Renison Measure A

In Dave Renison's report, which read more like a journal, he made some odd observations that show his contempt for the Measure A project in its entirety. Of course this is no surprise and was actually planned. Resnison was appointed to the board by Kathy Miller (who was then a City Councilwoman) for the specific reason that he would make a perfect watchdog. Because, Renison is the head of the San Joaquin Tax Payers association he would make quite sure that the revenue from Measure A would be spent as it was intended.

One issue I noticed about his report/journal of the Measure A committee is his reference to how it was passed in the first place. In a prologue he points out that Measure A passed with a little over 51% or the vote in an election where only 11% of Stocktonians voted. This might seem to indicate that it wasn't something the people really wanted but it is quite to the contrary.

The special election was held in an off year after the re-election of Barrack Obama in 2012. The next election in 2014 was also an extremely low turnout election even thought the Governor and Congressional Districts were on the ballot. What this means is that in the 2013 Special election for Measure A and B more conservatives voted and thus more people who would be against any form of a tax increase voted.

It's likely that if Measure A was on the Ballot in November during a presidential election it would have done much better. In fact its quite impressive that we as Stocktonians supported a tax upon ourselves in an act of fiscal responsibility and attempt to increase the police presence.

All in all it would seem that hiring of police officers is a little behind but no one could argue that Measure A was a complete disaster.  We need better recruitment if we are to meet the goals set.