That time has come that I've begun fielding phone calls asking about my picks on the ballot.
I have decided to post them on here this time too as an added resource.
As always remember that I am unabashedly conservative and all these picks come from that perspective. This also presumes that you live in the appropriate districts.
For candidates I will just give names. No comments where there's only one name on the ballot.
I'll include a brief synopsis for the ballot initiatives. You can ask specific questions in the comments section and I will answer ASAP.
President - Mitt Romney
US Senate - Jeff Flake
US House - Matt Salmon
(9th District - Vernon Parker. Behind the scenes Kyrsten Sinema is an exceptionally vile person)
State Senate - Steve Yarbrough
State House - Tom Forese and J.D. Mesnard. Remember to vote for both.
Corporation Commission (I know, yawn) Burns, Stump, Bitter Smith
County BOS - Denny Barney
County Attorney - Bill Montgomery
Sheriff - Flip a Coin (I'm no Arpaio fan)
Water Conservation District - Whatever. Just don't vote for Terry Goddard. For anything. Ever.
I always vote NO on all the judges. Not because I want to kick them out. What most people don't seem to know is that we cannot vote them out. If they win the retention vote they are automatically retained. If they lose the vote it simply puts them up for a review board that will decide based on their individual merits.
PROPOSITIONS (buckle your seat belts)
(FYI - Propositions numbered in 100s are amendments to the state constitution. Those numbered in the 200s are statutory.)
114 - Yes. No brainer.
115 - Undecided. Some reasonable reforms, but will give more power to the Governor in making court appointments. Sounds good when you like the governor, not so good when you don't. Of course the current procedures tend to be 'left friendly', so the risk may have more upside than risk for conservatives. But there is risk.
116 - Vague. Seems to be a solution looking for a problem.
117 - Yes. If we see quick increases in property values again, this would limit the increases in property taxes to 5% per year.
118 - No opinion
119 - Sounds reasonable. I haven't studied the precise language to check for possibilities of abuse.
120 - YES.
121 - NO NO NO NO NO
204 - NO. This is a contentious one. Largely because people will misunderstand the ultimate effects.
This will be a PERMANENT increase in the state sales tax. This proposition will tie the hands of the legislature in unacceptable ways. It is a great example of the rule of unintended consequences, for which Arizona's initiative process has become renowned. The writers of this initiative, in an effort to assure the new revenue would actually increase education funding, have included restrictions that would restrict the legislatures ability to decrease the current sales tax base EVER, and annually increase education funding without being able to exercise discretion. And thanks to Prop 206 from years ago, the legislature is forbidden from amending any statutes passed by initiative regardless of changing conditions. It is short-sighted and will result in regret.
That's it folks. I won't comment on City elections because I don't live in the city and honestly couldn't care less.
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1) The invitation to leave comments about my posts is not to be construed as an invitation to endless, pointless debate. I do have a life away from this computer, and don't wish to spend what time I do have lingering on one topic. There's too much going on. Sincere questions will be answered. Questions designed to simply be the starting point for argument may be considered rhetorical.
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