Proposition 11 would transfer the power to re-draw Assembly, State Senate, and Board of Equalization district lines, once every 10 years after census data come in, from the political parties and elected officials to a 14-member citizens’ commission. The commission would be composed of 5 Democrats, 5 Republicans, and 4 others.
Columnists Dennis C. Smith and Daniel Brezenoff weigh in on Prop 12 today.
Dennis C. Smith
Prop 12: Veteran’s Bond Act of 2008. Almost $1 billion to provide “farm and home aid for California veterans.” I am aware of the Cal-Vet home loan program that has been in existence for many years. It is poorly run and does not allocate efficiently funds for veterans to purchase homes, basically it pays a lot of people to work for the state and it does not work well for veterans. I see no reason to increase the funding of a program that is inefficient and benefits to state workers more than the veterans. My vote is No on Prop 12.
*
Daniel Brezenoff
What it does: Floats a bond to help veterans buy houses, low-interest.
Pros: “Homeless” and “veteran” are two words that should never appear together.
Cons: Doesn’t distinguish between needy and able vets; treats the wealthy the same as the poor, the wounded the same as the whole, the combat vets same as everyone else.
How I’m voting: Yes.
There are some points of contention in this bill, but not to block a bill that has wide support and no real opposition.
I don’t buy into the hero worship that goes along with war, but I do find it deplorable that a nation asks braver, service-minded young people to fight and die and then relegates them in scores to the streets or to dead-end housing projects if they can’t immediately hack the matrix when they get back home. War brutalizes the body, mind, and soul, and since at least 1783, American veterans have needed more help and support than they’ve gotten – though they’ve never lacked for the star-spangled lip service of home-front politicians.
The GI Bill helped make modern America the envy of the planet; this is a very scaled-down version, and it’s the least we can do.
Veterans pay back the bond themselves.
Will it pass? It will.
Trivia: Vietnam era veterans account for about a third of the homeless population in California. Nice, huh?
The lbpost.com does not make political endorsements. However, as elections for officials and measures draw nearer, our writers/posters are free to endorse or support political candidates if they wish. In the coming weeks, you will notice endorsements from our writers concerning all levels of government. These are their opinions and words. Individual endorsements do not express the opinion of the other writers and/or the founders and staff of the lbpost.com