Prop 87 and Measure M - Follow the money

I got a call a week or so ago from a young lady asking if I would answer some questions for a survey about an issue that affects me and my community. I said yes and she exclaimed "awesome!" She then asked me if I had seen any ads on TV about Proposition 87 and I said I had. After reading a few prepared statements from those who were for it and against it, she asked me "If the election were held tomorrow, how would you vote on Proposition 87?" I said I would vote no. She asked me why and when I started speaking, she said "Wait! I have to write this down!" I told her I thought it was a bad idea to tax anyone, individual or corporation, to give the money to someone else to "try" to do something. I told her I didn't believe the claims that they would do or even could do what they say they will. I asked her, "Don't you think we're already taxed too much, especially here in California?" She informed me then that she was 16 years old and didn't really pay many taxes and after a beat said, "But I hope I don't have to pay too much when I get older!" I told her that if the things they want to do with Proposition 87 money were possible or viable, then it should be done by a private company, not by someone paid by the government. Before going on to the next questions, she said "You're right!"

I was then asked a series of questions, some of them multiple choice, aimed at determining exactly what the backers of Proposition 87 could say that would make me vote yes. Nothing they could say would convince me to vote yes on a really bad idea. Then we moved on to the part of every survey like this where you're told you'll be read a list of names or organizations and I was asked did I trust them or not. The list included Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Walter Cronkite, former General Wesley Clark, "any" Nobel Laureate professor, the head of the American Lung Association and probably a few others I don't remember. I was asked if the election were held tomorrow, would I vote for Angelides or Schwarzenegger for governor. I was asked if I or any member of my immediate family was a member of any union or was a teacher.

Near the end of the survey came the requisite personal questions about my ethnicity, level of education, age, and income, and any other information they can ask to get a handle on just who you are and how you'll vote. As I always do, I declined to answer any personal questions. My age, ethnicity, education and income is nobody's business and I'm surprised people answer those questions at all, but I guess they do. When the survey was over, the young woman thanked me and told me she had fun talking to me. I told her I had fun too and hoped she was learning something from working as a survey taker and wished her luck.

Proposition 87 is the Alternative Energy. Research, Production, Incentives. Tax on California Oil Producers. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute. The backers claim that "California is held hostage by the oil companies" and that voting yes on 87 will lower fuel prices, end our dependence on foreign oil and provide cleaner energy. Does anyone know of any tax that has ever actually LOWERED prices to the consumer? Do they think they can increase the taxes on oil producers and have lower gas prices at the same time?

Any time there's big money behind a proposition (or even a local ordinance like Manteca's Measure M), you have to ask yourself "what are they (the backers and supporters) getting out of this?" In the case of Prop 87, the backers are going to get the government of California to give them tax money (a projected $4 billion) to "try" to end our dependence on foreign oil and develop new sources of energy. There's no guarantee that they can do any of this, only their promises to "try." They are not required to produce any results and there is no penalty to them if they fail. They take the money, we pay higher gas prices. Mark my words, if this terrible proposition passes, gasoline at $3.50 a gallon will seem like a bargain. California will have the highest gas prices in the nation.

In the case of Manteca's Measure M, all you have to do is look at the supporters of this ½ percent sales tax increase to see who will benefit. The backers of Measure M all stand to gain from a local tax increase: the police and fire unions and city employees (all of whom are paid with tax dollars); big developers who hope that a new tax will alleviate some of the outrageous fees they're assessed by the city; local government-funded agencies like the Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitors Bureau (which already gets a percentage of the last tax that was "for the police and fire" -- the TOT tax) ; and favored charities that get money from the city like Give Every Child a Chance. The list goes on.

Every few years we're told there's a "crisis" with the fire and police departments and that a new tax has to be assessed to keep Manteca safe. How about demanding some fiscal responsibility from those in charge? Our city leaders have chosen how to spend our tax money and they decided that the police and fire departments were low on their list of priorities. After all, if they need more money they can tell us there's another public safety crisis and hire a big consultant (with OUR money) to take surveys that tell them what to say to make us vote yes. The last "crisis" for which they needed to raise taxes to fund the police and fire was less than 5 years ago. I still remember the expensive Measure Q campaign signs that said "Save our Police and Fire" -- do you? Now they need saving again. When will it end?