CommentsALPERN AT LARGE--In short, the Top Two priorities of the next governor are as follows:
#1: Kill the "Top Two" jungle primary.
#2: See #1.
This "jungle primary" is absolutely horrible, from both moral and pragmatic standpoints. The idea of voting for "this person" to avoid getting "that person" past the primaries is a form of mental craziness and psychological jujitsu that we just don't need.
The experiment of "encouraging moderate candidates" has become a game of "messing with the minds" of voters.
Gavin Newsom throws money at John Cox? ; Well, THAT little tidbit of news speaks ill of Newsom, doesn't it?
Villaraigosa gets all sorts of private, quiet GOP support and money from corporate educational interests? Well, THAT speaks ill of Villaraigosa, doesn't it?
Cox having all sorts of bad history outside of CA, and only being a recent resident of CA? Cox getting the support from President Trump ... because he's both paid off the GOP leadership and perhaps because Trump reeeeeeeeally wants Travis Allen to win? Well, all THAT speaks ill of Cox, doesn't it?
Certainly, elections and politics bring out the worst in people, and bring out the worst people, to boot, with respect to who makes it to the final election.
But the "Top Two" or "jungle" primary needs to go.
My own personal $0.02 is to vote for someone with ethics and who can establish a balanced budget while trying to work with all sides (and fighting for that vanishing and endangered human species known as the middle class, which built up the Golden State).
If you're a Democrat who favors a balanced budget and doesn't want to elect a sleaze, vote John Chiang.
If you're a Republican who favors a balanced budget and doesn't want to elect a sleaze, vote Travis Allen.
If you're an independent, then vote for the person of ANY party who you can best relate to.
But voting for Cox to get rid of Newsom, or to get rid of Villaraigosa, during a season where the overwhelming majority of CA Republicans favor Travis Allen, might just get us results that will shock the daylights out of all of us.
Particularly because the Top Two priorities of the next governor SHOULD be:
#1: Kill the "Top Two" jungle primary.
#2: Balance the Budget.
#3: Reform and fix an unsustainable pension system that will sooner or later drive the Golden State into virtual bankruptcy (and the state can't declare bankruptcy!).
#4: Prioritize transportation, water, and other infrastructure in a cost-effective and visionary methodology that creates a vibrant 21st-century California.
#5: Reign in the spending on K-12 and allow it to both be more clean and cost-effective, while diverting more resources to the underfunded state university systems.
#6: Stopping foreign investors from buying up so much real estate that we have a boatload of empty homes with the middle class no longer able to buy a house.
#7: Prop up, and stop shutting up, the middle class before we become another Greece.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D. is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He is also a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Planning and Outreach Committees, and currently is Co-Chair of its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure Committee. He was co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chaired the nonprofit Transit Coalition and can be reached at [email protected]. He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
-cw
