Should I Vote for Dave or Marc?

All politics is local.   Every US election cycle over 1 million elected offices are up for grabs, and most of those are local.  There is a lot more to this election year than Romney/Obama.

My California ballot is almost ready to mail.  I’ve checked my choices for President, US Senator, and some local reps to the State Legislature.  As usual, I am a Democratic girl.

And I’ve checked yes or no on the 11 California propositions, a regular feature of our ballots, where we get to vote on issues or policies that our elected official can’t or won’t decide on themselves.  This year there are issues like ban the death penalty (yes), require labeling of genetically modified food (yes), and allow some sleazy exemptions on car insurance that we voted down last election but the millionaire insurance exec who bankrolled it got it on the ballot again (no.)  (A weakness of our proposition system – the bar is low to get things on the ballot and money, as usual, lowers the bar further; there are two other millionaire funded props. )

But there is still one line to be checked; who should I vote for for Monterey County Supervisor, District 5?  Dave Potter or Marc Del Piero?

That’s where politics gets local.  If Barack Obama isn’t elected, or Senator Dianne Feinstein, my life isn’t going to change too dramatically.  Well actually it will, and more so the life of my kids; war, taxes, judges, freedom of speech, separation of church and state, health care – yes, this is a crucial election.

But my County Supervisor deals with issues much closer to home: water, garbage, roads, development, environmental protection, fire protection.  I have first hand experience talking with the current Supervisor on all these issues, and he has been very helpful.  I have agreed with most of his positions.  He gets stuff done.  I have called him, mad about local issues that might not seem as important as Obamacare or tax relief, things like a badly placed stop sign or ugly giant mandatory garbage cans, and he has even returned my calls. 

But I am wavering about voting for him again, voting for him a fifth time actually.

That would be Dave Potter, the incumbent, running for his fifth term.  He has run barely opposed in previous years, so wide has been his support.  He is a progressive type in our county where reside many powerful and very rich (in money and land) farmers and other business people who want more and more, building, water, roads.  He often is the sole vote against a big golf development or building a highway through town.  He is trying to bring back train service to our area.  He waived the permit fees for our local volunteer fire brigade when we finally raised the money for our first ever firehouse, and came to the dedication.   That’s local politics.

But this year he has a real opponent, Marc Del Piero.  And in the primary election in June Del Piero actually got more votes than Dave Potter, and forced this run-off – Dave hasn’t had to endure a run-off for years.  So what’s happening?

When we say that politics is local it’s not just because local issues are important, but because locally we can see government and politicians in more detail, close up, flaws and pettiness.  And for me at least, I notice much more closely my own flaws and pettiness, my curious reasons for voting one way or another.   For example:

Dave’s been a Supervisor for 15 years.  Most of the accomplishments I note above were in his first couple terms.  Recently he’s been hanging out with LA businessmen trying to build a race course on a local closed down army base.  He says that will help our economy.  But what about his early promises to keep that land as park and open space?  He used to represent us statewide on the powerful Coastal Commission, but his term ended amid some controversial votes in favor of coastal developers in other parts of the state.  Maybe it’s time for him to go, for fresh blood.

That’s what Romney says about Obama – he tried, he did some good things, but not enough, and he’s changed, become out of touch, even corrupted, time for new blood.

One of our biggest local issues is water.  We don’t have enough, only the modest 30 mile long Carmel River, to supply 100,000 people on the Monterey Peninsula.  We’ve pumped so much water the ground water is retreating and sea water intruding, bringing salt water to artichoke fields.   Some want to build a desalination plant, which would help make more development possible.  But where should the plant be and at what cost and what damage to ocean life and what energy costs and greenhouse gases?  The various cities and agencies and county and state water resources people can’t agree.  The farmers are powerful and take lots of water from the river and now the new groovy wineries want agriculture exemptions from water rationing.  It’s just a very big complicated mess.

Dave has been working on water issues for 15 years and nothing has changed. Marc on the other hand is a water resource specialist lawyer and gotten water deals and desal plants in place in other communities.  Maybe he could break the log jam here?

This sounds familiar too.  Bring in a business expert, says Romney.  Sometimes you have to fire someone, said Clint Eastwood.

One of Dave’s old friends and cronies serves on the Water Resources Board and is under indictment for conflict of interest. 

McCain tried to slam Obama for the shady company he kept, radicals and socialists.

Del Piero has a reputation for being very aggressive.  He admits he can be combatative, but that he gets things done.  Potter’s weakness seems to be he is bit free with the truth.  Neither is a saint.  Both are politicians.  I asked a friend who runs a water treatment plant in a different town which one he thought would be better.  “They’re both really obnoxious,” he said.  “In meetings, who would I rather be with…..”  He couldn’t decide. Finally he said he thought Potter was slightly less sleazy.  Faint praise.

We often hear about the bad tempers of politicians, mostly in private, chewing out staff, demanding action.  There’s only one woman of the five supervisors, and for a while there were no women; maybe guys just get stuff done by yelling at each other.  Does it matter if I vote for the really aggressive guy over the extremely aggressive guy?

I pay attention to endorsements.  Dave’s got the whole Democratic machine behind him and lots of local enviros and progressive types. He’s paid his dues.  Many of my friends support Dave.

But Marc, a Republican, has picked up some curious endorsements from groups who are fed up with Dave.  Like the local Green party, of all things.  The local Sierra Club chapter was so disgusted with some of Dave’s positions, they simply didn’t endorse anyone in the race, after years of endorsing Dave.  But some Sierra Club staff are working for Marc.  And I have friends on his list too, mostly folks who feel betrayed by Dave.  I pay attention to that.

Sometimes my vote is against the obviously bad guy rather than for the only so-so good guy.  Bush/Kerry.   Is Dave bad enough that I would vote for a Republican, something I have never done in 40 years of voting?

Help!  I need to mail in my ballot this week.

Copyright © 2012 Deborah Streeter