben O'Shaughnessy (SWP)
Jimmy McMillan (RTH)

STATE COMPTROLLER:

J. Christopher Callahan (Rep Con)
Alan Hevesi -- incumbent (Dem Ind Wor)
Julia Willebrand (Gre)
John Cain (Lbt)
Willie Cotton (SWP)

ATTORNEY GENERAL:

Jeanine Pirro (Rep Ind Con)
Andrew Cuomo (Dem Wor)
Rachel Treichler (Gre)
Chris Garvey (Lbt)
Martin Koppel (SWP)

U.S. SENATORS:

John Spencer (Rep Con)
Hillary Rodham Clinton -- incumbent (Dem Ind Wor)
Howie Hawkins (Gre)
Jeff Russell (Lbt)
Bill Van Auken (SEP)
Roger Calero (SWP)

U.S. CONGRESS
District 12:

Allan Romaguera (Rep Con)
Nydia Velazquez -- incumbent (Dem Wor)

N.Y.S. SENATE
District 17:
Victor F. Guarino (Rep Con)
Martin Malave Dilan -- incumbent (Dem Wor)

N.Y.S. ASSEMBLY
District 53:
Ameriar Feliciano (Rep Con)
Vito J. Lopez -- incumbent (Dem Wor)

There are also a bunch of Supreme Court elections, but let's be honest here. Who cares? I don't think I should be voting for supreme-court judges in the first place since I'm hardly qualified to select them.

Key:

Rep Republican
Dem Democrat
Ind Independence
Con Conservative
Wor Working Families
SWP Socialist Workers
Lbt Libertarian
Gre Green
RTH Rent Is Too High
SEP Socialist Equality

My ballot, 2005

As I did last year, I dug up the major races on this year's Election Day ballot, for my district. I'm doing this mostly for my own benefit, as I hate to enter a polling place with no idea in advance about the less-publicized races. Here are a few thoughts.

Chase, Cutting to the: The two things that matter most this year are the mayoral election and the transportation-bond act. I worry that so many City residents have gotten the message that Bloomberg is unbeatable, that they'll stay home Tuesday and let the upstaters torpedo the Bond Act again. I do think this will be a landslide reelection win for Mike, and I'm dismayed the Democrats could do no better than Ferrer, but that's no reason to lose financing for transit repairs and upgrades.

Aside from these ballot lines, a few other things are of some note.

Reyna: As are all her colleagues, Diana Reyna is reupping for City Council. I don't know much about her, but she provided a little newsbit of interest last week:

“I am a proud Latina Democrat endorsing, supporting, and voting for our mayor, Mayor Mike Bloomberg."

In your face, Ferrer!

Advocate, comptroller: The public advocate and the comptroller are both up this year. The public advocate is sort of an ombudsman (or rather, an ombudsperson, since the incumbent is a woman) between city government and the public. Although commentators expect Betsy Gotbaum to win this race, the most interesting thing is probably that subway-vigilante Bernie Goetz is running.

As for comptroller, the Republicans haven't even fielded a candidate, and aside from Democrat Bill Thompson, others in the race include a Conservative, a Socialist, and a Libertarian. How many New Yorkers will trust a Socialist to watch the City's books, do you think?

Brooklyn Beep: Hm, apparently there are three people besides Marty who want to be Brooklyn Borough President. Great, run for an almost-purely ceremonial position that we should probably eliminate anyway. Besides, Marty hands out Smile buttons at subway exits, and he got those cool "Leaving Brooklyn? Fuhgeddaboutit!" signs installed.

I hear that Marty refuses to even contemplate the hint of the existence of such a place as Los Angeles. Furthermore, I hear that Garrett Oliver hand-crafted Marty for the job, using German hops and heirloom barley.

Court justices: A slate of Supreme Court justices is up for election. I never know how to vote for this shit, so I usually just vote party line, although I just found the 2005 New York State Supreme Court Voter Guide, so that's worth a looksee.

[Voter guide]

Prop. 1: Budget Amendment to the State Constitution

Would amend the state's Constitution to change the process for enacting the state budget. The issue here is to provide a contingency plan if the state legislature fails to act on the governor's appropriations bills prior to the new fiscal year.

Overall, a yawner. If I don't understand a proposition or if I can't figure out why I should care, I usually vote No.

Prop. 2: The Transportation Bond Act

Would fund new transit projects both in NYC and the state as a whole, to the tune of $1.45B for city projects and the same amount for upstaters. A similar bond act was voted down by upstate voters five years ago, mainly because it would have primarily funded NYC projects, and upstate voters saw no upside for themselves--even though two of NYC Transit's biggest suppliers have upstate factories.

The 2005 act has provisions for upstate transportation projects as well, and better support from the political establishment, so there's some hope that it will pass. Among the NYC prizes are new subway cars and buses, funding for Second Avenue Subway and East Side Access, and studies of the proposed Downtown-JFK link.

So this one's big for the city. [More: Straphangers; MTA]

Solid Yes from me.

Prop. 3: Ethics Code for City Administrative Judges

Would establish a uniform code of professional conduct for administrative judges.

My vote: Whatever.

Prop. 4: Balanced Budget and Other City Fiscal Requirements

Would amend the city charter to require the City to prepare a balanced-budget each year and the mayor to submit a four-year financial plan; to impose additional conditions on short-term debt and annual audits of the City's accounts.

I'll probably vote for this.

NYC to Dems: Better candidates, please

The Times has a report this morning about the mayoral campaigns of Bloomberg and two of his Democratic rivals, Council Speaker Gifford Miller and U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner. What a joke the Democratic candidates are: Miller is, like, 30 or something, and he looks barely old enough to vote himself. Weiner has a good voting record in the House, but no one outside his own district knows him. Manhattan borough president C. Virginia Fields is just as obscure. The frontrunner, Fernando Ferrer, told a group of cops a couple of months ago that he didn't think the shooting death of Amadou Diallo was a crime. Oops. Further, they're all talking more about their opponents (both the other Dems and Bloomberg) than about themselves. But today's Times article gives a great indication of why the Dems are in so much trouble this time:

Mr. Weiner and Mr. Miller made sure people knew who they were; an aide held a sign over Mr. Weiner's head identifying him, and Mr. Miller marched behind a white banner with his name, as his two young children pranced about.

Marching behind a banner in a parade isn't new; politicos and B-list celebs do it all the time. But walking with a speech balloon over your head? That's just silly.

New map

[Courtesy Daily Kos]

Congratulations...

...Americans. May you get the government you deserve. Four more years of deficit spending to support regime changes, so that your children can bleed and die in Iran and Syria. A rollback of civil rights for women and gays. A president who confuses Sweden with Switzerland and, one assumes, Swaziland. But by god, he's resolute, and he won't waver one minute when he insists that Sweden is a country in southern Africa that neighbors Mozambique. You think I'm joking? Read on ... Continue reading "Congratulations..."

My ballot

Following is a list of the races appearing on my ballot. Had I thought to prepare this sooner, I'd have incorporated links to candidates' home pages or biographies, where I could find them. (Also, although I know my polling place, I wanted to provide my precinct number here, but I can't find it online, and my voter-registration card is at home because I'm dumb.)

I think a Blogger Ballot Project would be a cool thing because it would provide an excuse for bloggers to go out and research the candidates and ballot initiatives that they'll see when they go to the polls.

Key to the parties follows.

PRESIDENT

REP George W Bush
DEM John F Kerry
IND Ralph Nader
CON George W. Bush
WOR John F. Kerry
PJP Ralph Nader
SOC Roger Calero
LIB Michael Badnarik

VICE PRESIDENT

REP Dick Cheney
DEM John Edwards
IND Jan D Pierce
CON Dick Cheney
WOR John Edwards
PJP Peter Miguel Camejo
SOC Arrin Hawkins
LIB Richard V Campagna

U.S. SENATE

REP Howard Mills
DEM Charles E Schumer
IND Charles E Schumer
CON Marilyn F O'Grady
WOR Charles E Schumer
SOC Martin Koppel
LIB Donald Silberger
GRE David E McReynolds
BUI Abraham Hirschfeld

U.S. CONGRESS DISTRICT 11

DEM Major R Owens
IND Lorraine Stevens
CON Sol Lieberman
WOR Major R Owens

STATE SENATE DISTRICT 20

DEM Carl Andrews
CON Anthony Herbert
WOR Carl Andrews

STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 52

REP Scott J Santandrea
DEM Joan L Millman
CON Anne Marie Coffey
WOR Joan L Millman

SUPREME COURT JUSTICE DISTRICT 2, KINGS AND RICHMOND COUNTIES

REP Michelle Weston Patter
REP Louis J. Marrero
REP Matthew A. Sciarrino, Jr.
REP Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix
REP Eric I. Prus
DEM Michelle Weston Patter
DEM Louis J. Marrero
DEM Wayne P. Saitta
DEM Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix
DEM Eric I. Prus
CON Thomas Stadnik
CON Philip J. Smallman
CON Matthew A. Sciarrino, Jr.

Key:

REP Republican
DEM Democrat
IND Independence
CON Conservative
WOR Working Families
PJP Peace and Justice
SOC Socialist Workers
LIB Libertarian
GRE Green
BUI Builders