McClintock Ballot Recommendations

by Tom McClintock | Sacramento and D.C

The June primary is tomorrow, be sure that you show up to vote. For those who still have an absentee ballot, please do not mail in your ballot. You would need to drop it off at your local elections office or at your polling location on Tuesday.

On the Propositions:

Prop. 13.  Seismic Retrofits. YES: Earthquake proofing your house shouldn’t trigger a tax increase until you’re ready to sell.  Any questions?

Prop. 14. Distorted Primary. NO: This was the result of the corrupt deal for the tax increase engineered by Abel Maldonado that included this measure to by-pass party primaries in a manner Maldonado believed would enhance his future election prospects.  Instead of voters of each party putting their best candidate forward, this jerry-rigged system is designed to disguise the difference between the parties and force those pesky third parties off the general election ballot entirely.

Prop. 15. Taxpayer Funded Elections.  NO: The real purpose of this measure is to allow the legislature to tap taxpayers to finance political campaigns.  Jefferson said it best: “To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”

Prop. 16. Utility Elections. YES: Cash-guzzling city governments have been taking over the territory of utilities through eminent domain and PG&E wants to put it to a vote.  This measure gives you the choice upon whose mercy your future electricity bills will depend: the monopoly of city hall or the monopoly of your utility.  Here’s a better idea: restore the freedom of individual consumers to choose among competing providers who actually have to earn their business.  Alas, that part was left out by the suits at PG&E.

Prop. 17.  Insurance Rates. YES: A simple question: should drivers be able to take their “continuous coverage” discount with them when they change insurance companies?  A simpler question: why are our laws such a micro managing mess that we have to vote on something as self-evident as this in the first place?

On the statewide races:

For Governor, Steve Poizner: Steve had the courage to support Arizona’s decision to enforce our immigration laws when Meg Whitman cut and ran.  He opposes the bank bailouts, rampant borrowing and environmental extremism that Meg Whitman embraces.  And unlike Whitman, Steve Poizner was never “a huge fan” of radical leftist Van Jones.  This time, let’s have a governor from the Republican wing of the Republican Party.

For Lt. Governor, Sam Aanestad: Sam was my seatmate for many years in both the Assembly and the Senate.  He never wavered from his devotion to Republican principles of limited government.  Abel Maldonado broke his signed taxpayer pledge and bears responsibility not only for the biggest tax increase in California’s history, but also the budgets that ran California off the fiscal cliff.  No single race on the ballot more clearly defines the difference between the Party of Reagan and the Party of Schwarzenegger.

For Attorney General, John Eastman: I worked with John Eastman at the Claremont Institute ˆ a public policy think tank devoted to restoring American founding principles to the public policy debate.  John is a nationally renowned Constitutional advocate and scholar whose leadership is desperately needed in the Attorney General’s office.  Imagine having an Attorney General who not only respects the Constitution but who understands and reveres it.

For Insurance Commissioner: Anybody But Villines. Mike Villines was another of the sell-out Republican votes on the massive tax increase that crushed what was left of our state’s economy last year, after signing a no-new-taxes pledge.  Liars don’t belong in government.

For U.S. Senate, Chuck DeVore: Chuck is a conservative’s conservative who has always stood on principle, even when it has meant standing virtually alone.  I’ve never heard him give a speech without thinking “I wish I’d said that.”  I rank him up there with Sam Aanestad as one of the finest people I’ve had the opportunity to serve with in the legislature.  He would become an instant leader in the United States Senate.

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Rep. Tom McClintock is a Member of Congress representing California’s 4th Congressional district.