California Propositions

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Monika Bauerlein,
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It’s voting day! For all my California readers, here’s a recap of my recommendations for the five initiatives on today’s ballot:

Seismic retrofits: YES. This is small and harmless.
Open Primaries: NO. I’m not a fan of letting members of one party select the other party’s candidates.
Fair Elections Act: YES. This is a limited experiment with public financing for a single office. It’s worth a try.
Municipal Power: NO. This is an effort by PG&E to use the ballot box to eliminate its competition. If it passes, you can expect a lot more sleazy initiatives like this.
Auto Insurance: NO. This initiative is funded entirely by Mercury Insurance, which wants to base auto insurance rates on a factor not related to the risk of filing a claim. I think we’re better off maintaining a very bright line that prohibits this.