28 items on my November ballot. So what can we do about it? Ok, let’s first look at the 11 elected officials I am voting for and see if we can make any cuts.
One president and vice president, one U.S. representative, one state senator, one state assembly member, two community college trustees, three school board members, one city attorney and one city councilmember.
A smart man once told me you should elect your generalists and appoint your specialists. He is right. In my opinion the following elected offices fall into the specialist category that should be appointed: community college trustees, school board members and a city attorney. That would remove six items from the ballot. In all honesty, would you really miss voting for any of these offices? Would you even notice? I know I would not.
One of my philosophies is that we have muddied the voting process with electing specialized positions. For example, at the state level we elect the lieutenant governor, attorney general, state treasurer, state controller, secretary of state, superintendent of public instruction and insurance commissioner all separately.
Seven elected officials. Um, why can’t the governor appoint almost all of these positions like in most other states? I think that the governor should appoint those positions no matter who is governor. They are executive level positions and should be appointed by the executive. Look at the federal government. Just one elected executive, the president.
Proposition reforms are next.