11/6/18 Election: Labor’s Gains & Lessons

There were 2 litmus test issues on the ballot, Cal Prop 10 to extend rent control and vacancy control and SF Prop C to house the homeless. The opponents of these 2 crucial measures to put an end to California’s and San Francisco’s housing emergency are the Nazi Trump voters, regardless of which party they claim to belong to, as these are the 2 workingclass propositions. Since Proposition 10 could only get 36% of the vote, it will have to be put on the November 2020 ballot because the housing emergency will be even worse than it is now. The defeat of Prop 10 is absolute proof that there is nothing progressive about California.

As to the horrors of Nazi Trump, Leon Trotsky said it best in his “What is National Socialism?” (1933), when he wrote that the rise of Nazism meant “capitalist society is puking up [its] undigested barbarism.” He proclaimed “fascism is the most ruthless dictatorship of monopoly capital.”

In San Francisco, Proposition 10 passed with a narrow simple majority of 51% and Proposition C passed with a larger simple majority of 59%. This proves that while the Republican voters are only 15% or so of the registered voters which we can see in the governor’s race, in fact the Nazi Trump vote is much greater in San Francisco than the registered Republicans.

An explanation of the vote counting in California may be found at https://vote.sos.ca.gov/unprocessed-ballots-status

California:

California has the largest population of any state in the country, with 39,810,000 people, produces the most food of any state in the country, is the 6th largest economy in the world, has 885,225 millionaires and 144, yet it has a housing emergency for the workingclass, the 80% of Americans who sell our labor for less than $80,000 a year. Thus, we had several housing initiatives on the California ballot, including the crucial Proposition 10 to extend rent control and vacancy control. Since Prop 10 is a litmus test issue, all of those who voted to defeat it are by definition the same as Nazi Trump, the most viciously anti-workingclass president in memory. California voted 60% Democrat and 34% Republican for president in 2016, and as of the 15 Day Report on Registration, October 22, 2018, there are still 4.7 million registered Republicans, 24% of the registered voters in California, despite all the horrors perpetrated by Nazi Trump. The vote for a Republican governor in this 11/6/18 election was 42%. For this 15 Day Report, see
https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/report-registration/15-day-gen-2018/

In San Francisco, the capitalist San Francisco Chronicle opposed Proposition 10, in a City that gives 80% of its vote to the leading Democrat on the ballot. Perhaps the most famous Democrat who opposed Proposition 10 is Antonio Villaraigosa, former Mayor, City of Los Angeles.

Of the almost 40 million California residents, some 29,857,000 or 75% can be assumed to be adults, of whom 87%, 26 million, are citizens. In a high voter turnout election, as was the November 2016 election, 14 million people vote. While the governor’s general election is usually a high voter turnout, it is not the governor’s race, but Proposition 10, and a few other propositions, that brought out the vote. Most of the eligible non-voters are workingclass.

Propositions:

Remember bonds put us in debt and require interest payments. It is far better to obtain funds from the general fund, fed by the progressive income tax, and the income tax on the many rich people can be and should be raised to pay for all our needs.

For details of the California propositions, see http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/

With 52% of the precincts reporting at 12:27 a.m. on 11/7/18, the vote in the representative precincts is 5.6 million votes, with the number of votes expected to increase to perhaps 14 million, out of 19 million registered voters. For constant updates, see the County Reporting Status at https://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/status

For updates on the vote count of the ballot propositions over the next 30 days of counting votes, see https://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/ballot-measures

Proposition 1:

A $4 billion bond to fund existing housing programs.

Yes 52% No 47%

Proposition 2:

A $2 billion housing bond to finance the No Place Like Home Program for those with mental illness. This extends Prop 63 of 2004, the Millionaire’s Tax also known as the Mental Health Services Act.

Yes 60% No 40%

Proposition 3:

A $8.9 million water bond to promote the Delta Tunnels, which will destroy the Delta’s ecosystem and West Coast fisheries. This is opposed by the Sierra Club. For more on this disaster supported by the friends of Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, Stewart & Lynda Resnick, see https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/08/27/18817178.php Nazi Trump is also on the side of big agribusiness on the water issue. See https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/10/20/18818339.php
Let us remember that agriculture, which is 2% of California’s economy including thirsty, export crops like almonds, uses 80% of California’s water, while business and residences each use 10%,

Yes 47% No 52%

Proposition 4:

A $1.5 billion hospital bond.

Yes 59% No 41%

Proposition 5:

Changes Property Owner Transfer Property Tax Base. Peace & Freedom Party had a good analysis of this reactionary proposition:
“Presently, seniors and severely disabled people may sell their Proposition 13 tax protected homes and keep the tax benefits if they move to a home of equal or lesser value in the same county. This proposition, pushed by the big real estate firms, would allow the home to be of greater value, and located in any county. This is a boon to the wealthiest Californians, who could enjoy reduced taxes on mansions or estates anywhere in the state, and to the big real estate firms, that would be able to sell very expensive houses more easily. It would reduce tax revenue by up to $2 billion, that the rest of us would have to make up.”

Yes 42% No 57%

Proposition 6:

Eliminates certain road repair and transportation funding. Requires certain fuel taxes and vehicle fees be approved by the electorate. This proposition was put on the ballot by Trump supporters to help their candidates. While paying a higher gasoline tax is not ideal, currently the alternative is bad roads and unsafe bridges.

Yes 44% No 55%

Proposition 7:

This is the latest attempt to change the Daylight Savings law. This was put on the ballot by people who have so little concerns that what time the sun shows up and disappears was worth spending the money on a ballot measure. They ought to try living the way the rest of us do who worry about keeping a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs, medical care for our survival and education for a future.

Yes 60% No 39%

Proposition 8:

Regulates outpatient kidney dialysis clinics in a country that unlike the rest of the industrialized world, does not have socialized medicine so that our tax dollars pay for all our medical care. This is known as the Fair Pricing for Dialysis Act. The countries and regions that have socialized medicine are: All of Europe, Israel, Rwanda, Cuba, Canada, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, China, Taiwan, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand.

Yes 38% No 61%

Proposition 9, a ridiculous reactionary proposal to split California into 3 states, was removed from the ballot by the California Supreme Court.

Proposition 10:

Repeals the Costa-Hawkins Act so as to extend rent control and vacancy control in California to help solve our housing emergency. The supporters of Proposition 10 are: https://voteyesonprop10.org/endorsements/

Yes 36% No 63%

Proposition 11:

Reactionary measure requiring ambulance employees to remain on call during work breaks! Only in a country that does not have socialized medicine can such an anti-labor proposal exist.

Yes 61% No 38%

Proposition 12:

A farm animal protection proposal.

Yes 59% No 40%

San Francisco

San Francisco has a population of 883,963 according to the California Department of Finance. San Francisco’s child population under age 18 is 13%, so the adult population is 769,048, of whom 86% or 661,381 are citizens. A high voter turnout election is usually the presidential general election, such as the November 2016 election which had a turnout of 414,000, the most ever. As usual, most of the non-voters were workingclass.

San Francisco has 4,954 million dollar tax filers and 74 billionaires. Just taxing these rich people would pay for all of San Francisco’s housing needs and all other needs.

The biggest issue on the ballot is housing, especially Proposition C, to house the homeless. It is a litmus test issue defining the pro-Trump vote as the anti-Proposition C vote. Notable anti-Proposition C endorsers are the soon to be elected governor, election frauder, millionaire Democrat, Gavin Newsom; reactionary real estate mouthpiece, Democrat mayor London Breed; one of the worst supervisors ever and always a hustler for the real estate profiteers, now a state senator, Scott Wiener; the utterly reactionary supervisor Katy Tang, who also opposes the excellent Prop 10, from the reactionary District 4, the Sunset; the San Francisco Police Officers Association who signed a ballot argument against Prop C and who are a fundamental part of any election fraud team; and some reactionary small business organizations. NOT ONE OF THESE LACKEYS OF THE CAPITALIST CLASS HAVE ANY ALTERNATIVE PROGRAM.

Every single ballot argument against Prop C except those of the Republican Party and the Libertarian Party was sponsored by the real estate industry, namely Committee on Jobs (a business organization); Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction and SF Association of Realtors.

For details of the San Francisco propositions, including the text, see https://voterguide.sfelections.org/en

With 99% of the precincts reporting at 10:30 p.m. on Election Night, 11/6/18, and 219,746 votes counted out of a registration of 500,516, which count may go up to the 414,000 in the next 30 days of counting votes, the following are the results in percentages which percentages will not change much, if at all as the votes are counted in representative precincts:

For updates on the count of the votes in San Francisco, check daily at
https://sfelections.sfgov.org/november-6-2018-election-results-summary

Proposition A:

A $425 million Embarcadero Seawall Bond for which landlords can ask tenants to pay. Requires 66-2/3% plus 1 vote to pass.

Yes 81% No 18%

Proposition B:

City privacy guidelines by amending the charter. As the Society of Professional Journalists’ voter handbook argument states, it allows elected officials “to tamper with San Francisco’s voter-enacted Sunshine Ordinance.”

Yes 56% No 43%

Proposition C:

A gross receipts tax of .175% to .69% on gross receipts over $50 million that a business receives in San Francisco and another tax of 1.5% on certain administrative offices’ payroll expense, raising some $300 million in tax revenues annually to house the homeless in a detailed plan that will be administered by the mayor and Board of Supervisors with an advisory committee monitoring the fund. The plan is that at least 50% of the funds is to secure permanent housing for homeless people, at least 25% goes to mental health services for homeless people; up to 15% for services to people who are recently homeless or are at risk of becoming homeless and up to 10% to short-term shelter and access to hygiene programs for homeless people.

It will protect 7,000 San Franciscans from losing their homes, move more than 4,000 households off the streets and into affordable homes; provide intensive mental health care and substance use street-based care for over 4,000 severely impaired individuals; fund bathrooms and sanitation centers across the city and give the 1,000 people on the wait list for shelter each night a place to sleep off the street. The endorsements are at:
https://www.ourcityourhomesf.org/endorsements

Requires 50% +1 vote to pass.

Yes 59% No 40%

Proposition D:

More taxes on cannabis businesses.

Yes 65% No 34%

Requires 50% +1 vote to pass.

Proposition E:

A proposal to annually distribute up to 1.5% of the current base hotel tax for specific arts and cultural purposes without increasing the existing hotel tax. . Requires 66-2/3% plus 1 vote to pass.

Yes 74% No 25%