Stephan F.P. Zimmerman of the Berkeley Action Committee penned this editorial four days before the 1973 election, outlining the dire state of Berkeley city politics as he and many moderate and conservative voters saw it.  Zimmerman condemns “bloc voting” as “the most potent political whip at the radicals’ command,” referring to the 1971 election of the April Coalition as a result of “non-radical liberal votes [being splintered] among some 29 candidates.”  Additionally, Zimmerman foreshadows the growing discontent of the California tax base, which eventually culminated in the passage of Proposition 13 in 1968, slashing property taxes and the funds available for municipal services like public schools.  The columns on either side of the Zimmerman editorial display similar discontent with the direction of the municipal government, titled “Would you entrust electricity to the City of Berkeley?” and “Why we fear the ‘takeover.'”