7 ms·

Sam Altman Considering Run for CA Governor

112 points by rkaplan 9y ago

icpmacdo 9y ago
I am indifferent to this except for the possible negative effects it might have on HN. I hope it does not cause any significant changes to the community here, either from signs of censoring criticism or the topic consistently derailing threads. Every single online community I am apart of is getting wrapped up more and more into American politics it seems.
- Mz 9y ago
  As I understand it, Sam Altman is not involved in moderating HN. That is Dan Gackle's responsibility. So, I don't have any reason to believe that it would in any way impact moderation of HN.
  - jacques_chester 9y ago
    The concern may be discussion on the topic crowding other things out.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
Animats 9y ago
Willie Brown is still a kingmaker? He's 83 and hasn't held office since 2004.
- CalChris 9y ago
  Brown still basically runs San Francisco. He certainly ran it when Rose Pak was still alive and Ed Lee is definitely his guy. Outside of SF he's certainly knowledgable but I doubt he has any pull in Sacto. Not with Jerry, not with Gavin. Kingmaker, no. And Brown is definitely not a kingmaker if you want to run statewide. I doubt he has any pull in LA or the Central Valley. Any at all. Frankly, this bores me. If Altman wants to run for office, he should start a little lower and get a little experience. At 32, I don't count a social networking startup and an incubator for much of a resume especially with respect to running the government of the 6th largest economy in the world.
  - Lordarminius 9y ago
    > At 32, I don't count a social networking startup and an incubator for much of a resume especially with respect to running the government of the 6th largest economy in the world. I came here to say the same thing. I am not American but politics is pretty much the same all over the world nowadays. Effective leadership in political positions demands specialized knowledge and skills developed over long periods of time. This is so often ignored. Socio-economic problems do not succumb to neat textbook solutions. The real world is messy To add to my previous points. Many people labor under the misconception that solutions are lacking to many problems they face in their communities and the job of the politician is to magically conjure them. This is false. There are some issues with no clear way to solve them but these are the minority. For the vast majority of problems(think teacher shortages, healthcare costs, pollution, government corruption etc) solutions exist: it is the political will and organization to implement them that is lacking.
    - jacques_chester 9y ago
      It is typical in these situations to cast the establishment as a stuffy force for evil, a damp quilt blanket that muffles exciting possibilities. And sometimes it is. Sometimes seniority beats sanity, sometimes self-interest beats public interest. But, taking the view from the other side, the establishment sees an endless parade of bold, brilliant, I'm-the-exception types running up to knock it down. In such a position they might be forgiven, after the dozenth encounter with yet another visionary, for rolling their eyes. And I imagine that the California establishment has seen one or two techno-utopians by now.
      - CalChris 9y ago
        Yes, but we've also seen more than our share of entertain-opians. Other than being able to open at the box office they brought no ability to a hard problem.
        jacques_chester 9y ago
        Even they belonged to major parties.
- Gargoyle 9y ago
  Whether or not he's still a kingmaker, he's definitely someone I would talk to if I wanted to run for California governor. Dude's got that state politics knowledge.
tareqak 9y ago
I linked the Recode article that also links to the SF chronicle column. SF Chronicle article: http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/williesworld/article/The-man-President-Trump-fears-most-11144034.php http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/williesworld/article/The-... Recode article that links the to the SF Chronicle article: https://www.recode.net/2017/5/14/15638046/willie-brown-column-sam-altman-might-run-governor-california-2018 https://www.recode.net/2017/5/14/15638046/willie-brown-colum... with the title 'Sam Altman for governor?' My submission (now flagged): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14337211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14337211 I originally found the Recode article from http://techmeme.com/river http://techmeme.com/river . Here is a screenshot as of 5:20 PM EDT: https://imgur.com/a/xJFcS https://imgur.com/a/xJFcS In hindsight, I should have used Techmeme's description as the title of my submission, but I did not think of that at all at the time. I feel as though that users should be able to post the original title and a possibly editorialized version in cases where the original title is suspect, but the article itself has some newsworthy merit.
- fapjacks 9y ago
  Bizarre. I wonder why users are flagging these posts?
prawn 9y ago
So, do we sell or buy Alt-coin on the back of this news? https://twitter.com/sama/status/861825929034833920 https://twitter.com/sama/status/861825929034833920
- maxerickson 9y ago
  Buy popcorn.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
jacques_chester 9y ago
I was under the impression, based on the original submission, that this was based on running as an independent. About which I'm skeptical. There's a reason that rich folk who get elected are nominated by a major party. It's because in a voluntary voting system, a large "Get Out The Vote" machine is necessary, even though it's not sufficient. You don't get that machine with machine learning. You get it with thousands of organised volunteers managed by experienced party hacks. Afterwards, having seen where the money goes, I suspect Sam will decide to invest in political consultancies. (Copied here and modified since this submission has replaced the other submission)
rdl 9y ago
I'd be sad to lose him from YC, although he would probably do enough good for the state overall to make up for it. If he were at all effective, I'd consider ending my California boycott. I'm concerned that unless the rest of state government is fixed, including Prop 13 and the voter initiative system in general, California is just too fucked to be fixed even by a great Governor, though.
- idlewords 9y ago
  The governor is not a proconsul. To be effective, they have to work with the state legislature.
  - rdl 9y ago
    In California you could probably have a popular governor who appealed directly to the people (abusing the initiative system), even with a mostly-dysfunctional legislature.
    - SamReidHughes 9y ago
      Schwarzenegger tried that.
      - CalChris 9y ago
        Yeah, Schwarzenegger tried that and failed because his 2005 ballot initiatives (including his non partisan redistricting) were in an unnecessary special election and attached with some hard right propositions. All 8 went down in flames. He then fired his chief of staff and replaced her with a Democrat and governed from the center, even from the center left. I preferred him to Gray Davis since Davis was so in bed with the prison guards union that he never used his clemency powers for fear it would cost a prison guard job. A few years later, in 2010 Schwarzenegger dusted off the redistricting initiative and it passed.
- icantdrive55 9y ago
  He will not have a chance in hell if he spouts off on eliminating prop 13. I cringe whenever I hear the missplaced blame on prop 13. I guess a younger generation will need to experience true political mismanagement of money first hand? I don't know how prop 13 became the target for the anger? There's no easy fix fir housing. And please, we don't need more revenue collectors, or firehouses, and teachers are being paid well on mist schools. The tuition hikes were just a an area that administrators realized they could hike, because everyone needs the college experience, and a dubious degree. Eliminating prop thirteen might force out a few widows out, but the end result will be a rich person just raising the rent again. I don't want to debate, but it's getting old. People need to look into why prop 13 was enacted. I was a kid, but I remember why my dad was as Mad as Hell. Oh yea, just to prove a point. In desirable Marin County. A 70's supervisor (Giacammoni) said west Marin would have thousands, and thousands of housing units/apartments if he didn't have a huge piggy bank to essentially rob from to further his pet project. He didn't like developement. West Marin is now zoned for 1 home/per hundred acres, or something crazy. (I almost spent $200000 on a run down cabin. Due to zoning, I wouldn't even be able to replace the foundation, which was perched on a redwood stump.) And thank god. It's a beautiful area. My point is giving money to any politician is risky. They used it for the craziest things. You people have no idea. (I might be in favor of tying a repeal of prop 13 into funding a mandatory state UBI, but that will never fly. And even then--I'm just speculating. That money would go right back into pet projects.)
powera 9y ago
I'd rather see Paul Graham run for governor, and SamA stay at YCombinator.
loteck 9y ago
If the act of running as an outsider for high office is mostly an exercise in building name recognition to bolster future races, this may be an OK idea. If this is a play to get younger people to pay attention to government, also an OK idea. Seems like an OK idea.
- bryanlarsen 9y ago
  If this is a ploy to get more mainstream candidates to steal ideas from your platform, also an OK idea.
d--b 9y ago
I thought that in terms of numbers, a majority of people in CA disliked the startup guys... am I wrong?
- skym 9y ago
  I personally can't stand them, however I'm moving myself and my company out of CA so I won't be able to vote against him.
cjbarber 9y ago
I'm very excited about this. Skills that would be useful as governor: * Learning new things quickly * Running and improving existing organizations * Hiring great people and building teams * Identifying the most important and undervalued things to work on or invest in Sam: * Learning new things - e.g. with nuclear power, see comments by nuclear power founder https://blog.ycombinator.com/jacob-dewitte-oklo-interview/ https://blog.ycombinator.com/jacob-dewitte-oklo-interview/ * Running and improving existing organizations - see YC since 2014 * Hiring great people and building teams - YC since 2014, https://blog.samaltman.com/how-to-hire https://blog.samaltman.com/how-to-hire, YC Research organizations like OpenAI * Identifying the most important and undervalued things to work on or invest in - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman#Angel_Investing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman#Angel_Investing I'd certainly like these attributes in my governor!
oisino 9y ago
Curious how Sam would overcome his lack of relative charisma vs people in politics to win. Paul graham essay on this is more than ever true in the world of social media http://www.paulgraham.com/pow.html http://www.paulgraham.com/pow.html
dang 9y ago
Url changed from https://mobile.twitter.com/kimmaicutler/status/863674430890717185 https://mobile.twitter.com/kimmaicutler/status/8636744308907..., which points to this.
redahs 9y ago
> tech investor and app innovator who believes that if used right, technology can bring an end to income inequality and a hosts of other social and economic problems. If this implies using technology to deliver greater public services more efficiently, it is unlikely to solve structural inequality. If you deliver public services more effectively and make California a more attractive place to live, then land values will rise, and landowners and mortgage investors can charge even higher rent. The primary driver of inequality is housing costs and the only combination which would allow for high public spending on services and low rent paid to landholders and banks is switching state revenue from income, sales, and personal property taxes to a land value tax. You can incentivize an incremental switch to land value taxation by sponsoring legislation which would allow residents to obtain an exemption from all state taxes if they lived in a county which made quarterly payments to the state on their behalf. If a county can figure out how to get around Proposition 13 and raise local revenues from quarterly assessed unimproved land values sufficient to pay for both local and state services, it should be allowed to forward a portion of the money to the state in exchange for exemptions from state taxes for residents. From a technical standpoint, it would be great if there was a public map of a single land value tax rate for every parcel of land in the state. However private developers could build this using data published by the county governments.
jacobolus 9y ago
I doubt he’d have much chance of winning, but if he did it would be unlikely to work well for state residents. You want someone with decades of experience in state politics to be governor. Jerry Brown (on the second go-around) has been by far a better governor than at least the previous 6 were, including his younger self. (Admittedly Pete Wilson and Gray Davis were both career politicians with plenty of CA experience, and both terrible – we might say that decades of experience is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a great governor.) If Altman is serious, he should try running for state legislature first.
gotothedoctor 9y ago
Wow. I’m so confused by this. Sure, it makes sense that Altman would seek advice from Willie L. Brown Jr.—but why would Altman allow Brown to announce this in his newspaper column? And, even more bizarre-- why would Brown suggest that Altman’s candidacy is so threatening that it’d make Gavin Newsom suicidal? Seriously? Sam Altman is obviously an impressive, wealthy & ambitious guy. However, he is 32 & has literally zero experience in CA state government & politics. Sure, Altman has raised money for Hillary, but, no one knows better than Willie how far a distance it is from a Hillary fundraiser at his home to a pancake breakfast at a labor union in Sacramento. Brown even acknowledges that it’s been an unsuccessful pattern for wealthy tech guys. Why would anyone who knows anything about California politics (let alone Willie Brown) recommend that a virtually unknown wealthy 32 year old with no relevant experience run for governor of any state, let alone California? Has Brown signed on to be a paid advisor for Altman’s campaign? Gavin Newsom, on the other hand, is also wealthy & young(ish) but has decades of experience. As Brown well knows, Newsom could face actual competition from Kamala Harris, Antonio Villaraigosa or even Tom Steyer--none of whom are political novices. That said, its fantastic that Altman has political aspirations. And I hope many people do encourage him to pursue public service. But why wouldn't Altman start out by running for State Assembly or Congress? I hope Altman asks himself why Willie Brown didn't say exactly this to him--& that actually, thankfully, in his experience, California is beyond unlikely to elect a 32 year old with no experience as its governor. Frankly, deciding to run for governor as a wealthy 32 year old with no experience in government or politics, suggests that Altman, at least presently, lacks the judgment being governor of CA requires. Its concerning that Altman himself would not know as much --let alone think that in the age of Trump, that such a campaign could be successful in CA--and even more so that he'd surround himself with folks that wouldn't tell him as much. To be clear, my criticism is not cynicism or hate. I am critical because I admire Altman (& separately, differently, Brown) & think he can do better. But, it'll take surrounding himself with folks who challenge him, not those who benefit from agreeing with him. Maybe this'll help him learn as much?
EternalData 9y ago
There's an interesting inflection point when it comes to age and politics nowadays. Ossoff is 30 and is now the best hope the Dems have at picking up a seat in suburban Hillary country. Macron, at 39, is the youngest French leader ever elected (emphasis on elected) and the youngest head of state. Granted, both had deep experience in politics before cutting their skin in the game and staking themselves out in a major way. But I no longer see age and perceived experience as a major obstacle to policy-making and electability -- especially in an age where most people are yearning for a different kind of politics.
bdrool 9y ago
Reminder that this is the same person who attempted to publicly shame[1] Jeremy Guillory out of fighting for his fair share during GM's acquisition of Cruise. This attempt failed, and Cruise ended up having to publicly acknowledge the opposite: "As part of the settlement, Cruise and its founder Kyle Vogt now acknowledge that Guillory was a cofounder of the company."[2] On top of that, Sam's post originally included the statement "it’s important to the way Silicon Valley works that such behavior not be tolerated" in reference to Guillory fighting for his recognition, which he later removed.[3] This is not someone I would support for any sort of public office. EDIT: He's not above criticism, folks. If you disagree with me, how about replying and explaining instead of down-voting? [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11490188 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11490188 [2] http://www.businessinsider.com/car-startup-cruise-settles-legal-case-involving-cofounder-2016-5?op=1 http://www.businessinsider.com/car-startup-cruise-settles-le... [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11491011 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11491011
- narrowrail 9y ago
  Not only is this submission flagged, it is also almost a day old (kinda old by HN standards), but you still felt the need to show up and link to what the public sources say. You have no insider knowledge, and the chances of the publicly known story being accurate are pretty slim. Seems pretty low to me. I almost DV'd you until I saw someone else already did, so I figured I would try providing feedback (I hate drive-by DVs).
  - bdrool 9y ago
    The facts are very clear-cut and I provided sources. > the chances of the publicly known story being accurate are pretty slim That's empty speculation. If that's the only defense for his actions then there isn't any. It's going to take a lot more than that to convince people to vote for him.

112 points by rkaplan 9y ago

I am indifferent to this except for the possible negative effects it might have on HN. I hope it does not cause any significant changes to the community here, either from signs of censoring criticism or the topic consistently derailing threads. Every single online community I am apart of is getting wrapped up more and more into American politics it seems.

Mz 9y ago
As I understand it, Sam Altman is not involved in moderating HN. That is Dan Gackle's responsibility. So, I don't have any reason to believe that it would in any way impact moderation of HN.
- jacques_chester 9y ago
  The concern may be discussion on the topic crowding other things out.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

Animats 9y ago

Willie Brown is still a kingmaker? He's 83 and hasn't held office since 2004.

CalChris 9y ago
Brown still basically runs San Francisco. He certainly ran it when Rose Pak was still alive and Ed Lee is definitely his guy. Outside of SF he's certainly knowledgable but I doubt he has any pull in Sacto. Not with Jerry, not with Gavin. Kingmaker, no. And Brown is definitely not a kingmaker if you want to run statewide. I doubt he has any pull in LA or the Central Valley. Any at all. Frankly, this bores me. If Altman wants to run for office, he should start a little lower and get a little experience. At 32, I don't count a social networking startup and an incubator for much of a resume especially with respect to running the government of the 6th largest economy in the world.
- Lordarminius 9y ago
  > At 32, I don't count a social networking startup and an incubator for much of a resume especially with respect to running the government of the 6th largest economy in the world. I came here to say the same thing. I am not American but politics is pretty much the same all over the world nowadays. Effective leadership in political positions demands specialized knowledge and skills developed over long periods of time. This is so often ignored. Socio-economic problems do not succumb to neat textbook solutions. The real world is messy To add to my previous points. Many people labor under the misconception that solutions are lacking to many problems they face in their communities and the job of the politician is to magically conjure them. This is false. There are some issues with no clear way to solve them but these are the minority. For the vast majority of problems(think teacher shortages, healthcare costs, pollution, government corruption etc) solutions exist: it is the political will and organization to implement them that is lacking.
  - jacques_chester 9y ago
    It is typical in these situations to cast the establishment as a stuffy force for evil, a damp quilt blanket that muffles exciting possibilities. And sometimes it is. Sometimes seniority beats sanity, sometimes self-interest beats public interest. But, taking the view from the other side, the establishment sees an endless parade of bold, brilliant, I'm-the-exception types running up to knock it down. In such a position they might be forgiven, after the dozenth encounter with yet another visionary, for rolling their eyes. And I imagine that the California establishment has seen one or two techno-utopians by now.
    - CalChris 9y ago
      Yes, but we've also seen more than our share of entertain-opians. Other than being able to open at the box office they brought no ability to a hard problem.
      - jacques_chester 9y ago
        Even they belonged to major parties.
Gargoyle 9y ago
Whether or not he's still a kingmaker, he's definitely someone I would talk to if I wanted to run for California governor. Dude's got that state politics knowledge.

tareqak 9y ago

I linked the Recode article that also links to the SF chronicle column. SF Chronicle article: http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/williesworld/article/The-man-President-Trump-fears-most-11144034.php http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/williesworld/article/The-... Recode article that links the to the SF Chronicle article: https://www.recode.net/2017/5/14/15638046/willie-brown-column-sam-altman-might-run-governor-california-2018 https://www.recode.net/2017/5/14/15638046/willie-brown-colum... with the title 'Sam Altman for governor?' My submission (now flagged): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14337211 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14337211 I originally found the Recode article from http://techmeme.com/river http://techmeme.com/river . Here is a screenshot as of 5:20 PM EDT: https://imgur.com/a/xJFcS https://imgur.com/a/xJFcS In hindsight, I should have used Techmeme's description as the title of my submission, but I did not think of that at all at the time. I feel as though that users should be able to post the original title and a possibly editorialized version in cases where the original title is suspect, but the article itself has some newsworthy merit.

fapjacks 9y ago
Bizarre. I wonder why users are flagging these posts?

prawn 9y ago

So, do we sell or buy Alt-coin on the back of this news? https://twitter.com/sama/status/861825929034833920 https://twitter.com/sama/status/861825929034833920

maxerickson 9y ago
Buy popcorn.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

jacques_chester 9y ago

I was under the impression, based on the original submission, that this was based on running as an independent. About which I'm skeptical. There's a reason that rich folk who get elected are nominated by a major party. It's because in a voluntary voting system, a large "Get Out The Vote" machine is necessary, even though it's not sufficient. You don't get that machine with machine learning. You get it with thousands of organised volunteers managed by experienced party hacks. Afterwards, having seen where the money goes, I suspect Sam will decide to invest in political consultancies. (Copied here and modified since this submission has replaced the other submission)

rdl 9y ago

I'd be sad to lose him from YC, although he would probably do enough good for the state overall to make up for it. If he were at all effective, I'd consider ending my California boycott. I'm concerned that unless the rest of state government is fixed, including Prop 13 and the voter initiative system in general, California is just too fucked to be fixed even by a great Governor, though.

idlewords 9y ago
The governor is not a proconsul. To be effective, they have to work with the state legislature.
- rdl 9y ago
  In California you could probably have a popular governor who appealed directly to the people (abusing the initiative system), even with a mostly-dysfunctional legislature.
  - SamReidHughes 9y ago
    Schwarzenegger tried that.
    - CalChris 9y ago
      Yeah, Schwarzenegger tried that and failed because his 2005 ballot initiatives (including his non partisan redistricting) were in an unnecessary special election and attached with some hard right propositions. All 8 went down in flames. He then fired his chief of staff and replaced her with a Democrat and governed from the center, even from the center left. I preferred him to Gray Davis since Davis was so in bed with the prison guards union that he never used his clemency powers for fear it would cost a prison guard job. A few years later, in 2010 Schwarzenegger dusted off the redistricting initiative and it passed.
icantdrive55 9y ago
He will not have a chance in hell if he spouts off on eliminating prop 13. I cringe whenever I hear the missplaced blame on prop 13. I guess a younger generation will need to experience true political mismanagement of money first hand? I don't know how prop 13 became the target for the anger? There's no easy fix fir housing. And please, we don't need more revenue collectors, or firehouses, and teachers are being paid well on mist schools. The tuition hikes were just a an area that administrators realized they could hike, because everyone needs the college experience, and a dubious degree. Eliminating prop thirteen might force out a few widows out, but the end result will be a rich person just raising the rent again. I don't want to debate, but it's getting old. People need to look into why prop 13 was enacted. I was a kid, but I remember why my dad was as Mad as Hell. Oh yea, just to prove a point. In desirable Marin County. A 70's supervisor (Giacammoni) said west Marin would have thousands, and thousands of housing units/apartments if he didn't have a huge piggy bank to essentially rob from to further his pet project. He didn't like developement. West Marin is now zoned for 1 home/per hundred acres, or something crazy. (I almost spent $200000 on a run down cabin. Due to zoning, I wouldn't even be able to replace the foundation, which was perched on a redwood stump.) And thank god. It's a beautiful area. My point is giving money to any politician is risky. They used it for the craziest things. You people have no idea. (I might be in favor of tying a repeal of prop 13 into funding a mandatory state UBI, but that will never fly. And even then--I'm just speculating. That money would go right back into pet projects.)

powera 9y ago

I'd rather see Paul Graham run for governor, and SamA stay at YCombinator.

loteck 9y ago

If the act of running as an outsider for high office is mostly an exercise in building name recognition to bolster future races, this may be an OK idea. If this is a play to get younger people to pay attention to government, also an OK idea. Seems like an OK idea.

bryanlarsen 9y ago
If this is a ploy to get more mainstream candidates to steal ideas from your platform, also an OK idea.

d--b 9y ago

I thought that in terms of numbers, a majority of people in CA disliked the startup guys... am I wrong?

skym 9y ago
I personally can't stand them, however I'm moving myself and my company out of CA so I won't be able to vote against him.

cjbarber 9y ago

I'm very excited about this. Skills that would be useful as governor: * Learning new things quickly * Running and improving existing organizations * Hiring great people and building teams * Identifying the most important and undervalued things to work on or invest in Sam: * Learning new things - e.g. with nuclear power, see comments by nuclear power founder https://blog.ycombinator.com/jacob-dewitte-oklo-interview/ https://blog.ycombinator.com/jacob-dewitte-oklo-interview/ * Running and improving existing organizations - see YC since 2014 * Hiring great people and building teams - YC since 2014, https://blog.samaltman.com/how-to-hire https://blog.samaltman.com/how-to-hire, YC Research organizations like OpenAI * Identifying the most important and undervalued things to work on or invest in - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman#Angel_Investing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman#Angel_Investing I'd certainly like these attributes in my governor!

oisino 9y ago

Curious how Sam would overcome his lack of relative charisma vs people in politics to win. Paul graham essay on this is more than ever true in the world of social media http://www.paulgraham.com/pow.html http://www.paulgraham.com/pow.html

dang 9y ago

Url changed from https://mobile.twitter.com/kimmaicutler/status/863674430890717185 https://mobile.twitter.com/kimmaicutler/status/8636744308907..., which points to this.

redahs 9y ago

> tech investor and app innovator who believes that if used right, technology can bring an end to income inequality and a hosts of other social and economic problems. If this implies using technology to deliver greater public services more efficiently, it is unlikely to solve structural inequality. If you deliver public services more effectively and make California a more attractive place to live, then land values will rise, and landowners and mortgage investors can charge even higher rent. The primary driver of inequality is housing costs and the only combination which would allow for high public spending on services and low rent paid to landholders and banks is switching state revenue from income, sales, and personal property taxes to a land value tax. You can incentivize an incremental switch to land value taxation by sponsoring legislation which would allow residents to obtain an exemption from all state taxes if they lived in a county which made quarterly payments to the state on their behalf. If a county can figure out how to get around Proposition 13 and raise local revenues from quarterly assessed unimproved land values sufficient to pay for both local and state services, it should be allowed to forward a portion of the money to the state in exchange for exemptions from state taxes for residents. From a technical standpoint, it would be great if there was a public map of a single land value tax rate for every parcel of land in the state. However private developers could build this using data published by the county governments.

jacobolus 9y ago

I doubt he’d have much chance of winning, but if he did it would be unlikely to work well for state residents. You want someone with decades of experience in state politics to be governor. Jerry Brown (on the second go-around) has been by far a better governor than at least the previous 6 were, including his younger self. (Admittedly Pete Wilson and Gray Davis were both career politicians with plenty of CA experience, and both terrible – we might say that decades of experience is a necessary but not sufficient condition for being a great governor.) If Altman is serious, he should try running for state legislature first.

gotothedoctor 9y ago

Wow. I’m so confused by this. Sure, it makes sense that Altman would seek advice from Willie L. Brown Jr.—but why would Altman allow Brown to announce this in his newspaper column? And, even more bizarre-- why would Brown suggest that Altman’s candidacy is so threatening that it’d make Gavin Newsom suicidal? Seriously? Sam Altman is obviously an impressive, wealthy & ambitious guy. However, he is 32 & has literally zero experience in CA state government & politics. Sure, Altman has raised money for Hillary, but, no one knows better than Willie how far a distance it is from a Hillary fundraiser at his home to a pancake breakfast at a labor union in Sacramento. Brown even acknowledges that it’s been an unsuccessful pattern for wealthy tech guys. Why would anyone who knows anything about California politics (let alone Willie Brown) recommend that a virtually unknown wealthy 32 year old with no relevant experience run for governor of any state, let alone California? Has Brown signed on to be a paid advisor for Altman’s campaign? Gavin Newsom, on the other hand, is also wealthy & young(ish) but has decades of experience. As Brown well knows, Newsom could face actual competition from Kamala Harris, Antonio Villaraigosa or even Tom Steyer--none of whom are political novices. That said, its fantastic that Altman has political aspirations. And I hope many people do encourage him to pursue public service. But why wouldn't Altman start out by running for State Assembly or Congress? I hope Altman asks himself why Willie Brown didn't say exactly this to him--& that actually, thankfully, in his experience, California is beyond unlikely to elect a 32 year old with no experience as its governor. Frankly, deciding to run for governor as a wealthy 32 year old with no experience in government or politics, suggests that Altman, at least presently, lacks the judgment being governor of CA requires. Its concerning that Altman himself would not know as much --let alone think that in the age of Trump, that such a campaign could be successful in CA--and even more so that he'd surround himself with folks that wouldn't tell him as much. To be clear, my criticism is not cynicism or hate. I am critical because I admire Altman (& separately, differently, Brown) & think he can do better. But, it'll take surrounding himself with folks who challenge him, not those who benefit from agreeing with him. Maybe this'll help him learn as much?

EternalData 9y ago

There's an interesting inflection point when it comes to age and politics nowadays. Ossoff is 30 and is now the best hope the Dems have at picking up a seat in suburban Hillary country. Macron, at 39, is the youngest French leader ever elected (emphasis on elected) and the youngest head of state. Granted, both had deep experience in politics before cutting their skin in the game and staking themselves out in a major way. But I no longer see age and perceived experience as a major obstacle to policy-making and electability -- especially in an age where most people are yearning for a different kind of politics.

bdrool 9y ago

Reminder that this is the same person who attempted to publicly shame[1] Jeremy Guillory out of fighting for his fair share during GM's acquisition of Cruise. This attempt failed, and Cruise ended up having to publicly acknowledge the opposite: "As part of the settlement, Cruise and its founder Kyle Vogt now acknowledge that Guillory was a cofounder of the company."[2] On top of that, Sam's post originally included the statement "it’s important to the way Silicon Valley works that such behavior not be tolerated" in reference to Guillory fighting for his recognition, which he later removed.[3] This is not someone I would support for any sort of public office. EDIT: He's not above criticism, folks. If you disagree with me, how about replying and explaining instead of down-voting? [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11490188 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11490188 [2] http://www.businessinsider.com/car-startup-cruise-settles-legal-case-involving-cofounder-2016-5?op=1 http://www.businessinsider.com/car-startup-cruise-settles-le... [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11491011 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11491011

narrowrail 9y ago
Not only is this submission flagged, it is also almost a day old (kinda old by HN standards), but you still felt the need to show up and link to what the public sources say. You have no insider knowledge, and the chances of the publicly known story being accurate are pretty slim. Seems pretty low to me. I almost DV'd you until I saw someone else already did, so I figured I would try providing feedback (I hate drive-by DVs).
- bdrool 9y ago
  The facts are very clear-cut and I provided sources. > the chances of the publicly known story being accurate are pretty slim That's empty speculation. If that's the only defense for his actions then there isn't any. It's going to take a lot more than that to convince people to vote for him.