Un-Endorsement Matrix - Los Altos City Council Candidates 2012

Los Altos City Council Candidates 2012, top – Megan Satterlee, Jerry Sorensen, Jan Pepper. bottom – Jeannie Bruins, Anabel Pelham, Jon Baer

Here is a Non-Endorsement Matrix of candidate positions Lalahpolitico developed by attending live six of the eight Los Altos City Council Candidates 2012 Forums, reviewing some of those tapes and transcripts and exchanging an alpha version of the draft matrix with the candidates. It captures over 70 questions, teasing out real differences between candidates.

For the Matrix you will have to go to this page, because the layout is WIDE….

How to Approach the Matrix – You Weigh the Positions

The 70 questions are classified into six categories. Downtown, Civic Center, Los Altos School District, Historical Preservation, Fiscal Fitness, Design and City Planning, Transparency and Good Governance, Miscellaneous including Green. You should apply your own weights to the rows, the questions. Many rows might be irrelevant to the way you think about choosing candidates. Only you know what’s important to you. And there are few if any right and wrong answers in a row/questions. For example, is it better for a candidate to be super frugal or more ready to spend? Lalahpolitico thinks there are good arguments for both. If you are a climate change denier, you might not want the most green candidate. Etc. And the matrix is about YOU deciding. On the other hand, If you are in a hurry, Lalahpolitico has talked to many differing people and has often heard them express the often contradictory list of goals below – the popular single issues. Of course, no person can agree with the goals of all the single issues. For instance, if the only issue you care about is historical preservation…lalahpolitico indicates which candidates seem most on board with that goal. The paragraph that follows this one is the Single Issues with Lalahpolitico’s read on the candidates positions. You are free to weigh and ignore the various questions any way you see fit. The purpose of the somewhat “black and white “rows is to tease out differences between candidates and to nudge candidates into taking some kind of position rather than just pursuing evasion. You are always free to listen to all of the tapes of 6 forums which were recorded! Go for it! That’s 12 hours.

Single Issue Voters – Our Candidate Picks For you

Although this is an unendorsement matrix, I was able to develop several Single-Issue Voting assessments. That means if that’s the only issue you care about or care the most about, vote as assessed. [These are not positions that I necessarily personally favor, just ones that I know are popular in the community.]

Best for a Charming Downtown – Baer, Satterlee, Pepper ( in that order)

Best for a Vibrant Downtown – Sorensen, Bruins, Pelham ( in that order)

Best to Stop the Civic Center Plan – Sorensen, Pepper, Bruins, Pelham ( in that order)

Best to Support LASD Board Goals & Policies – Sorensen, Bruins, Pepper ( in that order)

Best for Historical Preservation – Baer, Satterlee, Pepper ( in that order)

Best for Fiscal Fitness – Satterlee, Pepper, Sorensen ( in that order)

Best for Low Residential Density – Satterlee, Baer, Sorensen ( in that order)

Best for Government Transparency – Sorensen, Pepper, Satterlee ( in that order)[ happily all candidates are sensitized to the need]

Best for Green City Initiatives – Pepper, Bruins, Pelham ( in that order)