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Crib Sheet | Progressive Voter Guide | June 2018

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Here’s a quick and easy way to vote in the June 5, 2018, primary election.

Many San Diego County races, including District Attorney, Sheriff, and Assessor will be decided in this election since any candidate getting better than 50% gets a pass on the November election.

City and State races, on the other hand, allow the top two finishers to go on to November. We’re told there will be a ballot measure in November to bring the county into sync with the rest of California.

Not every candidate listed here will appear on your ballot. If you don’t live in a district, you don’t get to vote on their candidates.

Here is a link to answers to any questions you may have about voting–It’s from 2016, but all the info is correct.

We endorsed (or didn’t) contests where editors and contributors had some working knowledge of the contests. Generally speaking, we didn’t endorse in non-competitive races with a Democratic incumbent (who you should probably vote for). Those incumbents are listed in the various links below.

For the full list of candidates, plus our endorsements, click on the link at the top of each section. Scroll down for the printable crib sheet.

Progressive Voter Guide for County of San Diego Elected Offices

Judicial Office #37– Victor Torres
Assessor/Recorder/Clerk – Matt Strabone
Sheriff – Dave Myers
District Attorney – Geneviéve Jones-Wright
Board of Supervisors District 4 – Omar Passons
Board of Supervisors District 5 – Michelle Gomez
Community College Board – Maria Nieto Senour, Craig Milgrim, Rafael Perez
SD County Board of Education – Alicia Munoz, Rick Shea

San Diego City Council | Progressive Voter Guide 2018 

City Council District 4 – Monica Montgomery
City Council District 2, 6 & 8  – No Endorsement*
(*We could not endorse candidates who sought the support of the Working Families Council)

California Statewide Offices & Local Legislative Seats

Governor – John Chiang
Attorney General – Xavier Becerra
Controller – Betty Yee
Treasurer – Fiona Ma
Secretary of State –Ruben Major
Insurance Commissioner –Ricardo Lara
Superintendent of Public Instruction –Tony Thurmond
Senate District 36 – Marggie Castellano
Senate District 38 – Jeff Griffith
Assembly District 71 – James Elia
Assembly District 75 – Alan Geraci
Assembly District 76 – Tasha Boerner Horvath
Assembly District  77 –  Sunday Gover

US Senate, Local House of Representatives & Ballot Measures

U.S. Senate – Kevin DeLeon
House of Representatives, District 49 – Doug Applegate or Paul Kerr
House of Representatives, District 50 – Ammar Campa-Najjar
Measure A (Chula Vista) – Sales Tax to Fund Public Safety ◆YES◆
Measure C (National City) – True Election Term Limits ◆YES◆
Proposition 68 – Clean Drinking Water and Safe Parks ◆YES◆
Proposition 69 –  Transportation Taxes & Fees Lock Box ◆YES◆
Proposition 71 – Ballot Measures Effective Date Reform ◆YES◆
Proposition 72 –End Tax Penalty for Rainwater Capture ◆YES◆

Printable Guide – Click on it to open new page before printing

 

 

Doug Porter

Doug Porter

Doug Porter was active in the early days of the alternative press in San Diego, contributing to the OB Liberator, the print version of the OB Rag, the San Diego Door, and the San Diego Street Journal. He went on to have a 35-year career in the Hospitality business and decided to go back into raising hell when he retired. He won numerous awards for his columns from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Doug is a cancer survivor (sans vocal chords) and lives in North Park.

Comments

  2. Thanks for your list which is almost identical to mine. However, you missed Jacqueline Arsivaud for Board of Supervisors District 5. Perhaps you didn’t attend the candidate forums. She is our only hope to prevent Republicans who receive large donations from out-of-town developers from being elected in November.

    • Totally agree Kristen. Jacqueline is amazing. She has been fighting for the unincorporated areas for 13 years pro bono. She has vision, leadership and executive level skills to get the job done — and her priority is representing the interests of the people over deep-pocketed developers and special interests. I was with her today as she called out the current Board of Supervisors during public testimony against the Board’s underhanded GPA “bundling” plan – she is already on the job! http://www.jacquelinefor2018.com/jacqueline-calls-out-supervisors-on-bundling.html

  3. Another wonderful ballot summary, Doug – they’re always so handy! :-)

    (I’m still wrestling with couple of choices, but I’ll be good-to-go come Election Day…)

  4. What about Lt. Governer? Or State Board of Equalization (4th in my case)?

    Please advise.

    • Lt. Gov is a pick’em. We endorsed (or didn’t) contests where editors and contributors had some working knowledge of the contests. In the longer story (there is a link to it in the crib sheet) about that race, we said “Indy candidate Gayle McLaughlin is popular with progressives. The Dem candidate raising the most money is Eleni Kounalakis. Ed Hernandez has key progressive union support.” If we start having to explain every race, then this would no longer be a crib sheet.
      As to Board of Equalization, I hadn’t researched it by the time we met to vote on these choices. Since then I’ve been told by several people I feel are well informed that there is no candidate worth voting for. There is no law saying you have to fill in every bubble.

  5. Dear Doug,

    Here is the link to the only Board of Supervisor debate.I encourage you or anyone else who missed the debate to watch it before voting for Board of Supervisor.
    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1817907498249034&id=100000894059074

    Also, having held many positions for AAA (insurance claims), there are some things on Michelle Gomez’ resume that I am concerned about. Especially her job title as a “Legislative Analyst”. This is also on the ballot. If you look at her LinkedIn resume the job description she has there is that of an entry-level, possibly even administrative position that simply requires that things meet certain deadlines as set by the California Department of Insurance. For example, when a claim is filed, the insurance company (in her case Mitchell) is required to send the claimant a standard letter within a certain number of days acknowledging receipt of their claim, advising them of coverages, advising them what is needed on their part, etc. I have NEVER seen this position called a “Legislative Analyst”. I am doing further research.

    Casi T.

    • Thanks for the link, Casi. That’s the second debate. KOCT did North County Roundtable a month ago.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-9Z0V_7G54&t=614s

      Michelle Gomez is learning, but missed too many questions. She didn’t know anything about the discretionary funds the County gives cities, said she supported the General Plan and amendments. Jacqueline Arsivaud know this stuff inside and out because she’s been heavily involved for years.

      It is clear that Michelle Gomez with never survive a debate with either Kern or Desmond. Easy win for the Republicans. The developers are hovering.

      • Thank you for the clarification and for the link to the KOCT debate. I love North County Roundtable.

        I too feel that Michelle Gomez is in no way ready for the Board of Supervisors. She is very nice but we need someone who is experienced with politics, developers and is committed to smart growth for the safety of the residents.

        Thank you again.

  6. Thank you Doug. I am wondering why (*We could not endorse candidates who sought the support of the Working Families Council).

    I have always been a fan of Lori Saldana, the fact that she is combatitive is why I admire her. Our staid politics and staid politicians need a shake up.

    Thank you for all your work.

  7. sorry that you have no endorsement for district 2, The Beaches… my home territory, why not?
    Pacific Beach is the money bank of the city of San Diego, what with its turnover of million dollar homes and the taxes thereforwithinaccrued for the city coffers… what a grey area.. OB is smaller, but same scenario, Mission Beach, (attached to PB years ago officially, same zip) some sort of lost tourist zone? dont ask, dont tell?
    I know Lorie Zapf, and she’s nice gal , should be a democrat, latino-ish foster kid, but is some kind of republican instead, for obvious monetary reason perhaps, with her hubby the business/realty ‘dealer’,… you dont like Brian whatshisname , the environmental lawyer,because he runs for office all the time and doesn’t comply to whatever is the norm with the stuck in the mud Democratic Party… so I voted (mail in) for Jennifer whatshername, the medical doctor, who looks like an intelligent, sensible , and potentially tough bitch, outsider… God bless the San Diego beaches.

    • We have no endorsement for the simple reason that no candidate got enough votes from the editorial board. Zapf is barely interested in doing her job, except when the Chamber/Lincoln Club snaps its fingers, cause they put $300,000 in her kitty for this race. Pease sounds good most of the time, but pissed off people by going to the Working Families Council for their blessing, and angered Democratic clubs by conflating “acceptable” with “endorsed.” The doctor’s comments (since retracted, but should have never been uttered in the first place) on the homeless (and more recently ‘vagrants’) led us to believe she wasn’t as progressive as she claimed. And Mr Beane needs some more seasoning. So we opted for none of the above, a luxury made possible by what we saw as a non-competitive contest.

  8. It’s interesting that Kevin De Leon receives your endorsement, as I much interpret him as Feinstein-light. If the DNC cannot secure a seat for Feinstein, they assuredly would prefer to have De Leon. He’s absolutely taking large Super PAC money, and he’s environmental policies are dubious.

    In short, but supporting De Leon, you’re supporting Feinstein. Should he win the #2 primary spot, his paltry policy positions and lackluster advocacy (except on immigration) will translate to lackluster turnout. The only progressive choice is Alison Hartson. Oh yes – and also – if he secures the #2 position, all of the he’s ripe for character attacks.

    http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article192859954.html

    • We did not have any data on the contest for SBE D4 at the time we made endorsements. Since that time City Beat has endorsed David Dodson.

      • Thank you!

        From the little I could glean that was going to be my choice.

        It would be great if future guides would link to, or include the deliberative process, and background on the choices made, even the debate of why some felt another candidate is preferred, since you note many weren’t unanimous.

        There is so little available on some of these offices it can be a real challenge to get any depth of information.

        So thanks to you all for doing this.

        • Thank you for commenting.
          Each title within the crib sheet, eg “Progressive Voter Guide for County of San Diego Elected Offices” contains a link to more information including notes from us about a wide variety of candidates and links to their websites and social media.
          In addition, the Blue Box (if you’re viewing this on a non-mobile device) at the top right-hand corner of the page will take you to a list of the 80+ articles were written about local primary races.
          The idea behind doing a crib sheet is to keep it short and sweet.

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