Proposition 13: NO
There is no need for a tax break for repairs due to earthquakes in the Central Valley, where earthquakes are few and less destructive than in Los Angeles or San Francisco. The Fresno County Green Party believes that each county should decide itself the need for a reassessment of property tax values due to earthquakes or other disasters. At our March plenary meeting, representatives from active counties of the California Green Party, many who lived in earthquake-prone counties, spoke of huge repairs made to their businesses after earthquakes said that their tax assessments rose slightly from $35 to $50 a year. This proposition is open to abuse and interpretation. Some representatives spoke out against it
because they were worried about the potential of graft to tax assessors because the local county tax assessor is the arbiter of deciding what is to be assessed.
Proposition 14: Hell NO!
This proposition will guarantee that only the wealthiest of candidates or candidates beholden to the wealthiest of clientele will run and win-behavior that should not be encouraged. Geared to eliminate any independent-minded citizen attempts to get elected by reducing candidate and party choices in the general election. It effectively eliminates competition.
Proposition 15: YES
This proposition will help assure that candidates for office are accountable to voters, not their big corporate donors. It will assess fees on registered lobbyists in California and use the additional revenue to provide some funding for political campaigns for those running for the Office of the Secretary of State of California. Candidates who agree to limit their spending and the amount of money they raise from nongovernment sources would be given $1 million by the government for their primary campaign and an additional $1.3 million from the government to spend on general election campaign expenses.
Proposition 16: NO
This proposition is written for PG&E, which is using its wealth to prevent modern technology or clean reusable energy to change the laws to comply with new standards to help protect the environment. Plus it attempts to remove any competition or make it difficult for any independent or local energy company from being allowed to work in California without their permission.
Proposition 17: NO
Proposition 17 will allow for insurance rates to skyrocket for many drivers, essentially forcing a large percentage of them to forego insurance coverage, thus putting even more uninsured drivers on our roads. Proposition 17 is another industry-generated initiative that purports to help a certain class of consumer by allowing auto insurance discounts to be transferred from one company to another. Sounds great, but what it really would do is drive up rates for anyone who doesn’t already have such a discount.
Measure A: NO
This measure will weaken and indefinitely delay the adequate representation of democracy that the people of Fresno deserve. A city government functions best when its representatives are more reflective of and accessible by the multiple communities that make up the whole city. The cost-saving rationale for eliminating the current Fresno City Charter expansion mandate is small when compared with the irresponsible behavior of City Councils and mayors in subsidizing and bailing out risky private business ventures with millions of taxpayer dollars.
Richard Gomez is currently a council member of the Fresno County Green Party. Contact him at 559-408-3320 or nate136_66@yahoo.com.
