Opinion articles provide independent perspectives on key community issues, separate from our newsroom reporting.

Editorials

The Bee recommends a mix of incumbents, newcomers

Modesto Bee

Newspapers have been endorsing candidates for office since their inception in colonial America when they were the only form of mass media. Times have changed, but newspapers continue to make endorsements in an effort to to help readers put candidate positions and ballot proposals into perspective – not to “tell” people how to vote.

Most of our recommendations are linked to an editorial. In some cases, The Bee is reiterating endorsements made prior to the June 5 primary. In the case of measures to move city or board elections to even-numbered years (Measure F for Modesto City Schools; Measure Z for Modesto City Council), state law now requires – as does simple logic, as we argued in 2015 – moving all elections to even-numbered years.

U.S. Senate:



Dianne Feinstein

House of Representatives:



District 10: Josh Harder



District 9: Jerry McNerney

State Offices



Governor: Gavin Newsom



Lieutenant Governor: Eleni Kounalakis



Attorney General: Xavier Becerra



Insurance Commissioner: Steve Poizner

Superintendent of Schools: Tony Thurmond



Secretary of State: Alex Padilla



State Treasurer: Fiona Ma



State Controller: Betty Yee



Board of Equalization: Tom Hallinan

State Assembly



District 21: Adam Gray

State Senate



District 8: Andreas Borgeas



District 12: Anna Caballero

Statewide Ballot Measures



Proposition 1, Affordable housing support: Yes



Proposition 2, Housing for mentally ill: Yes



Proposition 3, Funding for water projects: No



Proposition 4, Children’s hospital funding: Yes



Proposition 5, Alter some property tax valuations: No



Proposition 6, Revokes gas tax for road projects: No



Proposition 7, Year-round daylight-savings time: No



Proposition 8, Limits charges for kidney dialysis: No



Proposition 10, Allows cities to have rent control: No



Proposition 11, Keeps private emergency workers on-call: No



Proposition 12, Caging rules for farm animals: No

Stanislaus County



Supervisor, District 3: Terry Withrow



Supervisor, District 4: Frank Damrell



Superintendent of Schools: Scott Kuykendall



Turlock Mayor: Amy Bublak

Local Ballot Measures



D, $74 million bond, Modesto City Schools: No



E, $57 million bond, Modesto City Schools: No

Cannabis Measures

The cities of Ceres (Measure W), Patterson (Measure Y), Oakdale (Measure C) and Riverbank (Measure B) have measures allowing cities to impose sales taxes and business fees on the growth and sale of recreational marijuana. Most put the sales tax at 15 percent; Riverbank has set it at 10 percent. The Bee supports all four measures.

This story was originally published November 2, 2018 at 12:06 PM.

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