If an initiative ever promised voters one thing but would deliver the OPPOSITE, Proposition 212 is it. If voters want to clean up politics and stop corruption, we urge you to vote NO on this extremely deceptive measure.
Prop. 212 would actually increase, NOT decrease, the power of special-interest money in state and local government! Here's how:
#1 PROP. 212 WIPES OUT OUR ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT ACT, THE CORNERSTONE OF CALIFORNIA'S ANTI-CORRUPTION LAWS!
This stringent anti-bribery law was enacted in the wake of the FBI corruption sting that sent five lawmakers to prison for selling their votes.
Prop. 212 frees elected officials and politicians from these ethics laws, and once again allows special interests to shower them with:
Polluters, tobacco companies, or anyone else seeking government favors would no longer be legally prohibited from giving expensive gifts and lavish free travel, or depositing cash payments into our elected officials' pockets!
Prop. 212 brings back a form of legalized bribery voters already outlawed. By allowing personal payments to government officials, Prop. 212 allows special interests to get around campaign contribution reform laws entirely.
#2 PROP. 212 ALSO CONTAINS A HUGE SPECIAL-INTEREST LOOPHOLE WHICH ALLOWS POLITICAL DONOR COMMITTEES TO GIVE CANDIDATES ONE HUNDRED TIMES WHAT ANYONE ELSE CAN CONTRIBUTE!
That's a hundred-fold advantage for special interests over regular people, hardly the way to get big money influence out of politics!
SO WHILE PROP. 212 CLAIMS TO BE ''TOUGH" IT ACTUALLY DOES FAR MORE HARM THAN GOOD. It is fatally flawed, fraught with loopholes, and unworkable.
Its alleged ''get tough" provisions have been ruled UNCONSTITUTIONAL, so they will be thrown out by the Courts and never go into effect.
But don't despair: fortunately, voters have a golden opportunity to enact genuine campaign reform.
Prop. 208 endorsed by the League of Women Voters, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)--California, American Lung Association, and Common Cause, is a solid, workable solution.
These two measures are incompatible; voting for both doesn't work. If voters want a campaign finance reform law that REDUCES rather than INCREASES the power of corrupting special-interest money in Sacramento and local government, there is only one option:
VOTE YES ON 208 AND NO ON 212.
Prop. 212 is long on rhetoric but fails to deliver reform. It creates BIGGER PROBLEMS rather than SOLUTIONS. It is not only illogical, it is dangerous.
Prop. 212 would not be on the ballot if its sponsor had leveled with voters and honestly disclosed what it really does:
Please join us in voting No on Proposition 212.
JACQUELINE ANTEE
State President, American Association of
Retired Persons
TONY MILLER
Executive Director, Californians for Political Reform,
A Committee Sponsored by League of Women Voters
of California, American Association of Retired
Persons--California (AARP), Common Cause
and United We Stand America