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Law Review: Porter’s election picks

Other than supporting all local bond issues (see below) over the years, I have never ventured into the political realm of giving endorsements for state propositions or local candidates.

And even I’m not crazy enough to give recommendations on local candidates. Most are worthy of our support, but they are your neighbors and you know them as well as I do.

State propositions



As a moderate Democrat, I generally vote for many of the state propositions. What’s not to like about money for open space and parks, better schools and quality education?

However, this year with the state and national economic crisis, and it’s nothing less than a crisis, I am going negative. With one exception, I recommend voting “No” on all state propositions. Several of the propositions are worthy of our consideration but the state cannot afford it and all but two were put on the ballot by special interests that gathered their required signatures with paid signature gatherers ” not exactly grassroots initiatives.



The power of the people to propose initiatives to balance the California legislature has been abused and we have to be careful not to be enticed by positive-sounding initiatives financed by out-of-state money backed by special interest groups.

For example, Proposition 10 is hard to say no to. Until you learn that T. Boone Pickens is largely financing the initiative and he owns a natural gas company. And it’s $335 million that California does not have right now.

Yes On 11

The one exception is Proposition 11, the redistricting measure. It is imperative that you vote “Yes” to take away the legislature’s current ability to design “incumbent safe” Senate and Assembly seats by manipulating district boundaries.

“Yes” on Proposition 11 ” and stop politically motivated gerrymandering of California’s political districts.

Measure “U”

The next to the last item on your Truckee ballot is Measure “U,” an opportunity to extend an existing bond for the improvement of our Truckee area schools. The brilliance of Measure “U” is that the bond money is available now for the much-needed school improvements, but the assessment does not kick in for many years as it’s a continuation of an existing bond. Vote yes on “U” if you are on the Truckee side.

Measure “V”

Also for Truckee residents, I urge you to vote yes on Measure “V,” which continues a half cent sales tax for a period of up to 20 years for funding for paving, repairing and improving the Town of Truckee’s roads. Measure “V” requires a two-thirds vote and is a particularly good deal for Truckee residents as much of our sales tax is paid by out-of-towners.

Measure “R” (Placer County)

Our Placer County supervisors deserve better compensation for their services, so I strongly urge support for Measure “R.” It’s easy to adopt the frame of mind of disliking all politicians, but better compensation attracts better elected officials. Yes on “R” in Placer County.

For President

Now, how should we vote for President — like you haven’t already made up your mind, right? Maybe I’ll leave that one alone.

The most important thing is to vote on Nov. 4.

” Jim Porter is an attorney with Porter Simon, with offices in Truckee, South Lake Tahoe, Incline Village and Reno. He is a mediator and was the Governor’s appointee to the Bipartisan McPherson Commission and the California Fair Political Practices Commission. He may be reached at porter@portersimon.com or at the firm’s Web site http://www.portersimon.com.


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