[How I, a registered democrat, am voting for the environment in the June 6, 2006 primaries in California. I'm stuck voting at my old address at zip 90035. Here's my current voting list.]
My vote for LA County Assessor: Rick Auerbach
What does the LA County Assessor do?: The Assessor basically assesses property values and taxes them accordingly.
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If you thought Bustamante’s effort to become Insurance Commissioner by losing 50 lbs was weird, read about John Lowe. This guy legally changed his middle name to “Lower Taxes” in 2000 to run for LA County Assessor.
This helps explain why he lost that election to Rick Auerbach. However, the two will face off again at the elections on Tuesday.
Auerbach, who’s been our Assessor since 2000, seems much saner. He was re-elected to a second term in 2002 with 70% of the vote. It appears that the guy’s worked to develop the LA County website, making it easier for people to use.
Plus, according to his bio, Mr. Auerbach is a dedicated runner and has finished 55 26-mile marathons. Which opportunity I’d like to use to mention that I once ran a marathon ;)
Fluff aside, I agree with The LA Times’ take: “Auerbach should be allowed to continue his work, although it may well be that his office should be appointed, not elected.” Word.
like many elections, i don’t think there’s a good choice here. better than Lower Taxes Loew, but Auerbach promotes his devotion to Prop. 13, which pretty much gutted all public infrastructure and services funding for the state for the past couple decades. obviously he has no power to change it, but could the office be used as a platform?
Comment by lag2 — June 4, 2006 @ 5:51 pm
Wow! Thanks for the info! For those unfamiliar with Prop 13, here’s a good Wikipedia entry, and an informative article.
Said Auerbach about a proposal to end the intiative: “It would be a very, very difficult thing to implement. It’s a very costly thing to do.”
Costly for who?
I’ll still vote for Auerbach in the primaries, due to what I see as serious incompentencies of “Lower Taxes.” But I really, REALLY hope that Auerbach’s not the best choice in the general elections.
Comment by Siel — June 4, 2006 @ 11:56 pm