A year ago this week, San Diego County was the scene of deadly fires. Next month, county voters will be asked to approve a new tax to improve firefighting resources. The campaign to pass Prop. A is cash strapped and barely visible. KPBS Reporter Amita Sharma has details.
Given last year's ruinous blazes and the area's aversion to taxes, Prop. A's chief booster County Supervisor Ron Roberts had hoped to mount a robust campaign.
Roberts: You'd like to have a team of campaign people who are working on this 24 hours a day.
Instead, the campaign doesn't even have an office.
Roberts: We've got basically a team of one person. There's no television ads, there's not that kind of money. From the start, we imagined we were going to have a fairly modest campaign.
Prop. A would raise $50 million for a regional fire protection agency and funding for local departments. With less than two weeks before the election, the campaign has a treasury of $35,000.
Four years ago, supporters of the campaign to extend the TransNet tax spent a million dollars and barely won the required two-thirds majority. And again that was to renew an existing tax.
Erie: Remember this requires a 2/3 vote of the people. This is a new tax.
Steve Erie is a political scientist at UCSD. He says that's the challenge for Prop. A.
Erie: It's a parcel tax and when you have that extraordinary majority requirement. You usually need an energetic, well-funded campaign.
That's exactly what Los Angeles County had 11 years ago when voters there passed a tax to fund firefighting. The campaign raised about $200,000. And LA County Fire Chief Mike Freeman said there was unanimity among the board of supervisors and cities that the tax was needed. He says what matters most is what happens before the measure gets on the ballot.
Freeman: If there's a really good job done to sell, to tell, to respond to questions, to spend a lot of time designing and structuring what is going to ultimately be on the ballot… I think that frankly helps with people being able to be supportive. It also helps with simplicity and clarity of the message.
Mayor Jerry Sanders, San Miguel Fire Chief Augie Ghio, Ron Roberts and others have been out to educate groups about Prop. A. But other members of the board of supervisors limit themselves to mentioning Prop. A in passing at community meetings. At least three cities are opposed to the measure.
With so little campaign money…Roberts relied for the first time this week on news conferences.
Roberts: You and me and everybody in this county can change the playing field for the best and we're not only talking about wildfires. In any kind of a major emergency we'll have equipment that can respond better. Maybe our next emergency will be an earthquake.
UCSD's Erie says the fact that Roberts is pitching Prop. A almost alone among his colleagues is proof that county leaders aren't serious about the measure.
Erie: I think from the beginning that this was a cover your posterior proposal. I.e.-- that the campaign in favor of it would be pro forma at best…just a formality. What really matters is the amount invested. The amount of campaign contributions, the campaign manager basically to educate the public.
Prop. A's anemic campaign hasn't been lost on anti-tax activist Richard Rider.
Rider: We're not putting any money in…nor are we trying. We put up a website. What it lacks in beauty in makes up for in content and we're going to rely on our ballot arguments, on the debates, and the other side as you say does not have their heart in it.
Supervisor Roberts says despite the thin campaign, he's optimistic about the measure's prospects. But if voters squander that chance ….
Roberts: I'll be hoping beyond hope that we don't see something disastrous over the next couple of years and that will be the day I wake up and feel “San Diego you ought to be ashamed.”
Amita Sharma, KPBS News.
