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Financier contributed nearly $50 mil of his own money to campaign. While the defeat of Proposition 87 disappointed folks like Robert Redford, Julia Roberts and Ben Affleck, it probably stung producer Steve Bing the most -- at least in terms of his wallet. A real estate heir who has put his money to work financing movies as well as political campaigns, Bing contributed nearly $50 million of his own money to the Yes on 87 campaign, supporting a California ballot initiative that would have taxed oil producers to raise $4 billion for alternative energy research. But after such an expensive...

The costliest ballot initiative campaign in California history ended Tuesday night with a measure that would have taxed state oil production to fund alternative energy research losing despite endorsements from celebrities and a former president. A majority of voters said no to Proposition 87 after a high-stakes race that pitted the specter of global warming against the threat of higher gas prices. Oil companies led by Chevron Corp. and Aera Energy raised nearly $100 million in their effort to defeat the measure. Supporters spent more than $57 million, most of it contributed by Hollywood producer Stephen Bing. "Proposition 87 was...

SACRAMENTO - State mishandling of voter-approved, tax-increase funds for a children's program has pumped powerful, 11th-hour ammunition into close, expensive battles over two similar cigarette and oil-tax boosting measures on Tuesday's ballot. After an audit revealed multimillion-dollar improprieties in the use of Proposition 10 preschool funding, foes of Props. 86 and 87 attacked the two new tax measures Wednesday as creating the same type of bureaucracies -- except with loopholes ripe for exploitation. "The audit confirms what many have been saying all along about tax initiatives creating reckless, out-of-control spending of tax dollars through unaccountable government agencies," said Larry McCarthy,...

Welcome to the live thread for the California Primary Election. Polls are open until 8pm tonight. If you are a registered voter, it is your duty to vote and defend your rights and civil liberties, protect your pocketbook, and vote the bums out where applicable. Feel free to discuss issues key to your local area that others may be interested in. Post your polling place experiences if you like. And post numbers as they come in later tonight.

SACRAMENTO - As seven-figure contributions continue to roll in, momentum has shifted against two high-profile, multimillion-dollar initiatives on Tuesday's ballot, according to a Field Poll released today. Once supportive, likely voters are now evenly split on Proposition 86, which would raise cigarette taxes to fund health programs, and leaning against Proposition 87, which would levy extraction fees on oil companies to pay for research into alternative energy. But the races are still too close to call before Tuesday. In California politics, initiative opponents tend to have a built-in advantage, because voting no preserves the status quo. That edge is only...

Imposing a tax on your competitors to fund yourself is among the many reasons why Prop. 87 is such a bad idea. HERE'S A STELLAR IDEA: Let's pass a tax on Internet companies to create a state fund that invests in worthy newspapers. That's basically akin to what alternative energy venture capitalists are proposing to do with Proposition 87 — tax your competitors (the oil industry) to fund yourself. Private capital is flooding into the alternative energy sector already, but you'd hardly know it from the glamorous Yes on 87 campaign. That's because the measure's backers appear to be managing...

After hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign advertising, voters are souring on initiatives that would enact new taxes on oil production and cigarettes, a new Field Poll has found. Californians surveyed last week and early this week were narrowly against Proposition 87, a tax on oil extraction to fund alternative energy. They were evenly split on Proposition 86, another measure on Tuesday's ballot, which would impose a new levy of $2.60 on each pack of cigarettes to pay for an array of health causes. Proposition 87 dropped four points in support from a poll taken at the end of...

Despite endorsements from Bill Clinton and Al Gore, support for Proposition 87, a measure that seeks to tax oil production to fund alternative fuel development, continues to wane, according to the latest Field Poll results to be released today. Both the Democratic former president and vice president in recent weeks have been front and center on behalf of the Yes on 87 campaign, being featured in television advertisements and leading rallies such as the one that Clinton appeared in at San Francisco's civic center on Wednesday. But the latest poll, taken between Oct. 23 and 30, shows 40 percent of...

Former President Clinton swooped into Northern California on Wednesday to raise campaign cash and rally support for Proposition 87 and a Democrat who is making an unexpectedly strong challenge to Republican Rep. Richard Pombo. Proposition 87 would raise $4 billion for research into alternative energy by taxing the oil pumped in California. Opponents, mostly oil companies, have raised more than $80 million to defeat it, while supporters have raised more than $50 million, making it the most expensive ballot fight in California history. "It looks to me that the opponents are spending $100 million dollars to swell the 'I don't...

Energy: Bill Clinton's back, now touting tax hikes for ethanol to California voters. "If Brazil can do it, so can we," he said, claiming an ethanol switch ended Brazil's need for foreign oil. Once again, he's telling whoppers. (snip) No, he smashed a champagne bottle on the spaceship-like deck of Brazil's vast P-50 oil rig in the Albacora Leste field in the deep blue Atlantic. Why? Brazil's oil independence had virtually nothing to do with its ethanol development. It came from drilling oil. Which is the very thing Clinton, in his Proposition 87 television ads, seeks to pile taxes on....

A dozen television and still cameras greeted actor Robert Redford when he went to a hilltop last week to declare his support for Proposition 87, the oil tax initiative on the Nov. 7 ballot. Even more cameras were in Malibu last weekend when Pierce Brosnan, Daryl Hannah, Halle Berry and other movie stars joined surfers in protesting a proposed offshore liquefied natural gas terminal. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a celebrity in his own right, is raking in campaign cash from the likes of movie director James Cameron, former co-star Danny DeVito and fellow action hero Sylvester Stallone. Hollywood, long a leading...

Just 13 years ago, Bill Clinton and Al Gore were exhibits 1 and 1A in the rise of the New Democrats – centrists who appreciated the need for a healthy economy and saw throwing taxpayers' money at a problem as both wasteful and a practice that would lead to voter distrust. And so we saw President Clinton defy the Democrats who then controlled Congress in submitting a first budget that was more concerned with fiscal rectitude than social engineering. And we saw Vice President Gore, in his finest moment in the public eye, demolish protectionist Ross Perot in a live...

The recent gasoline price spice and resulting record oil company profits generated an uncountable number of accusations of greed. The resentment stirred up has spawned Proposition 87, backed by a multimillion dollar promotional campaign, even as gas prices fall. Proposition 87 is being spun as a means to reduce oil consumption and stimulate the economy by creating alternative energy innovation. However, that is what it hopes to accomplish. Backers offer none of the necessary details to evaluate it or reasons to presume success. But it will inefficiently transfer resources from where consumers’ choices direct to where government bureaucrats dictate, and...

Former Vice President Al Gore appeared in Berkeley on Monday to lend his celebrity and reputation as a crusader against global warming to a measure on California's Nov. 7 ballot that would tax oil companies to raise $4 billion for green energy projects. ``I'm here to change peoples' minds on the climate crisis and to support Prop 87,'' Gore called to a group of reporters after he emerged from the ``100 miles per gallon'' Toyota Prius that brought him to a noontime rally in a sun-drenched park behind Berkeley's City Hall. His motorcade also included three motorcycles, two limousines and...

Proposition 87 is a foolish idea because it will increase the ratio of imported to domestic oil and the total amount of foreign oil we import ("Oil Giants Put Energy Into Other Resources," Oct. 8). Drive up Stocker Street in Windsor Hills, Freshman Drive in Culver City or Redondo Avenue in Long Beach and see a remarkable sight: oil wells. Unsightly they may be, but they have a hidden beauty, for they are neatly and quietly drawing from the earth a portion of the oil we Californians use every day. Proposition 87 would tax this oil produced by, for and...

Stars and politicians are battling big business in California's multi-million-dollar green crusadeIT IS a bitterly fought campaign that is pitting Hollywood against big oil; environmentalists against businessmen and millions of dollars against even more millions. As Americans prepare to vote in congressional elections, the most expensive campaign battle is taking place in California. But the nearly $110 million (£58 million) spent to date is not about a seat in Congress. It’s about oil. California has long been a pioneer state for environmental issues, so it was little surprise that it should come up with Proposition 87 — a tax on...

LOS ANGELES -- A little-known and rarely used California authority could soon be setting a $4 billion agenda to curb California's "addiction to oil." The California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority has been in existence for more than a quarter-century. But it has no staff and hasn't financed a project in 11 years. This bureaucratic backwater could become the largest state-run source of alternative energy financing in the nation, if voters approve Proposition 87, one of the hardest-fought initiatives on the Nov. 7 ballot. "Our president said that this is a nation addicted to oil, a nation that...

A $4 billion tax on oil companies would fund research into cleaner-burning fuels, reducing pollution and saving the lives of future California residents, supporters say. But what will happen to prices at the gas pump? That depends on whom you ask. Proposition 87 aims to reduce petroleum consumption by 25 percent over a little more than one decade. If approved by voters in November, the tax would pay for incentives encouraging the production and purchase of vehicles that run on alternative energy. Sixty percent of the state's air pollution woes can be blamed on moving vehicles that burn gasoline or...

Former President Clinton on Friday called the campaign against Proposition 87 a "ruse" and charged the oil companies with making "bogus" claims that the initiative would drive up gas prices. In a rare endorsement of a state ballot measure, the nation's former chief executive chided the oil companies that have pumped $64 million into the "No on 87" campaign. "If they really thought you were going to pay for this, would they have spent all that money trying to convince you to vote against it?" he asked students at a "Yes on 87" rally Friday. Introduced by Academy Award-winning actress...

Former President Bill Clinton was cheered Friday as he spoke to a university crowd in support of a California ballot measure that would tax oil to fund alternative energy research. Clinton called Proposition 87 "California's way to energy independence." The measure 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. "To save the planet, improve our national security and create the next generation of good jobs for the American people - that's what Prop 87 represents...

A pro-Proposition 87 commercial featuring former Vice President Al Gore -- his first television advertisement since he last ran for office -- was unveiled Monday at a Palm Springs hotel.

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...

California voted three times to elect Al Gore to national office, twice in the 1990s as Bill Clinton’s running mate, then in 2000 for president. The former vice president carried California in a landslide over George W. Bush as part of his national popular vote victory in the presidential race. Now he’s back campaigning in California, appearing in his first TV commercial since his own campaign, on behalf of Proposition 87, the oil extraction tax for alternative fuels research. The ad will begin airing throughout California later this afternoon. The campaign will unveil the ad with events in 11 cities...

The Yes on Prop. 87 campaign has a new face. It's Al Gore, the former vice president of the United States whose latest venture includes a new film about the dangers of global warming.A new 30-second television spot featuring Gore is the latest salvo by the initiative's supporters in the ongoing media blitz to influence the vote on Nov. 7. The opponents haven't been sitting idle, financed mainly by oil giants, the No on 87 campaign has been arguing that a new oil severance tax to help pay for research and development, and production of alternative fuels will result in...

The "Yes on 87" campaign began airing a television ad last week targeting Californians' concerns about America's dependence on foreign oil.Following is the text of the ad and an analysis by Laura Mecoy of The Bee's Los Angeles Bureau.• NARRATOR: We buy their oil. They burn our flag. California is held hostage by the oil companies. We are dangerously dependent on foreign oil. It's time to declare our energy independence. Prop. 87 means freedom from foreign oil. With more wind and solar power. Made in California. We have a choice. We can be secure. We can be free. Yes on...

CALIFORNIA voters should keep this news from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office in mind when they vote in November: State operating budget shortfalls under the spending plan are expected to reach "nearly $4 billion in 2007-08 and nearly $5 billion in 2008-09." Then voters should reject Propositions 86, 87 and 88, because the three measures would raise taxes without fixing the structural shortfall. Good-government types call measures such as these "ballot-box budgeting" -- special interests cook up initiatives designed to appeal to voters because they dedicate spending to a pet cause. Voters believe that in approving these measures, they ensure...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't trust Proposition 87. This measure would sock it to the guys everybody loves to hate - the oil companies. But it's not as clear-cut as it sounds. It would impose a tax on oil production to support $4 billion in expenditures to develop and promote alternative-energy technologies as well as reduce petroleum use. While Prop. 87 claims to prohibit the oil companies from passing the increases on to consumers, does anyone believe that won't ultimately happen? And how will the state prove any increase is directly tied to the tax and not some other factor? It would be...

Reading all the specific earmarks of funds in Proposition 84 set our suspicious journalistic minds to wondering: There are so many organizations slated to get money from this $5.4 billion bond measure, sold as being for water quality and water supply, that it began to look like a cynical "pay to play" initiative, in which those who paid to get the initiative on the ballot get much larger sums to spend once the bonds are sold. Remember "pay to play?" The Planning and Conservation League perfected this technique with 1996's Proposition 204. While writing the ballot measure it sought donations...

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger outspent his Democratic rival, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, by more than 4-1 over the last three months, according to campaign reports filed late Thursday. But Angelides began October with a slight edge in campaign cash. Schwarzenegger, leading in the polls, spent $14.4 million in July, August and September and had $2.4 million left to begin the last five weeks of the race. Angelides, trailing by double-digit figures in two recent polls, spent $3.4 million during the same three-month period and had $2.8 million left over. He also had a slight edge in fundraising since the...

California has an oil addiction. As every self-help professional knows, to break an addiction you have to face the problem and admit you're hooked. The arguments against Proposition 87 sound as hollow as an alcoholic promising to stop after just one more drink. Proposition 87 would develop cleaner, cheaper fuels for our vehicles and build new energy industries and jobs here at home, in places such as Stockton, Salinas and San Diego. Despite valiant efforts and significant improvement for decades, the state still has the nation's worst air pollution, causing asthma, lung disease, cancer and crop damage, and exacerbating the...

Cigarette, energy initiatives still ahead as TV ads kick in. A statewide television blitz appears to be working in favor of oil and tobacco interests, as a Field Poll released Tuesday shows support dropping for two tax measures they oppose on the Nov. 7 ballot.Proposition 86, which would impose a $2.60-per-pack cigarette tax, enjoyed a 2-1 lead in July. But the gap narrowed in the new survey, conducted Sept. 14-24: 53 percent of likely voters were in support, compared with 40 percent opposed.Proposition 87's double-digit lead shrank considerably, as well. The alternative energy tax initiative's 52 percent to 31 percent...

The state doesn't need an oil company 'extortion tax' to pay for clean energy research, already a booming segment in the venture capital industry. WHEN GAS PRICES GO THROUGH the roof, two things inevitably happen: Voters see red, and all kinds of nutty proposals are floated aiming to make oil companies share their pain. Hence Proposition 87, which would impose an oil extraction tax on companies that drill in California and use the proceeds to pay for alternative fuel research. Even by the warped standards of ballot initiatives, Proposition 87 — the result of confused economic thinking — is deceptively...

LOS ANGELES - Movie producer Stephen L. Bing is believed to have set a new California campaign contribution record with Thursday's announcement that he has donated an "unprecedented" $40 million to Proposition 87, the oil tax initiative on the November ballot. While other wealthy activists have contributed large sums to their own political campaigns, no individual is known to have contributed this much to a ballot measure in California. Airline executive Al Checchi, for instance, gave more than $40 million to his 1998 gubernatorial campaign before losing the Democratic primary. Former President Bill Clinton praised Bing for his $40 million...

The cast of characters at Monday's press conference was unusual, to say the least. The participants represented each of the major factions in last year's special election: the drug companies, big-business Schwarzenegger allies and unions. But this time they were all on the same side. They all opposed Proposition 89, which would create publicly financed campaigns in California. "It's a murderers' row of political spenders in California," says Common Cause's Ned Wigglesworth, who supports Proposition 89. If, as the saying goes, politics makes for strange bedfellows, then California's 2006 elections are one giant slumber party. Held in the twelfth-floor suite...

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has committed £1.6bn over 10 years to fight global warming.... will hand over all the profits from the Virgin Group's transport business to support the cause. (snip) [Branson] said the profits from Virgin's train and airline businesses would be invested in efforts to find renewable, sustainable energy sources.

Along with myriad decisions on elected officials, voters across the country will be asked to weigh in on ballot measures this fall. Taxpayers will have big stakes riding in a large number of these measures, but in one -- Proposition 87 in California -- there are important questions of both tax and spending policy at stake. Proposition 87 will raise $4 billion in state revenue through new taxes on in-state oil extraction. In turn, the money will be used to fund a board that will dole out funds to alternative energy products and companies. Regarding the measure’s big tax bite,...

Public works bonds flounder Big spenders, other woes threaten support for infrastructure SACRAMENTO — Public-works bond supporters fear they won't have the cash to sell voters on costly infrastructure improvements because monied oil and tobacco firms fighting propositions are inflating the political television ad market. At the same time, other problems are piling up — uneven support based on regional concerns, awkward politics, the sheer size of the multibillion-dollar bond total, and disclosures that much of the money for transportation would not go directly to easing traffic congestion. "It's going to be difficult to have a voice to be heard...

What happens after you — yes you, voters — approve billions of dollars in spending and then walk away? Plenty. In 1998, voters passed Proposition 10 and increased the cigarette tax by 50 cents a pack to fund children's health programs. This has arguably done a lot of good. But in 2004, auditors found large amounts of the Proposition 10 money unspent, with no consistent rules in place to govern contracts. In rural Kern County, commissioners used $1,400 to put up bronze plaques honoring themselves in tot lots. ... --snip-- Now, California is getting ready to spend $3 billion for...

Environmental groups, lured by the prospect of more than $4 billion for public-transit projects, are backing away from opposing the massive transportation bond on the November ballot. The environmentalists also are daunted by the nearly $7 million in campaign funds amassed by the bond's supporters. Over the weekend, the 75-delegate board of the Sierra Club of California decided against opposing the $19.95 billion bond package, which includes the money for public transit and $14 billion for road construction, plus other projects. Bill Allayaud, the group's legislative director, said Northern California members pushed to fight the bond, while many Southern California...

September 7, 2006 Another Tax and Spend Scheme: Prop 87 Californians should unite to defeat a bad idea that would cost them billions of dollars. By: Matt Schumsky Ronald Reagan once said that the government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” Proving the former California Governor and U.S. President correct, a handful of wealthy big-government liberals and their favorite special interest groups are funding a massive campaign that would levy a new $4 billion tax...

Even by California standards, the number of ill-conceived, deceptive propositions on the ballot this November is unusually high. A perfect example is Proposition 87, which would impose a tax on in-state oil production and expire when $4 billion had been generated to pay for a variety of alternative energy programs. Proponents' TV ads, which assail the high cost of gasoline and tout Proposition 87 as a means of relief, are hopelessly confused. The primary effect of adding billions to the cost of oil produced in California would be to ensure that state refineries look for cheaper oil on the global...

Supporters of the Proposition 87 oil tax initiative on the November ballot yesterday launched a caravan of alternative energy-powered vehicles from San Diego across the state to promote their measure, which would pay for research into cleaner-burning fuels. “Prop. 87 will bring cleaner air and cheaper energy to make us healthier, wealthier and safer,” said Anthony Rubenstein, sponsor of the initiative. “Prop. 87 replaces imported oil with fuels made right here at home.” He made his case at Pearson Ford Fuels, the only service station in the state that features a full menu of alternative fuels. Proposition 87 seeks to...

Political fray includes domain names PROP. 87 BACKERS CREATE PHONY SITES TO THWART RIVALS By Mary Anne Ostrom Mercury News Call it a case of cyberantics with a cause. The dueling camps over Proposition 87, the November initiative that would impose a fee on oil extracted in California, have been duking it out all week over control of Web site domain names. In what's being acknowledged as a stunt to drum up support for the initiative, campaign backers got control of a number of Web site addresses with names more suited for the opposition. This week, Web users who clicked...

With troubles at BP's Alaskan operation and oil prices gushing above $77 a barrel - and prices at the pump likely to follow in the next few days - now may be the worst time for a ballot initiative likely to increase consumers' fuel costs. Prop. 87 would impose a new tax on California oil production of $200 million to $380 million a year - the exact amount isn't clear - until a total of $4 billion is reached to fund research into alternative fuels. Prop. 87's Web site insists that it “makes it illegal for oil companies to raise...

Backers of a measure that would hit energy companies drilling in California with $4 billion in new taxes planned to start running a hard-hitting TV ad across the state today urging voters to "make oil companies pay.'' There's nothing subtle about the new ad, said Paul Begala, a consultant for Proposition 87. "We're not shy; our most important goal is to get California off its dependence on oil,'' said Begala, a former Clinton White House aide and CNN television commentator. "If you want support, you have to build support.'' Prop. 87 would tax companies for oil pumped in California, based...

Direct democracy in California is becoming the latest hot investment for venture capitalists looking to merge their societal goals with a good return on their money. By backing ballot measures tailored to promote their personal and financial interests, investors can quickly change public policy and make a buck at the same time. Proposition 87 on the November ballot, which would tax oil to promote alternative fuels, is winning support from a key financier who is heavily invested in the kind of technologies that the initiative would reward. Vinod Khosla, one of the founders of Sun Microsystems and now a prominent...

SACRAMENTO - A new statewide poll released today shows that voters are more than willing to make life tougher for sex offenders, smokers and oil company executives. More than three-fourths of voters -- 76 percent to 11 percent -- support Proposition 83, or Jessica's Law, according to Field Poll surveys on five of the 13 measures on the November ballot. The measure would lengthen sentences for sex offenders and require lifetime global positioning system monitoring "It would be hard to beat back," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. "I don't see a big 'no' side that would need...

In California politics, Silicon Valley executives used to be considered newbies, nerds or simply multimillionaires with too much time and money on their hands. No longer. Emboldened over the past decade by some success passing ballot propositions, a handful of the valley's most influential power brokers are once again aiming to use the initiative process to put their stamp on public policy in California. Two of the boldest electoral initiatives yet to emerge from valley interests will be on November's ballot: NetFlix founder Reed Hastings and Kleiner Perkins venture capitalist John Doerr are backing Proposition 88, an unprecedented statewide real...

General Election - November 7, 2006 Prop. 1A Transportation Funding Protection: YES! For years, the Legislature has raided our highway taxes for general fund spending. Though it’s more window dressing than relief, this measure makes it marginally harder to do so. Prop. 1B Transportation Bond: NO! Although some of this money is for long overdue road construction, most goes for equipment, maintenance and social programs that will be obsolete decades before our children have finished paying off the debt. Californians pay the third highest tax per gallon of gasoline in the country – and yet we rank 43rd in per...

The Proposition 87 campaign is shaping up into a big bucks battle between big oil companies and "no oil" investors and environmentalists. Chevron and other major energy producers are fueling the drive to defeat the November ballot measure that would impose a severance tax on California oil production to pay for alternative energy. Venture capitalists with multimillion-dollar investments in "greentech," meanwhile, have joined forces with environmentalists to finance the campaign to create the $4 billion fund for alternative energy. Proposition 87 would impose a tax on California oil producers of 1.5 percent to 6 percent, depending on the per-barrel price...