CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 2023, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“ BALLOT MEASURE DISHONESTY: SADLY. IT’S OLD HAT”
There
were loud complaints about ballot measure dishonesty the other day, just after the fast food industry
qualified a referendum for a statewide vote next year aiming to do away with a
new law giving workers in those restaurants higher pay and more say-so over
workplace rules and disputes.
Without
doubt, there was dishonesty in the process of gathering the almost 550,000
valid voter signatures needed to get this measure onto the ballot. Referenda
are different from normal ballot initiatives: they don’t create new law, but
try to nix recently-passed laws before they can take effect.
Its
dishonesty helped gain the fast food industry at least a temporary reprieve:
The new law passed last summer and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom will be in
abeyance until results of next year’s popular vote on it are known.
Neither
referenda nor dishonesty in getting them to the ballot is new. Deception is
easy to pull off. That’s especially true with little or no regulation on
petition carriers and valid signatures bringing up to $15 apiece, depending on
the wealth of the referendum backers. The companies behind this one were
willing to spend whatever it took to bring their proposition to the ballot, as
were the oil companies who soon after qualified another referendum to undo a
law banning new oil wells and fracking within 3,200 feet of homes and schools.
With
up to $15 per name at stake, it’s no wonder when some petition carriers resort
to dishonesty. Those $15 chunks can add up very quickly.
In
canvassing for the fast food measure, petition carriers outside big box stores
around the state told many voters the proposal would help raise wages for fast
food workers. Uh-uh.
Others
told their pigeons the measure would fight inflation. Nope. Still others refused
to show voters the actual text of the referendum.
No
wonder many voters reported feeling bilked when they learned what they had
signed. Fortunately for them, they will get another crack at this measure when
it hits the ballot in November 2024.
The
good news here is that dishonesty in proposition politics, old as it is, has
not usually paid off.
One
of the oldest dishonest tactics of proposition sponsors is use of misleading
names for their campaign committees. One example: In the early 2000s, the
tobacco industry qualified an initiative to cancel all local restrictions on
smoking.
The
companies called their committee Californians for Statewide Smoking
Restrictions. But there was no push for state laws on the subject; the industry
merely wanted to quash what several cities had done on their own to reduce
smoking.
Similarly,
in 2016, the plastic bag industry qualified a referendum which appeared on the
ballot as Proposition 67, aiming to throw out a new law banning single-use
carry-out store bags. The trade group called itself the American Progressive
Bag Alliance. What’s a progressive bag?
Prop.
67 lost on a 53-47 percent vote, and groceries and other stores still sell
plastic bags for 10 cents apiece, but they are thicker and can be used more
than once.
There
was similar dishonesty in the sports gambling industry’s 2022 attempt to
legalize almost unfettered online sports betting in California. On the ballot
as Prop. 27 last fall, and sponsored by the FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM
wagering services, this effort began dishonestly by calling its measure the
“California Solutions to Homelessness and Mental Health Support Act.” In fact,
only a tiny percentage of revenues would have gone to those causes, and the
measure lost by more than 2-1.
The
tobacco industry also lost in its dishonest campaign.
These
are just three out of many egregious examples of misleading industry campaigns
to pass initiatives or referenda in California.
So it would
be naïve to be shocked that the fast food industry’s petition carriers engaged
in several forms of dishonesty.
And
it would not be the least bit surprising if the latest dishonest campaign ends
up losing, too, just like almost all previous propositions whose campaigns were
deliberately misleading.
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