U.S. Senate
Senator Dianne Feinstein is in her 14th year of representing California in the U.S. Senate. The 73-year-old Feinstein faces only token Republican opposition from 74-year-old former state senator Dick Mountjoy. A former president of the California Republican Assembly, the state’s largest conservative activist group, Mountjoy authored Proposition 187, which would have denied government healthcare, education and welfare benefits to illegal immigrants. In an interview with the Pasadena Weekly he was asked to name his top priorities. He listed immigration reform, supporting the president’s Supreme Court nominations and support for the president’s program against terrorism. (“I totally support giving powers to the president to surveil [sic] people.”) Further, his biography states: “The one issue that has remained at the forefront of Dick Mountjoy’s priorities has been the protection of the unborn.”

While Feinstein has shown commendable leadership on some issues—choice in particular—she has fallen short in some important areas. The most important foreign policy vote of recent years was the vote authorizing the president to use force in Iraq. While Feinstein’s rhetoric leading up to the vote was skeptical, she voted in favor, not standing with the 23 senators who opposed Bush’s direction in Iraq. She has also largely opposed efforts to scale back Pentagon spending, for instance opposing an amendment to cut B-1 bomber spending and transfer the funds to elementary and secondary education and opposing an amendment to cut Star Wars missile defense funding and spend the funds on drug enforcement and deficit reduction. We are spending more on our military than all other countries in the world combined do on theirs. Why are bloated Pentagon budgets so necessary?

Two of the most important domestic policy votes in this presidency related to tax cuts and Medicare. Feinstein voted for Bush’s first major tax cut bill. It aggravated the growing gap between rich and poor in this country, was the major impetus for yawning budget deficits we have experienced and launched Bush’s relentless rounds of more tax cuts for the very wealthy. Some observers see the Bush Medicare plan as the first major push to unravel the social safety net. Feinstein supported the Medicare program change, which has proven to be a disaster to implement and has left many recipients scrambling to cover medical costs.

She has little hesitancy about amending the Constitution, supporting a variety of amendments, and has not only supported the anti-flag-burning amendment but has been a leader in advocating it. We prefer the Constitution’s historic role in our democracy—as a bedrock guarantee of our freedoms. The flag amendment takes the novel approach of using the Constitution to limit freedom of expression.

While the senator casts many pro-environment votes, she has some blind spots. She led the Quincy Library Group effort to shortcut environmental safeguards and promote more logging, and worked in support of passing Bush’s “Healthy Forests” (a classic example of Bush doublespeak) initiative to promote logging in the guise of fire protection, opposing an amendment that would have helped moderate the measure’s erosion of the National Environmental Policy Act. She also opposed a Kerry amendment to the Trade Act of 2002, which would have cut provisions giving foreign corporations power to sue U.S. citizens for damages if U.S. environmental and health laws increase their costs of doing business here. She voted in favor of confirming Gale Norton as interior secretary after the confirmation process revealed her 20-year career as an anti-environmental attorney activist.

Feinstein is known as a “moderate.” Moderation is often a good thing. However, we’d rather see her embellish her “moderate” credentials with more votes for fiscal responsibility, instead of earning a “big spender” rating year after year. If achieving moderation means misguided military ventures, massive tax cuts for the rich resulting in deep deficits, the beginning of the end of Medicare and the social safety net, and the erosion of our environment and free speech, we would rather see more progressive or true conservative leadership and less “moderation.” We support Feinstein over Mountjoy. However, we don’t do so without expressing some disappointment.

Governor
This race is about Hollywood charisma combined with expedience-defined politics in the person of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger versus wonky, deep thinking, non-charismatic, well-defined politics in the person of Treasurer Phil Angelides. Schwarzenegger, in his short political career, has already reinvented himself at least three times. He ran against Gray Davis as a hybrid move star/apolitical outsider who wouldn’t just think outside the box but would “blow up the boxes” and return the state to fiscal health. It’s hard to think of a box Arnold has blown up unless it’s the box of consistent policy. After ducking most major issues during the recall campaign and posing as a moderate, once elected Schwarzennegger moved to the right, attacked Democrats and groups such as nurses and teachers as special interests and established a pattern of “going directly to the people.” This culminated with the resounding defeat by “the people” of his package of statewide propositions. Arnold reinvented himself again with a few high-profile personnel changes, including hiring flexible Democrat Susan Kennedy as his chief of staff, and scrambling to search for common ground with the Democratic Legislature. What better place to find common interest than in a massive spending measure that doles out transportation and other goodies throughout the state. The Democratic leadership of the Legislature was happy to embrace the born-again Arnold and provide a major boost to his rehabilitation. Given his erratic history, it’s not easy to predict what kind of policy Arnold would produce in a second term, though it’s a fairly safe bet to assume that it would be calculated to enhance his image and poll ratings. Also, he provided key support for George W. Bush in Ohio in the 2004 election. One of Karl Rove’s operatives was brought in to run Arnold’s re-election campaign. Who will he support in 2008? Jeb Bush?

Angelides has a passion for policy, and he knows who he is. He was successful in his private business, served effectively as state Democratic Party chair and has been an energetic treasurer who has challenged Schwarzenegger’s policies. Angelides as treasurer has repeatedly demonstrated original thinking and a vision for the future of the state. He has been a national leader in advancing corporate reforms such as tough new disclosure standards for investment banks and strict standards for mutual funds to protect ordinary investors. His Double Bottom Line initiative promoted investing public capital to achieve solid investment results while at the same time boosting at-risk California communities. The California-grown, Harvard-educated Angelides sees a future for California filled with livable communities in the cleanest environment, populated by the best educated workers.

In the primary, Angelides overcame Steve Westly’s huge media spending advantage, and Garry South’s attacks. However, Arnold has a massive spending advantage and star value to go with it. Angelides deals with serious problems in a serious and not always popular manner with a view toward improving the lot of average folks. That’s what people say they want. If there was ever a choice between intelligent substance and “mirrors and smoke,” this is it. We support Angelides.

Lieutenant Governor
John Garamendi is serving a second round as state insurance commissioner, having also previously served in the state Legislature and in the number two position in the U.S. Department of the Interior. He has been a strong advocate for consumers, the environment and California families throughout his career. The Republican candidate is state senator Tom McClintock. McClintock has served 19 years in the state Legislature but notably gained statewide fame during his failed run for governor in the Davis recall election. He earned a reputation for consistently adhering to his conservative Republican principles. We admire his devotion to his principles but can’t support someone whose vote ratings by major environmental and consumer groups, among others, are either zero or very low. Garamendi has demonstrated over a long career in public service that he consistently works in the broad public interest. We endorse John Garamendi.

Attorney General
Californians consistently support recycling. Apparently what’s good for cans and bottles is good for used politicians as well. Outgoing Oakland mayor, former secretary of state, former state Democratic Party leader and former governor Jerry Brown has long-lived political genes, is capable of reinventing himself regularly, appears to have plenty of gas left in his tank and is never dull. He overwhelmed Los Angeles city attorney Rocky Delgadillo in the Democratic primary and wants to return to Sacramento as our attorney general.

The Republican candidate, Chuck Poochigian, is currently ending his second term in the state Senate after serving briefly in the state Assembly following stints as appointments secretary for Governor Pete Wilson and deputy appointments secretary for Governor George Deukmejian. A look at his votes shows a solidly conservative profile: Consumer Federation on a scale of 0 to 100 gives him a 9, while business groups rate him in the 90s to as high as 100 percent. Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice California rate him as anti-choice. He has received zeros from the Sierra Club in 2005 and The League of Conservation voters. His ratings from gun owners are at or close to 100 percent, and he has a zero rating from a gun control group.

Most Democrats didn’t have any qualms about another new office for Brown when they voted in the primary. Will their support be enough for him to win another statewide office? If Brown can focus on the job, he will do a good job for consumers and the environment, and he does bring with him a deeper knowledge of crime in communities following his stint as Oakland mayor. Brown is the clear choice here.

Secretary of State
In this race Democratic state senator Debra Bowen is challenging appointed Republican secretary of state Bruce McPherson. McPherson is a former state legislator appointed to his position by Governor Schwarzenegger. Bowen has been a leader on issues such as privacy, consumer rights and technology as well as public disclosure. She’s also been a leader in election reform. In 1993, she sponsored legislation to place all legislators’ bills and committee analyses on the Internet. In 1995, she wrote the nation’s first law to help state agencies store their documents on computers, promoting better public access. Her bills to increase public access to more records were vetoed in 1997 and 1999, but led to a voter-approved constitutional amendment that achieved most of Bowen’s goal.

Bowen has regularly taken on complicated, difficult issues. When the state’s electricity market crashed in a failed attempt at relying on private markets, Bowen helped piece the system back together.

McPherson has been widely criticized for his implementation of federal voting legislation. On March 28, Bowen and the League of Women Voters each wrote to McPherson, pointing out figures from Los Angeles County showing nearly 43 percent of all registration forms—representing 14,629 people—had been rejected by the secretary of state’s database, and urged him to alter his regulations and data matching criteria. The following day McPherson’s spokesperson was quoted as saying the rejection rate was 26 percent across the state. Bowen says that county elections officials say historically only about 1 percent of all voters attempting to register to vote are found to be ineligible.

In April, a representative of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University testified that McPherson’s approach in California was “completely unfair,” the most restrictive in the country and “an unmitigated disaster that will unfairly disenfranchise thousands upon thousands of eligible voters.” He has quietly modified key policies since, but his record remains troubling. Bowen’s intellect, experience and passion for reform perfectly suit her to this position. We endorse Debra Bowen.

Controller
In this race state Board of Equalization member John Chiang defeated state senator Joe Dunn in the Democratic primary, while Republicans voters preferred conservative former Assembly Republican leader Tony Strickland to more moderate and diverse state senator Abel Maldonado. Strickland is a former state Assembly member, and Republican Caucus chair, who served from 1998 to 2004 when he was termed out and succeeded by his wife Audra. The Los Angeles Times reported that the Stricklands share more than their marriage. They made a practice of funneling campaign money into each other’s firms. Over five years, the couple channeled more than $138,000 in campaign contributions to businesses owned by them and a legislative staffer who lived in their home. Additionally, the Ventura County Star revealed during the primary campaign that while he was serving in the Assembly in 2004, Strickland lobbied the county Board of Education to approve a charter high school, but neglected to tell the board that he was being paid as a consultant to advise operators of the school. Strickland spoke at a county school board meeting on July 26 in support of a charter application from the Vista Real Charter School. Three days earlier, he had signed a consulting contract with an associated firm, Desert Sands Charter Schools, with common ownership. Additionally, although Assemblymember Strickland reported income from TS Public Relations in his required statement of economic interests, it appears he may have reported the income incorrectly—in a way that avoided reporting the specific source of the money. The statement filed by his wife provided more detailed information, disclosing that TS Public Relations received more than $10,000 each from Desert Sands and another affiliated corporation, Charter Resources Services. Officials must file a more detailed report when they have an ownership interest of more than 10 percent in a corporation. Tony Strickland was the sole owner of TS Public Relations.

Strickland, a former chief of staff for state senator Tom McClintock, has listed his occupation as “Taxpayer Organization President” and has run a campaign focused on tough performance audits beginning with the Los Angeles Unified School District. It sounds to us as if he should start with a tough audit of his own practices.

Chiang has been an able Los Angeles area member of the Board of Equalization. He has the knowledge and skills for this job without any known cloudy ethical/financial history. We support John Chiang

Treasurer
Since when has the state Board of Equalization become a springboard to higher statewide office? Maybe one answer is when it’s a Republican primary and the more moderate candidate is a member of the state Legislature. In the Republican primary for treasurer, Board member Claude Parrish defeated more moderate Assemblymember Keith Richmond in the Republican primary. Parrish features endorsements by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. Rohrabacher, one of the most conservative members of the state Republican delegation, closely connected to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, calls global warming “baloney.” Attorney General Bill Lockyer has a solid record as attorney general and in the state Legislature that equip him well for this position. The Sun endorses Lockyer.

Insurance Commissioner
Cruz Bustamante didn’t distinguish himself as a leader while Assembly speaker or lt. governor and ran an inept campaign for governor. He may be best known for his close ties to Indian gaming tribes and the enormous $263,000 FPPC fine he was ordered to pay in the same year, 2004, he chaired U.S. senator Joseph Lieberman’s California presidential campaign. He hasn’t articulated a convincing reason for his latest career move, which may be primarily based on keeping himself employed. He had no problem taking trips and some $150,000 in contributions from the insurance industry sources he would regulate until the appearance problem dawned on even him, and he said he would return the contributions. His Web site through the primary, “Start With Cruz,” focused on his personal weight loss campaign and featured recipes for a “Berry Bustamante” and “Guiltless Turkey Fajitas.” Was it designed to avoid actual issues related to the insurance commissioner job? Was it a creative way to raise consciousness about health issues and excess weight causing higher insurance rates, or was it a bad joke—or all three? Perhaps he should be running to replace Richard Simmons rather than for this office.

Steve Poizner is the Republican in this race. Independently wealthy and regarded as a moderate, the Stanford MBA pledged at the outset not to take contributions from insurance companies. Poizner founded SnapTrack, a Silicon Valley company that developed technology allowing emergency services to locate cell phone calls. We are impressed that he volunteered to teach American government at an east San Jose High School and was selected “Rookie Teacher of the Year.” He wants to enforce laws to prevent rate increases triggered by people filing legitimate claims, crack down on insurance fraud and continue to reform workers compensation insurance. While we have to swallow hard to endorse someone who lists support from people like congressmembers Doolittle, Pombo, Radanovich and Rohrabacher, we believe that Poizner is likely to do a better job in this office. At the least, he’s less likely than Bustamante to regularly embarrass himself. Poizner is the better choice.

State Board of Equalization, District 1
The Republican candidate is San Jose area-based David J. Neighbors, who is a certified public accountant with an M.S. degree in taxation from San Jose State University. He believes “state government has grown out of control” and that “reducing the tax and regulatory burdens on businesses will help grow our economy for the future.” He advocates tax cuts for businesses and individuals.

The Democratic candidate is San Francisco native Betty T. Yee, an acting board member who previously served as the chief deputy to then Board of Equalization chairwoman Carole Migden before being appointed to her current position. She also served as the chief deputy director for budget with the Department of Finance where she analyzed legislation and worked on developing the governor’s budget, budget negotiations with the Legislature and stakeholders. She emphasizes reaching out to taxpayers and says she has “established an extensive taxpayer education program, bringing free information and tools to the small business, nonprofit, construction contractor and women’s communities” through seminars as well as through publications and articles in English, Spanish and Chinese. We endorse Betty T. Yee.

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SUN ENDORSEMENTS
Our picks for the November 7 Election

U.S. Senate
Dianne Feinstein

Governor
Phil Angelides

Lt. Governor
John Garamendi

Attorney General
Jerry Brown

Secretary of State
Debra Bowen

Controller
John Chiang

Treasurer
Bill Lockyer

Insurance Commissioner
Steve Poizner

State Board of Equalization
District 1
Betty T. Yee

Congress, 6th District
Lynn Woolsey

State Assembly, 6th District
Jared Huffman

Marin County Supervisor, District 5
Judy Arnold

Marin Healthcare District Board
Jonathan Frieman,
Richard Holland and James Clever

MMWD
David Behar

Sausalito City Council
Jonathan Leone, Dennis Scremin

Proposition 1A YES
Proposition 1B NO
Proposition 1C NO
Proposition 1D NO
Proposition 1E NO
Proposition 83 YES
Proposition 84 NO
Proposition 85 NO
Proposition 86 YES
Proposition 87 YES
Proposition 88 NO
Proposition 89 YES
Proposition 90 NO

Measure R (SMART) YES