Posted on 10/09/2006 7:19:52 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO
In any other year, a $60 million opposition campaign fueled by a deep-pockets industry would spell nearly certain doom for a California ballot initiative.
It still might. But the fight over Proposition 87, the oil-production tax, could be different. The infusion of $40 million by a Hollywood producer has given environmentalists pushing the initiative the financial firepower to respond punch-for-punch to the global petroleum companies that oppose it.
The battle over the so-called oil tax has become the costliest initiative campaign in California history and has led to a flood of television advertising throughout the state.
The campaigns for and against the measure have raised $104.4 million, according to campaign finance records at the secretary of state's office reviewed Monday. That amount surpasses the pharmaceutical industry's lobbying in last year's special election on two prescription drug measures and a $93 million contest in 1998 by Indian tribes to legalize tribal gambling.
"The numbers are so amazingly large," said John Matsusaka, president of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at the University of Southern California, who specializes in economics and government.
The stakes got higher Monday with the introduction of former Vice President Al Gore, who appears in a television commercial promoting the initiative.
"Here is the truth the oil companies won't tell you," Gore says in the 30-second spot, which started airing Monday. "Half of the foreign oil they're importing to California is from the Middle East. As a result, California is dangerously dependent on foreign oil."
Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider said the vice president has been following the California initiative campaign in an effort to educate people about global warning.
One of the initiative's goals is to reduce oil dependence in California by 25 percent over the next decade, which also would reduce the greenhouse gases that scientists blame for warming the Earth's atmosphere.
"It just became clear that everyone is going to need to put their shoulder to the wheel," Kreider said.
Proposition 87 would tax companies drilling for oil in California until it has generated $4 billion. The money would be set aside for loans, grants and subsidies to promote alternative fuels and more energy-efficient vehicles.
Hollywood producer Stephen Bing has given most of the money to support the initiative, a little more than $40 million. It is the largest donation by an individual to an initiative in state history, according to California Common Cause, which tracks campaign activity.
In all, supporters have collected $45.7 million.
Bing could not be reached for comment, but Yes on 87 spokesman Yusef Robb said the producer wants to give advocates enough money to fight back against the oil industry.
"The bottom line is Steve Bing is trying to level the playing field against the oil companies so California can break our dependence on oil," he said. "The oil companies have an infinite well of profits to draw from to kill proposition 87."
Opponents mostly oil companies have contributed nearly $60 million, most of which has been poured into a massive advertising blitz.
Oil pumped in California accounted for 37 percent of the state's demand in 2005, according to the state Legislative Analyst's Office. Twenty-one percent of the state's oil comes from Alaska, while the rest is imported from abroad.
The initiative would tax oil California producers between 1.5 percent and 6 percent depending on the per-barrel price of oil.
Scott Macdonald, a spokesman for the No on 87 campaign, said oil companies that do business in California pay the fifth-highest taxes in the country. Adding another tax would deter them from pumping California oil, he said.
"This is not an answer to the search for our alternative energy needs," Macdonald said. "This will increase foreign oil dependency."
The oil companies have promoted four major themes in waging their fight against Proposition 87. They say a tax on oil production would drive up gas prices for consumers, increase the state's dependence on foreign oil, siphon money from public safety and education, and create a new government bureaucracy.
In one commercial, Kevin Nida, president of the California State Firefighters Association, says the oil tax comes at a big price tab.
"It reduces revenues for all of us and reduces critical public safety needs," he says in the ad, presumably because higher gasoline prices for agencies would translate into less money for other services.
Neither side will disclose their advertising costs or where they plan to advertise in the campaign's closing weeks.
Dan Schnur, a Republican political observer and instructor at the University of California, Berkeley, estimated that supporters will spend about $1.5 million a week to saturate the state with the new Gore commercial.
The advertising campaign seems to have boosted awareness of the initiative among likely voters while also weakening its support. A Field Poll from early October showed 44 percent of likely voters supported it, down from 52 percent in July.
While the ads have moved public opinion, the 30-second sound bites offer just snippets of the debate.
Proposition 87's supporters have the biggest challenge, persuading voters to change the status quo amid warnings that the initiative could cost them more.
"The dueling sides get caught up in a tit-for-tat, and it's sort of like an arms race in advertising," Ned Wigglesworth, California Common Cause policy advocate. "These ads are not educating voters and they are not contributing to the fashioning of sound public policy."
Historically, California voters have approved just 40 percent of ballot initiatives.
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Associated Press Writers Samantha Young in Sacramento and Noaki Schwartz in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
algore's promoting Prop 87. Nuff said.
So...let us develop oil domestically Al!
Ca already has the most expensive gasoline.
And what initiative campaign has, in recent history?
It'll pass. It's California after all. What's another buck a gallon. They actually still think companies pay taxes and not consumers. They are the dumbest fu*ks on the planet.
That's the way to go Kali's, just tax those bad ole 'awl' companies right on outta yer state. I guess that is one way to get everyone riding bikes to work. Hmmmmm, wonder how bike pooling would work??? Who would get to pedal??
here is the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf9mSGEPrrE&eurl=
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