Public Comment

In general we resist financing public projects by sale of bonds. Paying them off is just a form of us the people borrowing, and paying high interest to hugely wealthy individuals, or to banks/bankers, to use funds that should've been reserved for our use by taxing where the money is ahead of needing to spend it for us. We don't even have to sharply tax people who get as much as $1/2m a year...but get it from the really huge incomes from amazing sources, including investments, that are just money making money.  

When you vote, please consider the positions of the Peace and Freedom Party (local measures below). 

The Peace and Freedom Party's presidential ticket is Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez. If you want to vote for a ticket that is against the "War on Terror", the death penalty and corporate control of the economy, is for single-payer health care, a living wage for all workers, and reforms to make the government more democratic, you have several choices, most of whom are write-ins. If you want to vote for a ticket that will get enough votes that most people will notice, you have fewer choices. The Nader/Gonzalez ticket is the only one that meets both criteria, of being at least minimally progressive and having the name recognition, resources and ballot access to have a real political impact. 

In Alameda County, we have a couple of local Peace and Freedom Party candidates, Marsha Feinland and Gene Ruyle. 

Marsha is running for State Senate in the 9th State Senate District, to replace the outgoing Don Perata. In Alameda county, her district includes the cities of Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, Alameda, Dublin and Livermore, as well as most of the unincorporated community of Castro Valley and rural areas in the county's northeast corner; it also includes part of Contra Costa County (almost all of Richmond and about half of San Pablo). 

Gene is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 10th Congressional District, which is mostly in Contra Costa and Solano counties but includes Livermore and nearby rural areas in Alameda County. 

The state Peace and Freedom Party has come out in favor of Propositions 2 and 5, against Propositions 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, and neutral on Propositions 1A and 12. 

The Alameda County Peace and Freedom Party did not take a local position on state Propositions 1A or 12, but has taken positions on several local propositions and candidates besides our own partisan candidates. 

In Oakland, we urge NO votes on Measures N (a parcel tax for charter schools, placed on the ballot by the state-appointed administrator rather than the elected school board) and NN (a parcel tax to hire more police). 

In Berkeley, we urge YES votes on Measures HH (allows the city to spend taxes it is already collecting), II (delay redistricting from 2011 to 2013) and JJ (loosen restrictions on medical marijuana), and we urge NO votes on Measures KK (require popular vote on dedicated transit lanes) and LL (modifications to Landmark Preservation ordinance). 

In Alameda, we urge a YES vote on Measure P, and in Albany we urge a YES vote on Measure DD. Both of these are increases in the real estate transfer tax, one of the few non-regressive taxes local governments can increase within the restrictions of Proposition 13. 

We have also endorsed one City Council candidate in Berkeley, our own P&F activist Jon Crowder in District 2, and the pro-tenant slate for the Rent Board (its five candidates are Nicole Drake, Jack Harrison, Judy Shelton, Jesse Townley and Igor Tregub). 

We also recommend write-in votes for two candidates, Dave Heller for Congress in the 9th CD (he decided to run against Barbara Lee when she voted for the Wall Street bailout) and Zachary RunningWolf for Mayor of Berkeley (he has been active in a number of community struggles, and the two candidates on the ballot are both unacceptable). 

For further explanations of our positions and links to the campaigns' websites, please visit "http://www.peaceandfreedom2008.org/counties/alameda.html". 

Last but not least, we recommend that you stay active, campaigning on electoral and non-electoral issues. If you'd like to help with the party's campaign during the last week before the election, please visit our Berkeley campaign office (at 1952 University Avenue, between MLK and Milvia) or phone it at 510/705-8864.