I have been reviewing the Murky New's election recommendations. They are about as consistently inconsistent as Bush claims Kerry to be.
For on, concerning local legislative races, their October 14 editorial said:
"In California, 153 legislative or congressional seats will appear on the ballot. Perhaps a dozen offer a real race.
Between a bipartisan redistricting conspiracy that carved the state into safe seats and the natural advantages of incumbency, Nov. 2. offers a lot of foregone conclusions."
Then they made two recommendations: Steve Poizner (Assem. Dist. 21) and Abel Maldonado (Senate dist. 15), both Republicans. I was not surprised by the Poizner one, but I was by the rational for recommending Maldonado. He had more experience, serving several terms in the Assembly. Fotunately, that district is primarily in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties so the Murky News will have little effect unless someone from Morgan Hill reads it.
In their Oct. 11 issue, the Murky News supported Prop. 62. Their reasoning:
"Though this is an election year, few legislators are sweating. Of the 80 Assembly and 20 state Senate races, at most 10 are in doubt. All but a half-dozen incumbents are a cinch to return to Sacramento as long as they keep breathing until Election Day.
Passage of Proposition 62 on the November ballot would give elected officials more reason to sweat. That's good. It means they'd have to pay attention to voters. At the same time, Proposition 62 would reduce partisanship and polarization in the Legislature. Voters should approve it."
If gerrymandering and incumbency is bad, as they imply, then why the hell support Prop. 62, which makes it even more assured the voters will not hear other voices. If the election is between members of different parties, there is a chance that issues will come to the forefront in the general election. If the general election is between 2 members of the same party, as is most likely in many legislative districts, given the way they have split up the state, who really believes that issues will be discussed.
Posted by at October 20, 2004 08:49 PM