Elections getting closer

As August begins is time to think about the end of summer and the beginning of the fall election season. While most of us were enjoying vacations, the Dept. of Elections has been busy preparing for the November 2007 election. A number of ballot measures have already been accepted for the ballot. Voters will be asked to make decisions on topics as varied as a Parking Initiative, Limited Hold-Over Service on Boards and Commissions, Public Hearing on Initiatives, Mayor to Appear at Board, Renewal of the Library Preservation Fund, and Retirement Benefits for Airport Police Officers. Further information is given on the website of the Department of Elections, so people can start doing their homework now to figure out which measures deserve support. League members who are interested in doing more intensive research to prepare materials for prospective voters, can contact the League office at lwvsf@lwvsf.org to volunteer their services. Voters deserve all the information we can provide as they wrestle with some of these issues.

Busy week coming up

With Friday, August 3, as the deadline for certifying voting machines for the February 2008 election, this coming week will be a busy one in California. A new report on voting machines has just been released by a team experts from the University of California, and the report seems to indicate that all of the machines tested have weaknesses. The review was ordered by Debra Bowen, Secretary of State.
“The top-to-bottom review is designed to look at the security, accuracy, reliability and accessibility of the voting systems certified for use in California in a way that’s never been done before on a state or national level,” said Bowen, who as the Secretary of State is Califrnia's chief elections officer. “Every voter has the right to have his or her vote counted as it was cast, and voters want to know if the very tools of our democracy are secure, accurate, reliable and accessible. The goal of the review is to strengthen people’s confidence in the integrity of our electoral process before California’s 15.7 million registered voters are asked to go to the polls on February 5, 2008, and vote in the presidential primary election.”

Secretary Bowen will be examining the report this week and will hold public hearings for comments on the voting systems. The hearings will be held in Sacramento, and are scheduled to be broadcast on the California channel on Monday. The League and other civic groups will be watching closely to see that the voting systems certified for use in the upcoming elections offer Californians a chance to vote securely, privately, and coneniently. This is a story to follow closely in the coming weeks and months.

We'll miss him

Readers of the S.F. Chronicle discovered today that David Lazarus, who has written columns about consumer affairs for almost ten years is leaving the newspaper. His voice on consumer affairs has been helpful to many readers over the years. He called attention to business practices that make life hard for consumers and recommended solutions to common problems. His knowledge of business practice and his prompt responses to readers' complaints and issues have benefited many people. Let us hope that his voice will still be available in the Bay Area and that other reporters and columnists will fill the vacancy left by his absence in the Chronicle.

Buses or parking?

Plans to improve the Muni system are a high priority for the S.F. Board of Supervisors, but these plans may be hard hit by a struggle for more downtown parking. According to today's Chronicle, the ballot measure hammered out for presentation on the fall ballot is threatened by a controversial addition that would allow the construction of more parking space in the city. Why is public transit so often seen as in conflict with the rights of car owners? A great city needs both good public transit so that people can move effectively around the city and also reasonable allowance for cars that are going to be used by suburbanites and residents to get in and out of town. The issues of transit and parking are two separate issues. Let's try to see that they aren't indiscriminately mixed in ballot measures. Our ballots are complicated enough. We deserve well crafted ballot measures so we can make reasonable choices.

Time for action

Today, Tuesday, July 24, is an important day for voting rights in the District of Columbia. Now is the time for all League members to call their representatives. It will take only a few minutes and can mean a great deal

Today we will generate a critical mass of calls to urge Senators to support S. 1257 and to oppose any attempts to filibuster or block the bill. There will be a toll-free number -----1-866-346-3008 -- for you to call your Senators. The toll-free number will take callers to a brief reminder about the importance of the DC House Voting Rights Act and then patch callers through to their Senators -- at no cost.

Make your voice heard with those of other activists around the country. Ask your friends, family and other League members to call as well!

Citizens of the District of Columbia pay U.S. taxes, fight and die for the U.S. during wartime, and are governed by the laws that Congress passes. And yet they have no voting representation in Congress. They have only a non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives.

Please do your part and call today!

Questioning candidates

The League has a tradition of organizing candidate forums at which the general public can ask candidates about issues of concern. Usually these forums are held in public places and questions can be asked face-to-face, although televised forums are also presented. This year the website YouTube is offering a variation on this formula, and perhaps the League could learn from their experiment. They have opened a category of questions to be asked of candidates at the Democratic presidential candidate forum to be held on July 23 on CNN. Questions are posed in videos and cover topics including health care, global warming and Iraq. Most of the questions are serious, although not all. Ordinary citizens show deep concern about the government issues that affect their lives. For the televised debate, CNN will chose some of the questions posed. Even though this is a limited experiement, the technique shows promise for the future. Why couldn't the League invite videotaped questions for local candidate forums? Not everyone can attend public meetings, and this technology offers a way for a wide range of interaction between citizens and candidates who might not otherwise get to know one another. It's well worth taking a look at some of the videos. Many of them offer a heartening glimpse of how serious and concerned many people are about how our government is working.

Can we trust them to behave?

Board of Supervisors meetings are frequently lively and sometimes informative, but the one last night sends a signal that something is wrong at City Hall. As the morning newspapers report, Chris Daly and Bevan Dufty almost came to blows, making the work of city government look like a schoolyard squabble. C.W. Nevius in the Chronicle gives a good account of the situation: Supervisor Daly seems to be isolated from his colleagues and unable to find a way to get his suggestions acknowledged and discussed. Offering amendments that fail to get even a second is a fruitless way to waste meeting time. San Franciscans need to stop looking on the supervisor meetings as a kind of local reality show and demand responsible collaboration among our representatives. As former mayor Brown suggests, if the majority of supervisors believe they cannot work with Daly, they ought to move to censure him. That will bring the issue to the public and encourage more responsible behavior. There are well-tested ways of dealing with political disagreements. It's time to stop talking about punching someone in the face and start acting like grown-ups.

An idea that works

San Francisco has a wealth of organizations serving the needs of groups within our community. One of these, which offers help to young people who have the ability to complete high school and go to college, but who may need a little help in getting there is Summer Search, a small group that helps individual students to find their potential. By concentrating on the individual, offering mentoring and enrichment programs, Summer Search has helped students complete high school, go on to college, and build successful lives. This year they are holding an Alumni Reunion to bring together some of the young men and women who have participated in the program. The League will help, in a small way, by offering information to encourage the participants to vote and become active citizens. It's worth taking a few minutes to look at the Summer Search website and recognize what is being done. If any League member is able and willing to attend the Alumni program and meet some of the Summer Search participants, send an email to the office at lwvsf@lwvsf.org for more information.

Weekend reading

As another busy summer weekend arrives, people in the East Bay decide to come into San Francisco for some shopping, those who live in the city head off for Marin or Sonoma, and tourists try to negotiate the clogged streets in the center city. All this seems natural to those of us who live there, but perhaps there are ways to cut back on the endless movement from one area to another around this crowded city. SPUR has published a paper on the possibility of designing a neighborhood where people could live, work, and enjoy themselves without needing much in the way of public or auto transportation. This is a daring idea, and one that few cities have pursued, but it's worth taking a look at the proposal considering the possibility of changing our habits and seeing the city differently.

A role for League members

KQED's morning radio program "Forum" hosted by Michael Krasny provides lively, civilized discussion on issues affecting the Bay Area every morning at 9:00 AM, with a repeat at 10:00 PM. This morning's program offered perspectives on the civility (or lack of it) in S.F. government meetings:
Political and Personal Civility -- In light of recent personal allegations against Mayor Gavin Newsom, the program looks at personal and public civility. Guests include James Donahue, president and professor of Ethics at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley; Don Hanlon Johnson, professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and author of "Everyday Hopes, Utopian Dreams"; and Lisa Stone, co-founder of BlogHer, a women's media company based in Palo Alto.

For those who were not able to hear it this morning, July 10, the program will be available for downloading as a podcast through the NPR website or iTunes. Even if you don't have time to listen to the entire broadcast, you'll find lots to think about in the discussion of recent interactions at the S.F. Board of Supervisor's meetings. Every citizen has a stake in how their local government is functioning, but members of the League have a special role to play in ensuring that public business is carried on effectively. For many years League members have monitored public meetings of the Board of Supervisors and city Commissions. This is an important role, and one that is difficult to maintain as people's lives become crowded with work, family and personal obligations. But the presence of serious, informed citizens at public meetings can help to keep our elected officials on track for running the government in a sensible, civil atmosphere that promotes good discussion and resolution of problems. Those of you who have never observed a meeting of the Board of Supervisors should visit one. You will see a new face for our local government and get a sense of how the city works. For further information about the schedule of city meetings, check out the links on the League's website, or send an email to lwvsf@lwv.org. City government belongs to all of us, let's keep our eyes on it.

Still fighting

For years the League of Women Voters has been fighting for election finance reform and for a while, with the passage of the McCain Feingold Bill, it seemed as though we were winning the fight. However, no victory is secure, it seems, and the provisions of campaign finance reform have been weakened by recent decisions of the Supreme Court. The Washington Post focuses on the League's attempts to reduce the amount of money spent on campaigns and the lavish gifts given by corporations and labor unions to some candidates. Recent news stories have given details about the immense amounts of money spent on federal and state campaigns, but attempts to lessen the influence of this money continue to falter. As always, the League has to work within the constraints of judicial rulings, but reformers have not given up hope of finding less money-driven ways to elect officials. Local Leagues and study groups can continue to be aware of this issue and attempt to learn more about how campaign finance can finally be made to work effectively.

Don't forget the good stuff

Today is the Fourth of July and we are being reminded of all the good things about America. There are many wonderful things to remember about this country and I think most of us are aware of them. Still, those of us who care about making the country even better, do spend a lot of time talking about what is wrong. The League has many positions that call for changes to improve our democracy and our welfare. One area of change that many of us are concerned about is health care. We have read a great deal about the failures of the Health Care system, and Michael Moore's movie Sicko has made this topic particularly timely. Still, as someone who has recently spent a week in the hospital, I want to remind myself and everyone else about the wonderful successes of the system too. There is nothing like spending some time surrounded by health care providers to make you realize how many people are cheerfully and efficiently working to make life healthier and happier for people when things get bad. We all have periods of illness and pain when we are dependent on doctors and nurses to provide care, and also on an army of other people--lab technicians, nurses' assistants, physical and occupational therapists, food services workers, and the wonderful people who clean the hospital and make us comfortable. No matter how much we complain about systemic problems and policies that are sometimes absurd and wasteful, we owe our lives and comfort to people who struggle to make the system work. Let's remember to be grateful to them and to all the other people who make life tolerable. While we try to change the world for the better, let's now forget the good things we already have.

Let's not be sicko

With all the talk about Michael Moore's new movie "Sicko", let's not forget there are real health care issues in California and the League is very much involved. Here's a message from the State League for action during the next couple of days:

. Call to Action on SB 840

SB 840, Senator Sheila Kuehl’s bill to establish single payer health care in California, will be heard in Assembly Health Committee on July 3. All Leagues and League members whose Assembly Members are members of that committee should contact their representatives to urge their support for SB 840.

Send this alert to concerned citizens, your grassroots network, your friends and coworkers. Encourage them to contact their legislators today!

Members of the Assembly Health Committee are Assembly Members Dymally (chair), Nakanishi (Vice Chair), Bass, Berg, De La Torre, de Leon, Emmerson, Gaines, Hancock, Hayashi, Hernandez, Huff, Jones, Lieber, Ma, Salas, and Strickland.

Background information on SB 840, the single payer concept, health care reform efforts in California, and the LWV position on Health Care is available on the LWVC website.