Pete Stahl has been rating California ballot propositions since 1980. A native of San Diego and graduate of La Jolla High School, Pete started writing his reviews while a student at Harvard.
As a new voter, he was appalled at the hysterical tone and utter lack of objectivity of the official arguments in the ballot pamphlet. He felt an acute need for a disinterested party to cut through the posturing and provide sensible summaries and opinions. It struck him that his own research and ideas might be of use, so he typed up his recommendations (yes, on a typewriter) and circulated them among friends and family under the title Pete Rates the Propositions.
Since then, Pete Rates has grown into a popular resource for voters across the state, first as a paper pamphlet, and since 2003 as a website, at www.peterates.com.
Pete has appeared as a speaker on ballot propositions for the League of Women Voters in several cities. He has appeared on radio, TV, and podcasts, and his reviews have been used as course material at UCLA, where an instructor noted, “Even if you disagree with some of Pete’s opinions, his explanation of each proposition is succinct and clear, and his views are worth reading.”
Pete Rates the Propositions is non-partisan and unaffiliated with any candidate or organization. Pete remains obstinately undoctrinaire, considering each ballot proposition on its merits. He is proud to have offended (and persuaded) voters of all political stripes.
Pete first got involved in politics in 1974, when his mother, Jonnie, ran for State Senate. He spent the campaign plastering her hot-pink campaign posters across the sprawling district, which stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Colorado River.
In 2009, one of Pete’s ratings was published in the California ballot pamphlet as the official argument against Proposition 1F. The issue was trivial and the measure passed overwhelmingly, but Pete’s principled stand won him the admiration of many. Also, because the pamphlet was mailed to every voter in the state, Pete can claim to have over 17 million copies of his work in print, an enviable number for any author!
Professionally, Pete has worked in Silicon Valley as a software engineer and web site designer, both free-lance and in-house. His past employers include a number of distinguished and innovative companies, such as eBay, Cisco, AOL, GO Corp., and Ashton-Tate. He is currently winding down that career, and teaching interaction design part-time at California College of the Arts in San Francisco.
An active classical musician, Pete plays oboe and English horn in Redwood Symphony, a community orchestra specializing in ambitious works from the 20th and 21st centuries. He has studied with several prominent oboists, including John De Lancie at the Aspen Music Festival. In 2004 Pete was soloist in the West Coast premiere of Spaghetti Western, an English horn concerto by leading American composer Michael Daugherty. A founding member of Redwood Symphony, Pete has served as president of the orchestra’s board of directors. You can hear him on these CDs.
Pete lives in Mountain View with his lovely wife, Janet Sloan, who’s a high-tech program management director and a cellist. Contrary to rumor, their two adorable adult children are not named Initiative and Referendum.