Davis

Some election reflections …

So, PG&E, a private utility company, wanted to change the law so that it would take a two-thirds super-majority vote for Californians to opt out of their monopoly. First, it seems that if a private corporation wants to mess with our simple-majority electoral system in order to make themselves our default gas and electric utility, then it should have to follow its own standards and garner a two-thirds majority vote to effect that change.

Second, I find it ironic that a highly monopolistic corporation ran a campaign demonizing Òthe governmentÓ (local government = local control by local voters = you) while spending $46 million to send deceptive mailers to every household in California in hopes of solidifying its monopoly for future generations.

Proposition 16 may have failed in the June election, but PG&E has deep pockets and I have a feeling it will be back in the next election season with new tactics.

There was little publicity for the ÒNo on 16Ó side this time around, and many voters were honestly confused. Next time, PG&E will again be able to count on the fact that individual consumers are not in a position to organize and fund a counter-campaign to educate voters on the facts about publicly owned utilities and their right to choose.

With all the hollering these days about the perils of Ògovernment controlÓ over this or that, it is well for us to remember that in a democracy, we are the government. We may have no choice regarding the CEOs of the big corporations that impact our lives and our communities (they are beholden only to their shareholders), but we do get to choose our government leaders, and at the local level, we often get to choose them from among folks we know. That is a precious right worth honoring and preserving.

Jill Van Zanten

Davis

Comments

comments