Urban Quality

Education

Gun Control

Health Care

The Environment

Electoral Reform

Urban Quality - Traffic Reduction and Air Pollution Control

Urban life, to be healthy life, requires clean air, water and other fundamentals of the environment. I will work to make sure that existing laws are enforced, and that back-room deals do not short-change the public of the resources it needs to stay healthy.

As well, our man-made environment must be kept working. Such systems as transportation, traffic planning and control, and state oversight of growth must be maintained - and, in many cases, restored. I will strongly advocate a thorough appraisal of state offices which regulate and advise on projects involving the public. Often, budgets are slashed to prevent environmental laws from being enforced. I promise to find and correct these weaknesses in our government.

I believe Compromise is often necessary to make progress, and jobs and a healthy environment don't always need to be enemies. However, Greens have grown in political systems around the world because we have proven that environmental promotion is reasonable and wise. We talk about environmental wisdom as the wisdom of putting healthy food, water and air in your body -- so that you stay as healthy as you can. In this way, environmental wisdom saves the health care system by decreasing care for diseases like asthma in urban air.

• I advocate and fight for clean air, open space and parks as well as economic opportunities, affordable housing and sustainable communities.
  
  
• We must preserve our urban quality of life through controlled growth and green belts.
  
  
• Growth must be well planned to minimize impact to natural resources.
  
  
• I support a transportation policy that is ecologically sound and has the least effect on the environment.
  
  
• I support mass transit instead of building more freeways for automobiles.

We have learned the hard lesson in California that mass transit must be studied carefully before being implemented. Then the process must be monitored. Whether in mass transit or in building high schools, corruption and waste must not be tolerated, and must not be allowed to sabotage needed public works.

The best and most cost-effective modes of public transportation must be studied as well as the ideal routes. Proper funding of buses must not be neglected in any transportation plans. Honest input from the community - not just pre-determined focus groups -- is critical for sucessful improvement of this basic service.

Rebuilding our transportation infrastructure should remind us the rebuild of all our infrastructure. State parks, colleges and universities, highways and other legacies of our generous Californian predecessors requires regular maintainance and reinvestment. This is the only way we can keep these treasures in our hands.

• I support encouraging the use of alternative modes of transportation.
  
  
• One of the biggest sources of air pollution is from automobiles (60%). We have to reduce both the number of cars and trucks on the road and the amount of pollution they emit. Communities need to be redesigned to reduce dependence on private cars. Geographic integration of work, shopping, recreation and home is essential. Increasing the use of bicycles, is achievable in our sunny California.
  
  
• SUVs should meet the passenger cars standards instead of trucks standards. Many SUV drivers are not aware that they are "cheating" air quality standards, and would not want to do so.
  
  
• I support using alternative renewable energy resources instead of petroleum.

Education

Every politician is talking about education and the need for reform. What is wrong with our educational system and what should we do?

• We need to increase the amount of money we spend per pupil. California has been pushed down the national scale of education spending (We are still $1000 below the national average); this situation must be reversed.
  
  
• We need to treat our teachers like professionals and give them the tools they need to do their important jobs well. Tools like functioning bathrooms, like copy machines that work, like textbooks and computers.
  
  
• People who love to teach should not leave their jobs because they cannot afford feeding their families.
  
  
• Yes, we need to encourage our good teachers and also get rid of the bad ones that don't perform. But foremost, all techers must be treated as fairly as any other vital public servants.
  
  
• We need to teach our kids non-violent conflict resolution from K-12.
  
  
• We must have enough funding to rebuild our schools and build toxic free schools.
  
  
• 30% of California children live in poverty, obviously we don't value our children.
  
  
• We need to teach our children a second language starting at the elementary schools and get away from mono-culturalism.

Gun Control

• I believe people who don't have any criminal records of violence should be able to purchase handguns or hunting rifles.
  
  
• Automatic or semi-automatic firearms are not necessary for hunting or for self protection. They are weapons of war. By allowing them in our cities, we are encouraging urban warfare. I join with law enforcement professionals in calling for a ban to these weapons and their ammunition.
  
  
• I support a waiting period for gun registration.
  
  
• All guns should be registered.

Health Care

• I support legislation providing for Universal Health Care.
  
  
• I believe people have the right to affordable health care. Our health care system is in deep crisis. More and more insurance companies make decisions for patients rather than Doctors. People do not have access to preventive health care, more and more people go to emergency centers for problems that could be easily handled if they were dealt with earlier.
  
  
• Drug use is a health care issue, not a criminal issue. We need adequate funding for drug treatment facilities. Treating drug abuse as a disease can often prevent addicts from acting like criminals.

The Environment

• When addressing the problems facing California, we need to consider our impact on the entire planet. We have the technological resources to provide food, clothing and shelter for every individual on the planet - not just for California - and in a way that is sustainable. We are part of the planet earth and should protect it in the best way possible.
  
  
• Our society is based on growth and consumption. We consume 7 times as much as a person in a developing country. I believe there are limits to growth and we are beyond the limits.
  
  
• Too often our poor and minorities live in conditions exposed to dangerous levels of chemicals. We must get rid of environmental racism.

Electoral Reform

• Critical Electoral Reform Issues
  California and national politics suffer from many problems: the absurd role of corporate money and special interests, narrow range of choice at the ballot booth, superficial and often negative campaigns and low voter turnout. These problems can seem overwhelming and insoluble, and they are if we restrict ourselves to the solutions offered by the two major parties.
  
  The Green Party, along with dedicated activists all across the state, is working to implement several proven solutions to these problems. The solutions include:
  
  • Instant runoffs to ensure majority rule and to eliminate the problem of "spoiler" candidates
    
  • Public financing of elections to eliminate the corrupting influence of private money in politics
    
  • Same-day voter registration to allow maximum voter participation
    
  • Proportional representation to effectively represent all
    Californians, not just the biggest group in a district

I hope you'll raise your expectations beyond what the two-party system can deliver and join me in working for positive change.

Back to Top of Page

• None of the Above - NOTA
  One type of voting system reform that has received some attention is NOTA, or a None of the Above ballot option.
  
  The idea is simple enough: if you don't like any of the candidates for a particular office, you should be able to vote for NOTA, None Of The Above. If NOTA gets the most votes, none of the candidates on the ballot wins the office.
  
  Proposition 23, which will appear on the March ballot, would create a non-binding NOTA option for all state and federal elections in California. Non-binding means that if NOTA wins out over the candidates, the candidate with the most votes still wins.
  
  Although the idea seems appealing on the surface, the Green Party of California is opposing Proposition 23 because votes cast for NOTA don't count, so what's the point? We want to make voting more powerful, so we promote reforms that enable people to cast a meaningful vote for a candidate they like.
  

• Instant Runoff Voting - IRV
  Voters dissatisfied with candidates from the two major parties face a dilemma: to vote for their favorite candidate and risk throwing the race to their least favorite choice, or to settle for the "lesser of two evils" by voting for a candidate they don't like but who has a chance to win.

This is a profoundly undemocratic flaw in our voting system, and it causes many people not to vote for their favorite candidate.

If you've ever faced this dilemma - whether thinking about voting for Ralph Nader or Ross Perot in 1996, for Dan Hamburg (Governor) or me (Lt. Governor) in 1998 - then you understand that there is a problem with our electoral system.

Our voting system also has another problem: candidates can win with less than 50% of the vote, which means that a candidate can win even though a majority of the voters didn't vote for that candidate. So much for majority rule. It turns out that this happens more frequently than one might imagine.

Fortunately, there is a simple, proven solution. It's called the instant runoff and it frees every voter to vote for his or her favorite candidate while guaranteeing that winning candidates have true majority support.

An instant runoff is much like a regular runoff election except that you ask the voter in advance how s/he would vote in a runoff. The voter expresses this by ranking the candidates in order of choice: first choice, second choice, third choice.

Winning requires a majority of the votes, and if no candidate receives a majority of the first choice votes, the weakest candidate is eliminated (doesn't make the runoff), and all ballots are recounted.

You keep eliminating candidates one at a time until one of them emerges with a majority of the vote.

From the point of view of the voter, it couldn't be simpler: instead of having to vote for one and only candidate, you get to rank a first choice, a second choice, and a third choice.

This system has been used for over 80 years to elect the House of
Representatives in Australia and the president of Ireland, and London is going to use an instant runoff to elect its mayor this year. Because it eliminates the need for runoff elections, voters in Santa Clara County have approved a ballot initiative to allow instant runoffs, and several California cities are considering them.

Instant runoff voting is one reform that could invigorate California politics, and that's why the Green Party and I are pushing it.

Back to Top of Page