The governor is having no trouble attracting donors to support his campaign to pass Proposition 30, which would raise the state sales tax on everyone and income taxes on California's highest earners. It was recently reported that the initiative’s campaign has collected $6.3 million in the first half of the year. Furthermore, the campaign is sitting on $5 million in cash, which will likely come in handy as tough campaigning is in store for the run-up to November. Among the recent donors to Proposition 30 were the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, the California Cable & Telecommunications Association, Disney Worldwide Services Inc., Warner Bros., and a California School Employees Association political action committee. It is believed that the campaign’s current stash is over $8 million.
In addition, a campaign called Reclaim California's Future has announced that it will spend more than $1 million to increase voter turnout, especially among minorities and infrequent voters. The campaign plans to make telephone calls, walk door to door and fund a "very robust get-out-the-vote effort” in support of the governor’s tax measure. More coverage of their efforts here.
And while the governor’s campaign stash and the support of the aforementioned campaign are two positives, there has been a string of bad luck for the governor’s tax measure as well. Two events occurred that could threaten voter support come November. NBC News notes:
“First, $54 million was recently discovered lying around the state’s Department of Parks and Recreation—at a time when Brown’s administration had been painting a dire picture of the park system’s fiscal future, threatening mass closings and nearly begging for private contributions to keep some parks open. [… ] Second, recently released legislative payroll records showed that last year California lawmakers gave raises to more than 1,000 employees--smack in the middle of a state fiscal crisis that has prompted deep budget cuts and salary cutbacks for other state workers.”
Recent blog posts
- Campaign Fundraising and Expenditures
- Proposition 31 Pushes for More Accountability
- Registered to Vote? Now Available Online
- The Latest: Secretary of State Updates
- Smoke and Mirrors: New Prop 30 Ad
- Fact Checkers Counter First Prop 30 Ads
- Voters Feeling Undecided on Tax Measures? New PPIC Poll Shows Shaky Voter Support
- New Prop 32 Ad
- Opponents of Prop 32 Outspend Supporters
- Prop 38 Backer Prepares for “Big Air War”
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