Well it was hard but I finally finished my ballot and took it to the post office the other day. I don’t think I’d mail after today. I signed up for updates regarding my ballot from the secretary of state’s office, and that has worked out for me the past couple of years. If I don’t get a confirmation by May 31, I can go to the county and ask for a provisional ballot.
I made notes in my info guide, just in case. That was a lot of work, reading up on all those people, but I tried to be scientific. But, my husband and I argued – should we vote for people who actually represent our values? Like the guy who says he’ll protect Prop 13? Or should we vote for people who we think are more likely to win? He agreed with me on the “lesser” offices, but we voted for different candidates for governor, we’ll see what rough beast comes round in November.
Frankly, the only candidate that has made me feel strongly about turning in my ballot is Gallagher. I think he’s actually made progress in controlling PG&E rates, and he’s worked hard at getting more support for fuel reduction. I think he needs to work harder on both of those. I think he could get a lot more federal funding for fuel reduction, since the feds own a lot of property here.
What troubles me about Gallagher are his connections with Chico political action committees and the Butte County Republican party. I don’t like big politicians who use their campaign money to meddle in local elections, especially when they don’t even live in the county they’re sticking their thumb in. Gallagher needs to run his own campaign and stay out of Chico and Butte County elections.
Here’s what I reminded myself as I filled in the bubble – it’s an important seat, and his Democratic challengers are terrible, neither is qualified for the job. Worst of all, they’re engaged in a nasty little shit-fight between themselves, neither of them has much to say besides generalizations about the problems that are really facing the voters.
Whatever you choose to do, I’d get that ballot in soon.
Chico Taxpayers Association 