Vote No on Proposition 14

I’m posting this brief message to strongly encourage people who read the Orange Juice Blog to vote NO on Proposition 14 on Tuesday, June 8th.

Despite the fact California’s biggest business interests have raised more than $4 million to pass this rotten initiative, opposition to it has exploded.

Rarely has opposition to an initiative ever brought together so many people who rarely agree with each other on matters pertaining to politics.

The following is a partial list of organizations and individuals who have publicly gone on record encouraging people to vote NO on Prop 14:

• Chuck Devore, Republican Candidate, U.S. Senate
• California Labor Federation
• Tom McClintock, Republican Congressman,  4th District
• Chelene Nightingale, American Independent Candidate, Governor
• Ralph Nader, Consumer Advocate and Presidential Candidate
• Green Party of California
• Jon Coupal, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
• John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou,  Talk Show Hosts,  KFI-AM 640
• Orange County Register
• John Burton, Chair, California Democratic Party
• Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of California
• California Teachers Association
• San Francisco Bay Guardian
• Ron Nehring, Chair, California Republican Party
• Steve Greenhut, Pacific Research Institute
• Peace and Freedom Party of California
• Wayne Root, 2008 Libertarian Party Vice-Presidential Candidate
• Jim Gray, former Judge, Orange County Superior Court
• Libertarian Party of California
• Mark Leno, Democratic State Senator, 3rd District
• California League of Conservation Voters
• ACLU of Southern California
• Jon Fleischman, Publisher, FlashReport.org
• National Organization of Women
• Southern California Tax Revolt Coalition
• Reed Royalty, President, Orange County Taxpayers Association
• California School Employees Association
• Steve Poizner, Republican Candidate, Governor

Art Pedroza, Vern Nelson, myself, and a number of other contributors to the Orange Juice Blog also are also vehemently opposed to Prop 14.

Polls have shown that support for Prop 14 has slipped from 60% to 52% and the odds are good it still can be defeated by election day with a little effort.

Please don’t be fooled by the well-heeled proponents of Prop 14 who claim it is a “reform” that will give you more “choices” at the ballot box.

Prop 14 is a thinly-disguised power grab by big business interests who want consolidate their stranglehold over the election process in California.

They want to rig the system to ensure only candidates they like will win the primaries and that those will be your only “choices” in the general election.

To learn more about how insidious Prop 14 really is, please take the time to go to www.stoptoptwo.org and read articles and reports posted there.

Defend yourself from this vicious attack on what democratic rights you still have by voting NO on Prop 14 on Tuesday, June 8th.

For purposes of disclosure, the author of this missive is the Green Party Candidate for U.S. Senate in California.