Blog

I’m paying over $6 dollars for gas, am concerned over record inflation, general economic inequity, plus the lack of attention to public health amidst a pandemic, climate change, prospects of greater global conflicts, not to mention racism.

Oh, and gun violence.

How about you?

Think you should vote if you get a chance?

That’s why it’s a bit of a head-scratcher. In a time when American democracy is being held up with unwaxed dental floss used as baling wire, California, the state with the most Asian Americans, didn’t seem excited enough to show up to vote.

Democracy could have used some moral support.

It is so easy to vote in California these days. I got my permanent vote by mail ballot and sent it off before I left for a jaunt eastward. There were even some interesting races involving Asian Americans throughout the state.

Rob Bonta, the attorney general appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in March of 2021, easily won with 54.8 percent of the vote and will face Republican Nathan Hochman, who finished second with 18.3 percent.

Bonta’s political rising is the story of this primary.

A little over a year as the state’s top cop, Filipino American Bonta got a vote of confidence statewide and appears headed for a win in November’s general election. The issues like assault weapons, gun control, and abortion, are all in his social justice wheelhouse. More importantly, his political career arc seems to rising, as everyone who has held the job (notably Kamala Harris) has been destined for DC.

The only question in the primary was whether the whole state would accept Bonta after such a short time on the job.

The answer, we know now, is yes. Name another Asian American with this kind of high profile that can project as long a view in national politics. This week’s win establishes Bonta as the future.

But as I stayed up to see the other results come in from the Golden State, I was appalled at the turnout. Just 14 percent before election day itself when people could show up in person or drop off ballots. And now it appears it will be well under 30 percent when all is said and done. Compare that to the Gubernatorial recall of last year, with a turnout nearing 40 percent.

I think recalls are a misuse of democracy and a disruptive nuisance. I’d rather see politicians work out their differences with voters while in office and then get voted out, rather than seeking an instant nuclear divorce.

But this is the kind of contentiousness that seems to bring out the voters.

Recalls are like the physical act of throwing someone out on the street now. Forget about throwing tea into the harbor. You can throw out an elected official!

Of course, in the process of voting for a candidate, you can have the same effect. For example, if you were upset by some negative stories involving high profile AAPI pols like Treasurer Fiona Ma or State Assemblyman Phil Ting, you could have voted against them or opposed them in the primary.

But both Ma and Ting showed how they could run on their past record and name recognition and survive any hint of scandal. Call it political maturity. Ma’s 58 percent in the state treasurer’s race is particularly impressive. She had the party and the people behind her in a statewide race.

CHESA BOUDIN RECALL AND THE PROBLEM WITH SAN FRANCISCO
A recall has become the way to put a politician on trial. Let the voters be judge, jury, and executioner. It also draws people to the polls and this time around, San Franciscans got the benefit of the modern voter magnet.

Boudin was billed as a progressive district attorney, the kind who seemed suited to a liberal city like San Francisco. The problem was that idealistic views on incarceration, drug rehabilitation and sentencing sound better than the reality. Voters saw the city in disarray with drugs, homelessness, and smash and grab shoplifting crime and suddenly, all the high minded ideas no longer had their appeal.

Boudin became a scapegoat for all the ills of the city that were in full view.

San Francisco conservatives (a/k/a “moderate Democrats”), led by primarily Asian American voters in the city’s Sunset and Richmond districts, ousted Boudin with 60 percent voting for recall, 40 percent to retain.

This now makes the second recall in the last few months (the other being the recall of several SF Board of Education members), and you’ll see this talked about nationally as the story of the California primary. (Just remember Bonta’s emergence is the real story.) But for the national folks, Boudin’s story is yet another tale of voter discontent with progressive policies in, of all places, San Francisco.

And that will be the Fox News spin.

What’s really happening is San Francisco doesn’t have effective leadership, period. Mayor London Breed will appoint a new District Attorney, and nothing that got people mad at Boudin will change at all. Because it never was about Boudin and his progressive views on sentencing and rehab.

Homelessness, fentanyl abuse, smash and grab crime weren’t all Boudin’s responsibilities. But he became “it.”

The problem with Boudin: he was a leader with no followers.

So now he gets booted. But just watch how it will barely make a difference.

San Francisco’s problems will remain because the leaders who could make a difference aren’t doing their jobs.

Maybe voters recalled the wrong pol.

To get the right ones, you have to be paying attention and voting in our democracy.

Unfortunately, less than a third of us find it worth the bother. Even on an election day, the negatives of our system are exposed when a vocal minority can tyrannize and control the majority.