Busy week, with school and other stuff. And the election is only days away, so I decided it was time I decided who to vote for. I've been having trouble backing a horse in the gubernatorial primary (though apparently I'm not the only one), so I decided tonight was a good night to do some digging into the candidates. Wesley has chosen to attack Angelides primarily as being an anti-environmental land developer, so I decided to look into the veracity of those ads. After looking into those, the choice was a lot easier. Wesley's ads are completely misleading. The Sierra Club had endorsed both candidates, saying either candidate "would be the greenest governor California has ever had." (I'm sure Jerry Brown is offended...though I'm sure he'll feel better when he's our next attorney general) Yet even though the Sierra Club can't decide between the two, Wesley decided to run a series of ads claiming that only he cares about the environment. Angelides refutes all the smear ads on his web site, and while not all his explanations are completely convincing, once I learned that Phil Angelides real estate investment in a shady Tahoe deal was actually an 11-percent stake in a time share, whose developer got in some hot water, I had to conclude that Wesley is simply not being honest with the voters. (of course, this does raise a larger issue: Do we really want a governor who got conned into buying a timeshare? What'd they do, give him two free show tickets in Vegas? Could be a scandal; today's timeshare pusher is tomorrow's lobbyist) I also was concerned about comments of Wesley accusing Angelides of raising sales taxes. I am morally opposed to the regressive sales tax, and was uneasy with this claim (even though the substance of it, that sales tax would be applied to certain services, may actually shift a bit of the burden to the rich). No need to be anxious, though, as Angelides is not currently advocating such a tax increase. He did advocate it a few years ago, at the peak of the state's fiscal crisis. But as the Sacramento Bee observes, Wesley himself advocated expanding the sales tax at this time, to cover internet transactions, to which I am unalterably opposed.

So I decided to base my vote for governor on the fairness of Wesley's campaign ads, and that's why it's easy for me to say now that I heartily endore Phil Angelides. I was leaning slightly in that direction anyways, given that Wesley seems to fall into the category of candidates trying to buy the governorship, which isn't entirely fair, as he does have political experience, but which nevertheless made me nervous. Truth be told, I think either candidate will be a great governor, but I really hope Angelides wins out on Tuesday.

I was surprised by the rigorous debate going on over the various judgeships up for election. One poor judge is facing an election challenge from someone she ruled against in a child custody dispute. Don't worry, Judge Trapp, I don't think you have much to worry about. The other two judgeships are much more competitive, though I'd say Rod Shelton's an easy choice. The tough one is the Pfingst/Rubin race. I thought Pfingst got a bad rap when he got drummed out of the district attorney's office, and that Dumanis' campaign threw some low punches. And I think he'd be a good judge, but so would Rubin. It looks like a toss-up to me, I'm not sure who I'm voting for.

I am voting for Cruz Bustamante, even if I was stunned by the highly unflattering photo of himself on his campaign webpage. Turns out it's not a campaign webpage, but rather a chronicle of his weight-loss attempts. Apparently he wants to be the next Huckabee. Good luck, Cruz.

As for the propositions, it looks like "yes" votes across the board, almost the opposite of last election (thanks again for that one, Arnold).

To conclude, my endorsements for Tuesday:

California Governor

Phil Angelides

Secretary of State

Debra Bowen

Controller

Joe Dunn

Treasurer

Bill Lockyer

Attorney General

Jerry Brown

Insurance Commissioner

Cruz Bustamante

State Senate, 36th district

Mark Hanson

Superior Court Judge, Office No. 16

Randa Trapp

Superior Court Judge, Office No. 36

Rod Shelton

County Assessor

Gregory Smith

Proposition 81

Yes

Proposition 82

Yes

Proposition A

Yes

Proposition G

Yes