There was one taxpayer victory in the June, 2014 primary that I SHOULD have reported, but didn’t. A tiny, unfunded but determined pro-taxpayer group in Coronado CRUSHED a Ponzi-scheme school bond measure. It’s perhaps a textbook example of how to defeat the Establishment and the special interests that back such measures. Representing San Diego Tax Fighters, I provided some expertise (at the request of the bond opponents), but the truth is that the locals made it happen — not me. Note particularly the quality opposition website — one that added to the professionalism of the rag-tag band of opponents.
http://kisstheschoolbondgoodbye.com/2014/06/thank-coronado-voters-solidly-defeating-prop-e/
It was a short term school bond proposition for the small, affluent city of Coronado. It was largely intended to provide supplemental OPERATING funds for the district for 3 years, with a 5 year payback on the bonds — the theory being that, in those 3 years, additional funding would magically appear from the state of California.
If you want to see the ballot arguments and know more about the measure, this website is helpful:
http://www.smartvoter.org/2014/06/03/ca/sd/prop/E/
If you want to drill down further, here’s the detailed, objective 13 page analysis of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association:
http://www.sdcta.org/Uploads/Documents/Coronado%20Unified%20Bond%20Measure%20PUBLIC.pdf
Support for the bonds was damn near universal among the Establishment. Doubtless funded by commercial construction firms, bond underwriting companies and (most important) the education labor unions, the prop looks like a no-brainer winner. Au contraire!
Here’s the bottom line election results:
PROP E – CORONADO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Counted: 11
Percentage: 100.0%
– See more at: http://kisstheschoolbondgoodbye.com/2014/06/thank-coronado-voters-solidly-defeating-prop-e/#sthash.gg1JbfaQ.dpuf
My role was to provide a last minute rewrite/edit of the group’s ballot book rebuttal argument. One must be quite careful with such statements, as sloppy grammar, unsubstantiated facts and even a misplaced word or two can result in a lawsuit ending in thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees paid by the losers of the suit.
My rewrite was no great shakes, but I think it largely complied with the “safe statements” mandated in such official ballot arguments while providing good reasons to reject the measure. It’s likely the other side took this grassroots opposition too lightly, and didn’t fully understand the effectiveness of the bond opponents. As Chairman of San Diego Tax Fighters, I signed the rebuttal argument.
The county GOP and SD Tax Fighters both formally opposed the bonds, joined only by the local ad hoc grassroots Coronado taxpayer group. I’m told the SD TF formal opposition carried some weight in the community.
I was asked to do some of the debates, but I quickly nixed that idea. They did NOT need some “outsider” telling Coronado citizens how to vote. Besides, the group was quite capable of fielding good debaters for the taxpayer viewpoint.
The SAN DIEGO U-T editorially supported the bonds. The San Diego County Taxpayers Association (the “big” taxpayer group of which I am an active member) wrestled with the issue, and finally went “neutral.” I had hoped for better, but it definitely could have been worse.
I never checked on how much the proponents spent on the measure. I suspect that it was AT LEAST 200 times what opponents could muster — and that does not count the shady spending by the school district to pass the measure (“informational” propaganda). But sometimes a bad idea is just a bad idea — particularly when you have a relatively knowledgeable electorate — knowledgeable because of the efforts of the bond opponents.
Without the active opposition, doubtless the bonds would have passed. It’s great to see a little pro-taxpayer effort by a small but energetic group producing such dramatic results.