Good News! (Re: [ba-liberty] Arguments against San Francisco ballot measures)

Discussion
1

Great news at the SF Elections Department today! Out of six official opponent arguments up for grabs against the seven local measures on the ballot (five of which we submitted arguments against), FOUR of our arguments won the lottery and were selected!! I think this is a record for the LPSF.

  In addition to the two arguments below that I posted early this morning making the ballot (with a word or two changed here or there as a result of having to submit multiple, slightly differing versions of the argument, since such count as entries in the lottery process), we were also selected as the opposition to Propositions A (the city college bond measure) and E (the gross receipts tax). An approximate version of Les Mangus's argument against Prop. E appears below; I don't have an electronic copy of Marcy Barry's argument against Prop. A at present.

  In other local news, the Ethics Commission hearings over the fate of suspended sheriff Ross Mirkarimi resumed today at City Hall, and I joined the rally outside the building shortly after noon. There were an encouraging number of people out supporting him, far outnumbering the opponents I saw. (For those not in SF, Mirkarimi is a relatively pro-civil-liberties former Supervisor who was elected sheriff in November of last year and then early this year became involved in a trumped-up controversy over a minor domestic violence incident with his wife on New Year's Eve regarding which she did not want to press charges, and was suspended from office by SF mayor Ed Lee, who would get to appoint his replacement if the suspension is upheld by the Board of Supervisors following the Ethics Commission's hearing and recommendation to them).

Love & Liberty,
                                ((( starchild )))
Outreach Director, Libertarian Party of San Francisco

2

Whoopie….

Mike

3

Fantastic news!!!!!! LPSF will have its name in lights on election day, and we just saved ourselves $1,000!!! Thanks for the great news, Starchild.

Marcy

4

Most of the credit belongs to Aubrey. He's a real trooper, and did all kinds of things -- many of them relatively minor individually, but taken together quite significant -- to make this effort come off as well as it did.

  Like you Marcy I'm quite happy with our current exposure without the LPSF submitting any paid arguments, but if people are interested, I do think it would be cool if we took up a collection to publish Mike Denny's argument against Prop. E, which didn't get selected but I for one quite liked.

Love & Liberty,
                                ((( starchild )))

P.S. - Don't forget that 250-word rebuttal arguments for all of 4 of these ballot measures (A, C, E, and G) are due Monday! If anyone has any ideas for material to include in any of these rebuttals, please post.

5

Hi Starchild and All! Thanks. We did so well because there was more group participation this time, plain and simple. By my calculations, we submitted 167 separate arguments for the 5 measures we opposed, so it really did pay off to turn in tons of paperwork this time. The numbers were on our side. I'm still wondering how you found out the good news. Last year within an hour or of the 2PM lottery, I already received an email at work (used my work email address on the control sheets) that our A opposition argument had been chosen. Since we submitted so much extra paperwork this time, and also because the initial filings against these 5 measures looked quite low, I expected that we would win the lottery for at least two arguments (and was hoping for 3 or better). So I was dumbfounded that when I left work yesterday, there was no email from the Department of Elections. Needless to say, I was bummed out, and it just didn't make sense to
me. So, when I came home later on and read the emails, I was elated but too pooped out to write anything.

Regardless, I will contact the Department of Elections today and get the official proponent arguments so we can write our rebuttals. From past viewings, the proponents of big government and more taxes generally say pretty much the same thing in their proponent arguments as they will say in rebuttal to our arguments. In other words, they don't use the rebuttal space very well because their arguments for more government are so weak. Here's where we can pick up a few extra credit points, especially since we have 2 strong versions of A (the parcel tax) and E (gross receipts tax) already written. Let's incorporate some of these fine arguments in our rebuttal arguments. But first let's see exactly what nonsense the proponents are pushing in their original arguments, though we can pretty much guess even without seeing them.

Mike Denny's argument is excellent, and I suggest using much of it in the rebuttal. I don't recommend submitting a paid argument this time, because we did so well with 4 measures, and we have up to 1,000 words left to spread the good word of freedom and common sense--and all for free! Starchild, you better put on your speaking shoes in the months ahead and get ready to feature our against arguments to the groups that will request our point of view. We received excellent exposure last time from just one measure, so with 4, you might wear out your speaking shoes! It will be a good time for the LPSF.

Again, thanks to all who pitched in to make this happen. A special thanks to Starchild for making me faint, producing more versions of F and G than I expected, and even being ready on time yesterday! Let's not rest on our laurels, but rather try to use the free 1,000 words to try to make a difference in San Francisco politics.

Starchild and I will be putting together the final rebuttals on Sunday night since they are due at noon on Monday. Please post your rebuttals arguments this week-end. I will post the official proponent arguments today, as soon as I get them.

Many Thanks!!!!
Aubrey

6

Thanks you all for the compliments. Personally, Les’s piece for E is pure Libertarian logic that is hard to improve on. My personal approach is to make fun of the establishment as much as possible. Withdrawing consent and respect for this evil institution is a good first step towards Liberty in my view. I have some thoughts that can improve what I wrote and will be happy to work with you all on the rebuttal.

Thanks again….this is very exciting.

Mike

7

I second my agreement that greater participation made a difference, and second my appreciation for the mountain of work Aubrey did! I suggest we move this discussion on "internal strategy" to the private Activist List. The Discussion List is public, so when we state here a plan, we might be unwittingly facilitating the emergence of a counter-plan. Besides a lot of doers do not belong to the Discussion List.

Marcy

8

Aubrey,

  I called the Elections Department around 215pm, and was told they didn't have the ballot argument opponents selected yet. But when I went back into the office around 3pm, they had the information posted. They gave me printed copies of the proponents' arguments in favor of A, C, E and G, but I don't know about electronic copies. Speaking of which, I think we still need to send them electronic copies of our arguments, although they did not say anything about this. Probably they didn't call you because they figured we were already informed. I tried calling you, but didn't have your work number with me and your other phone was not set up to take messages.

  Yeah, we could certainly include elements of Mike's argument in the rebuttal, but there may not be room for the whole thing, and we might want to respond to specific things the proponents have said? We might also want to try to bring on other individuals or groups to co-sign our rebuttal arguments and show more support for them from a broader coalition. Candidates John Dennis and Joel Engardio come to mind; if people have other ideas, please let me know.

Love & Liberty,
                                 ((( starchild )))

9

Any way to scan them and forward to the Activists list?

Mike

10

Glad to hear it. I don't mind people reworking my arguments. I tend to be rather
bookish and theoretical, which is not always the best way to sell an argument.

Les

11

I agree. We should submit a paid proposal for a prop which we did not get a
freebee.

Les

12

Great if a collection (donations or memberships) garners the $400 or whatever a paid argument would cost. I agree this is a terrific chance for our message to be heard. But I am voting a strong NO for funds out of the LPSF treasury. There is a lot of other use for our resources, including on-going operational expenses.

Marcy

13

My argument was used as a rebuttal thanks to the activity of many on this list….so no need for a paid proposal.

Mike

14

Hi All! This is a moot point, since the deadline for paid arguments was noon today. Thanks to the tremendous help of all who wrote the arguments and helped contribute ideas. This was truly a great group effort--and from folks who champion individualism! I am pleased with our opposing arguments and rebuttals after the million edits--and it didn't cost us a penny! A special thank you for Starchild for putting it all together--even at the very end with time closing in.

Many Thanks!
Aubrey