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The AVA Recommends

(WARNING: These recommendations assume that both political parties represent an ongoing menace to the health and welfare of the people of the United States.)


GOVERNOR: Gloria LaRiva, P&F, if you're an old rad nostalgic for the days there was a Left; Delaine Eastin if you've devolved into a lib-lab of the Democrat type.

LT. GOVERNOR: Who could possibly care? (A make work position created for temporarily out of work career officeholders.)

SECRETARY OF STATE: Michael Feinstein, the Green candidate

STATE CONTROLLER: Mary Lou Finley, P&F. Count on a Socialist to at least understand that the whole fiscal show is a house of cards.

STATE TREASURER: Kevin Akin, P&F. As above.

ATTORNEY GENERAL: The choice here is two death penalty Democrats, two neo-fascist Republicans. No recommendation.

INSURANCE COMMISSIONER: Nathalie Hrizi, P&F. The other candidates are captives of the industry they want to "regulate."

BOARD OF EQUALIZATION: Used to have a a couple of people like Bill Bennett who actually looked after the little guy taxpayer. No more. No recommendation.

UNITED STATES SENATOR: Anybody but Feinstein. We prefer John Parker, P&F.

CONGRESS: Andy Caffrey of Garberville, a total lunatic but a Northcoast kinda loon, if you get our meaning. Anyway, rigorous mental health clearance would disbar most elected reps so Caffrey is at least a good fit. Incumbent Huffman is another Mike Thompson, i.e., errand boy for the wine industry, the kind of Democrat who got Trump elected, and an enemy of even the hope for progress.

STATE SENATOR: Choice between Little Mikey McGuire and another lamebrain Democrat, a woman named Roni Jacobi. Go for Roni. She couldn't be any sillier or more superficially insulting than Mikey.

STATE ASSEMBLY: The incumbent is James Wood who, like Little Mikey, comes out of Healdsburg, land of the blonde bimbo, perfect lawns and decaf lattes. Wood opposed single payer and is another empty suit of the Billary political type. Matt Heath is the only other person in the race. He's a Republican who lists his qualifications as "father, businessman." Dude, fatherhood? Really? The qualifications bar seems lower than ever.

STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF INSTRUCTION: With public ed in this state having fallen from the best in the nation and among the best in the world to among the worst in the country and the world, this office is a state version of the Mendocino County Office of Education — no real function. No recommendation, other than bulldoze the office and rebuild the school systems from scratch. 

COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS: Michelle Hutchins. The County's edu-blob, female division, has busily but falsely vilified Mrs. Hutchins for what they claim is "a lack of people skills," meaning she's not the slavish ass kisser you typically find running the County's school districts. Hutchins' opponent is the guy who thought the word 'niggardly' was an ethnic slur, in other words a walking example of everything that has gone terribly wrong with the schools. Hutchins is the only possible choice for this office.

SUPERVISOR, 5TH DISTRICT: Arthur Juhl, the only candidate who seems to understand that there's an utter absence of accountability in County government. Our very own little deep state here in Mendocino County — the permanent bureaucracy that runs things regardless of who is elected to allegedly supervise it — is as opposed to Juhl as it is to Johnny Pinches in the 3rd District, because our little deep state is opposed to anyone likely to act independently of THEM. Juhl for Supervisor. (Our little 5th District and the County's deep state is positively orgasmic at the prospect of Skyhawk being elected to succeed Hamburg who, well, stoner dude will mercifully be moving on, no need to paint a lame duck any lamer than he is.)

SUPERVISOR, 3RD DISTRICT: The Laytonville cowboy, Johnny Pinches, an independent voice on the Board of Supervisors in his previous turns, will be one again as he re-ascends to his rightful position as leader of Mendocino County's Wild, Wild Country, everyone from bush hippies to rednecks. 

NOTE: I was unhappy to receive one of those slick, professional Democrat mailers for Chris Skyhawk of the type foisted off on us by McGuire and Wood, meaning, in Skyhawk's resort to gross superficiality of the very most insulting type, with his endorsement by Congressman Huffman and local Demo hacks like Rachel Binah, Joe Wildman et al, that the Hawk does not understand the Supe's position is supposed to be non-partisan. But, as Boonville's beloved weekly has pointed out for many years, these people, the Billary Brigades, the people who got Trump elected, either occupy or try to occupy the top spots in all the County's public jobs, nonprofits, city councils, and even school boards. But everything they touch is instantly mediocre, self-serving morasses of flagrant cronyism and personal aggrandizement, all the while cooing superlatives at each other as "excellent", "proactive," "a great listener," and so on. They must be resisted at every opportunity! They are not the way forward! They are not in any way "progressive," whatever that degraded term means anymore. They are barely even liberal in any recognizable sense of the term. Resist!

ASSESSOR/CLERK/RECORDER: Dirk Larson. Time for a change in that office, and Dirk is the only candidate likely to blackjack it into full working order.

AUDITOR/CONTROLLER: Lloyd Weer, incumbent. Does a pretty good job, all-in-all, especially considering he's trying to do it with an outdated anachronism of a computer set-up.

DISTRICT ATTORNEY: David Eyster. Has proved to be an excellent DA, not one of these bloodthirsty Jávert types incapable of rational prosecution policies. 

SHERIFF-CORONER: Tom Allman. In a time we find ourselves living in an imploding society, the Sheriff's Department and the police departments of the County's incorporated towns, manage to maintain order without exerting any more muscle than necessary, going about their impossible tasks in a decent, humane manner. Allman, a master politician, is easily the most popular elected official in recent County history. No reason to oppose him, although there are people who question the performance of Allman's former Under-Sheriff, Randy Johnson, apparently retired but magically appointed to fill the top spot in the Deadbeat Dad's office at big bucks.

TREASURER/TAX COLLECTOR: The incumbent is Shari Schapmire, and who likes tax collectors, even when they come with such fetching alliteration? Somebody's got to do it, and nobody else wants to, sooooooo you're it, Shari Schapmire!


THE PROPOSITIONS

PROP 68: $4.1 billion in general obligation bonds for parks and water quality. General obligation bonds are backed by the state, and this one is not one of those tricky props stuffed with all kinds of pork for connected entities. Prop 68 continues funding for crucial water and parks programs whose funding is expiring although presumed as a large, ongoing expenditure. No reason to vote no, really, because it doesn't pile on more state indebtedness. The most important thing it does is protect water, and goodness knows water needs protecting. Vote Yes.

PROP 69: Protects the 12-cent gas tax, which needs protection because anti-taxers are preparing an initiative to repeal it on the grounds that the state legislature diverts the $5 billion annually raised to purposes other than road repair. (Which is true, but still….) This prop guarantees that the money all goes for road repair and can't be siphoned off to pay off the sexually harassed, three-hour lunches, fact finding trips to Italy etc. Vote Yes.

PROP 70: Republicans don't think the globe is warming. Science and everyone else believe it's getting kinda stuffy in here. Prop 70 maintains a simple majority vote by the legislature to keep climate cleansing programs in place. The ostriches wanted a two-thirds vote to maintain clean air efforts so they could get rid of them. Vote Yes, although all of us know in our bones that none of these teensy measures do anything at all to reduce global incineration. Face it, folks. We're doomed as a species.

PROP 71: I guess. So many people vote absentee now that it's taking longer — a lot longer in Mendo — to count and certify the vote as signed, sealed and delivered. Under 71, election results would not be "effective" until the secretary of state says so. For most of us, though, the preliminary results are invariably much the same as the final-final, certified count because the absentee votes typically run along the same percentages as the preliminary results.

PROP 72: If you install water-recovery equipment on your property, you will be able to deduct this particular improvement on your state taxes, as you can now by going solar and installing fire sprinklers. Strange that this one's even on the ballot, but it probably got there via bribes, er, campaign contributions from the water recovery installers to key solons. But if you can deduct solar, why not water storage? Yes on 72.


THE LOCAL MEASURES

MEASURE C – MENDOCINO COAST HEALTH CARE DISTRICT

To continue essential healthcare at our local hospital by attracting and retaining high quality doctors/nurses, maintaining local emergency room, obstetric, surgical, ambulance and related 911 services, and making critical repairs and upgrades to medical equipment/facilities, shall Mendocino Coast Health Care District levy an annual special tax of $144 per parcel for 12 years, raising approximately $1,700,000 annually, with independent taxpayer oversight, no funds for administrators’ salaries/pensions, and all funds dedicated to local healthcare facilities and services?

YES on Measure C. Which is easy for us to say because we don't pay taxes in the hospital district. But. But it would be a shame to lose one of the last community-owned, not-for-profit hospitals in the state. I agree that the Hospital Board has been derelict in its oversight responsibility in over-paying admin, an admin that has managed to nearly destroy Coast by its feckless fiscal decisions, not to mention its indefensible treatment of staff. Going personal here, my disabled sister was in and out of Coast Hospital for years and, without fail, she received a quality of care only a billionaire gets most places these days, with constant attention from two truly great doctors, Graham and Glusker. The in-County alternative to Coast is, and not to put too fine a point on it, two for-profit hospitals run by a vegetarian Christian cult. Somehow, someway, Coast people are going to have to regain control of an institution successfully created and maintained for many years by the people of the Mendocino Coast.

* * *

MEASURE D – FORT BRAGG RURAL FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT

Shall the Fort Bragg Rural Fire Protection District, by Ordinance, (1) Repeal the existing special tax of $18.75 per unit, (2) Replacing it with a special tax not to exceed $25.00 per unit, this special tax shall be used to maintain and improve fire protection, suppression activities, prevention and to acquire and maintain equipment or apparatus and to increase our medical and rescue services?

YES ON D. Of course.

* * *

MEASURE E – COAST LIFE SUPPORT DISTRICT

Shall the measure renewing for four years the Coast Life Support District’s previously adopted appropriations limit to allow the use of all proceeds of taxes for ambulance and urgent care services be adopted?

YES ON E. Double of course.

* * *

MEASURE F – SOUTHERN HUMBOLDT HEALTH CARE DISTRICT

Shall the Southern Humboldt Community Healthcare District renew its current $125/year parcel tax for ten years without any rate increase or added cost to residents, providing approximately $1.5 million annually to benefit the local community by maintaining access to emergency medical care, support hospital and medical services, and attract and retain qualified doctors, nurses, technicians and other healthcare professionals, with annual independent audits to assure proper use of funds?

YES. Essential public amenities get automatic approval from us.

* * *

MEASURE G – COUNTY OF MENDOCINO TRANSIENT OCCUPANCY TAX

Shall Mendocino County Code Chapter 5.20 be amended to authorize collection of a Transient Occupancy Tax on short-term visitor accommodations of 30 days or less in private campgrounds and recreational vehicle parks, estimated to raise $1,000,000 annually?

NO on G. The Mendo County Supervisors have pissed away more public money this fiscal year, including a totally undeserved big fat raise for themselves that never would have been approved if it had been put to a vote, that they now want to tax campgrounds used almost exclusively by working people and their kids who can't afford the scented soap, $200-a-night spas people like the Supervisors stay at, which they then charge to the taxpayers on their lush "travel and conference" accounts. We spotted a comment from former Supervisor Richard Shoemaker, a guy who has milked the public teat all his opportunistic days, that "$2.50 a day isn't even the price of a cup of coffee." There it is, the perfect expression of today's "public servant."

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