A Series of Tubes

I always have trouble determining who to vote for in local elections. The only information I have previously used is the small blurb that I get in the official election material. I decided to hunt down information on the people running for city council and post my thoughts on their campaigns. I think the best place to start is the candidate forum videos below. I found the videos on the Santa Cruz Community TV website and the Forum is put together by Santa Cruz Next:

I did not like the 2 moderators at all.  I know that they are trying to make politics more entertaining, but I do not think that they are helping  (joke about underwear, fair and balanced, teletubbies just in the beginning leave me groaning and wishing they would stop talking).  I want a moderator to just ask questions because I am watching the videos to see the candidates responses to questions, not to hear whatever joke pops into the head of the moderator.

Part 2:

Part 3:

It is really hard to research and find information about city council members running for office since all the information is spread around in different places. I barely knew much about the people I voted for in the last round of city council elections.  Here are the people on the current ballot and my thoughts. Voters get to vote for 4 candidates and I listed how I’m leaning at the end.

Blas Jacob Cabrera (Jay): This guy is a Pranic healer.  What is Pranic healing?  Well you see you can heal people by waving your hands. It includes “non-traditional” or “paranormal” concepts of energy healing. If you think that you can heal major diseases by waving your hands then this is your guy. If not, then you should probably look elsewhere.  His resume is extremely light and his use of the words green healthcare is a stand in for dishing out placebos and pushing unregulated health “alternatives”.  He does not know much about the city council or about the needs of people that do not go to the farmers market drum circle.  I guess it’s pretty obvious that he will not get my vote.

Tony Madrigal: Incumbent. He is the only renter on the city council. That’s what got me to vote for him the first time and what will probably get me to vote for him again this year.  He supports Unions and low wage workers and his answer in part 3.

Simba Kenyatta: There is a quick interview of Simba over at good times magazine. There is also an audio interview, with an interviewer from freak radio that tries to agree with him as much as possible. His “why I am running” portion of his website is pretty good. He makes race a central pillar of his platform, but his election platform appears to be lacking in specifics.  His answer to the question asked to him in part 2 of the forum is basically “I dunno.  I’d have to ask someone else.”.  He’s a renter and I think that the city council should reflect the high number of renters in Santa Cruz.  That being said, I would prefer Tony Madrigal over Simba Kenyatta.  His answer in part 3 starts with ” I don’t know”.  I would prefer someone who does know.

Ryan Coonerty: Incumbent and current Mayor. He’s been involved in some less than popular decisions as his wikipedia page suggests, although the people that dislike his decisions I think are very active in maintaining his wikipedia page.  His reforms to how the city council meetings run sound fair (this was part of his answer to part 1).  Giving himself a raise while we’re in a budget deficit gives him huge negative points from me.  He should have waited until the Santa Cruz deficit problems are fixed before giving the city council a raise (this was part of his answer in part 3).  Part 3 of the forum is an ethics question.  It is not of major concern to me.

David Terrazas: His website looks nice but it is a little slim on specifics. I like the alternative transportation. It’s one thing to state that you would “strengthen our Downtown & other business districts”, but it would be nice to know how you would other than with good intentions.  He works over the hill so it makes sense that he advocates better transportation.

Craig Canada: I cannot find Craig’s website and he does not have a statement in the official handouts.  The forum states that he has a website, but I can’t find it.  All I can really find is this article in which he expresses his distrust in the election system. He kinda fails in giving me a good reason to vote for him.  He mostly wants to legalize marijuana, but I don’t think he would work with the other council members.  In general, people who have disdain for government should not be elected into government.  The guy just won’t shut up about marijuana even when asked about something else.  It is frustrating to listen to.

Tim Fitzmaurice: Tim is all over the internet. he has lots of endorsements including the sierra club. He’s a former mayor. There is an article about him in the metro.  I like the fact that he supports building rental units and addressing the needs of lower income housing, a serious problem in Santa Cruz.  His answers to transportation are spot on.  His answers to the questions on the forum strike all the right chords for me.

Kathrine Beiers: She is a former councilwoman and mayor. Her main platform is an environmental one and has therefore received sierra club’s endorsement.  The questions towards her in the forum were mostly answered in environmental terms.  I’d like to know more about her vision for downtown and what to do about the budget.

Don Lane: I like what he has to say on his website.  I don’t know too much about him.   The question about what to do about pan handling in downtown asked in part 2 is important, but his answer is unspecific and simply “we should all be part of the solution”.  The thing is that I want to elect people that have the same solution as me.  If I’m waiting for his solution and he’s waiting for my solution, then it sounds like there is no solution.  His budget answer in part 3 had more specifics and I thought that was good.

Lisa J. Molyneux: No official website that I can find. The statement for her on the ballot makes protecting medical Marajuana a high priority. I am not impressed with her statement, and I can’t find anything on the internet abut her.

Final thoughts and how I’m leaning:

From what I have read and seen I’m probably voting for Tony Madrigal and Tim Fitzmaurice.  Other than that I guess I’m leaning towards David Terrazas for his support of better transportation issues and Don Lane.  I’m going to look into the Candidates more because I could still be convinced to vote for Katherine Beiers or Ryan Coonerty.

I was not impressed with Simba Kenyatta, Blas Jacob Cabrera (Jay), Craig Canada, or Lisa J. Molyneux.  They seemed the least informed on the issues facing the city and the least prepared to fix them.

Update:  People Power, the group behind the bike church, endorses Tim Fitzmaurice, Tony Madrigal, Katherine Beiers and Don Lane.  The only difference between how I was leaning and people power is my selection of David Terrazas Instead of Katherine Beiers.  The critique from people power is that David Terrazas has good ideas, but was not a strong leader while a Transportation commisioner.  Katherine Beiers has a history of voting for better bike safety.  Both people power and the sierra club endorse Katherine Beiers so I must have missed something the first time I evaluated the candidates.  There is a very good chance that I will change to Katherine Beiers.

Measure E:  There is 1 local measure that is an enviornmental bill that increases the parcel tax.  Parcel taxes will tax my landlady and not me so I’m definately voting yes.  If I owned a house in Santa Cruz I might look over the bill more, but if I owned a house in Santa Cruz I would also be rich enough to afford a small tax increase.

School Board:  If I vote for school board I will probably vote for Ken Wagman based on this article.  I say if because the local school board does not affect me.