First Global Gals Gathering!
Last night we had our first global gals gathering and it proved to be a huge success. Lively discussion, a little bit of wine drinking, and some decisions on how to vote on June 3. Since our topic was the upcoming California election we obviously talked about politics, the candidates, the propositions, and websites to help make sense of it all. I hope that I can remember and cover it all.
A couple of things that I learned were:
1) Pay attention to your local judicial candidates. They really are more important than you think. Judges, as well as any political position, turn out to be life long politicians. So once they get into a judgeship at the local level they can move up in ranks. So make sure the person you are voting in agrees with some of your fundamental political values such as pro-choice. These judges can be making decision that affect your local community which can eventually lead to a national position. You can call any candidates office and ask their stance on some basic issues: Are you pro-choice? Are you religious?
2) School Boards members are also important because they can affect change in "political" items such as teaching sex ed in the class rooms.
3) Outsourcing for city projects is generally not a good idea. It usually ends up costing the city more because of unknown costs. And the employees usually lose because they have to give up some benefits even though they will probably be employed by the new contractor. One example given was the San Diego Library online catalog system that was outsourced. The program had problems and for two weeks, no one could check out a book from the library! Unbelievable. The city also tends to take the cheapest bid which can lead to the cheapest product which costs more in the long run to fix the problems.
We decided that we need more research done on the judicial candidates, the school board, the city attorney, and the mayor. We did not have consensus on the mayoral candidates. Some felt Sanders is fine others said they were definitely not voting for Sanders. It was the same with the city attorney, some people do not like Aguirre, but weren't so sure of the other candidates. Some people know that Aguirre is mean but felt he fights for the rights of the San Diego citizens.
Here is our official recommendation for the Propositions:
98 - NO
99 - NO
City A - YES
City B- YES
City C- NO
Be sure to visit our website, www.global-gals.com to find out more. Its under the "News" section and lists some helpful websites. We'll post more as gather more info about the candidates.
Encourage your friends and families to get out the vote on June 3. Participation is important even at these smaller elections.
We plan on meeting every third Thursday so our next Global Gals gathering will be June 19. I don't have a topic yet but some possibilities: Womens Health and an OB/GYN guest speaker; financial planning and a financial advisor guest speaker; modern technology; favorite charities.
Thanks gals! Please make your comments and keep the dialogue moving.
A couple of things that I learned were:
1) Pay attention to your local judicial candidates. They really are more important than you think. Judges, as well as any political position, turn out to be life long politicians. So once they get into a judgeship at the local level they can move up in ranks. So make sure the person you are voting in agrees with some of your fundamental political values such as pro-choice. These judges can be making decision that affect your local community which can eventually lead to a national position. You can call any candidates office and ask their stance on some basic issues: Are you pro-choice? Are you religious?
2) School Boards members are also important because they can affect change in "political" items such as teaching sex ed in the class rooms.
3) Outsourcing for city projects is generally not a good idea. It usually ends up costing the city more because of unknown costs. And the employees usually lose because they have to give up some benefits even though they will probably be employed by the new contractor. One example given was the San Diego Library online catalog system that was outsourced. The program had problems and for two weeks, no one could check out a book from the library! Unbelievable. The city also tends to take the cheapest bid which can lead to the cheapest product which costs more in the long run to fix the problems.
We decided that we need more research done on the judicial candidates, the school board, the city attorney, and the mayor. We did not have consensus on the mayoral candidates. Some felt Sanders is fine others said they were definitely not voting for Sanders. It was the same with the city attorney, some people do not like Aguirre, but weren't so sure of the other candidates. Some people know that Aguirre is mean but felt he fights for the rights of the San Diego citizens.
Here is our official recommendation for the Propositions:
98 - NO
99 - NO
City A - YES
City B- YES
City C- NO
Be sure to visit our website, www.global-gals.com to find out more. Its under the "News" section and lists some helpful websites. We'll post more as gather more info about the candidates.
Encourage your friends and families to get out the vote on June 3. Participation is important even at these smaller elections.
We plan on meeting every third Thursday so our next Global Gals gathering will be June 19. I don't have a topic yet but some possibilities: Womens Health and an OB/GYN guest speaker; financial planning and a financial advisor guest speaker; modern technology; favorite charities.
Thanks gals! Please make your comments and keep the dialogue moving.
In terms of judges, you should be looking at judges who are able to put their personal beliefs aside in making decisions. While you may not want a judge who decides things pro-life, you may also not want a judge who makes a pro-choice decision (or vice-versa) if that means the judge decides cases outside the law. A judge should be impartial, looking to the current law in making a determination or ruling. A judge who constantly leans one way or the other may do so on every issue--even those with which you do not agree. I think impartiality is the best quality a judge can exhibit.
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