Adam Scow, Food & Water Watch California Director, today described as "flagrantly misleading and wrong" the newly released advertisement where Proposition 1 proponent Governor Jerry Brown urges Californians to “Save Water. Save Money. Save for the Future."
This ad ran during the World Series Game last night: https://www.youtube.com/...
“Governor Brown’s latest Proposition 1 advertisement is flagrantly misleading and wrong," said Scow. "Proposition 1 would put our State’s budget in another $7.5 billion of debt, which adds up to $14.4 billion when you include interest payments. This debt would force increased spending of $360 million for 40 years to fund wasteful dam projects that won’t create any new water for most Californians."
"In reality, any new water saved in these dams would be for powerful corporate agribusinesses. That’s why Governor Brown and Prop 1’s proponents have poured $13 million into a glossy campaign to convince voters to support this boondoggle," he noted.
"Don’t let them fool you: Proposition 1 won’t provide drought relief, won’t solve California’s long-term water crisis and will continue to reward corporate greed at the expense of California taxpayers and the environment," concluded Scow.
Contributions to the Yes on Proposition 1 and 2 campaigns soared to $13,212,726 on Friday, October 24 as corporate agribusiness, oil companies, billionaires, the health care industry, the tobacco industry and other corporate interests continued to dump millions of dollars into Jerry Brown’s campaign to pass the water bond.
Anti-smoking group asks Brown to return $100,000 contribution from Philip Morris
On October 20, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) revealed that tobacco giant Philip Morris contributed $100,000 to Governor Brown’s ballot measure committee established to support Propositions 1& 2. The group strongly encouraged the governor to return those funds.
ACS CAN recently launched its “Snuff Tobacco Money out of California Politics” campaign requesting that all candidates for state office reject campaign contributions, including donations to committees controlled by a candidate such as Governor Brown’s Yes on Prop 1 & 2 Committee.
Under ACS CAN criteria, Gov. Brown is the first candidate for office in the state to accept a campaign contribution from a tobacco company since the effort was launched on July 1.
“Gov. Brown should return this money right away,” said Jim Knox, vice president of government relations for ACS CAN in California. “Propositions 1 and 2 are important public policy debates, but the tobacco companies are cynically using these measures to curry favor with the governor. Philip Morris doesn’t care about water or a rainy day fund. They only care about addicting youth and low-income communities to their deadly products."
"This contribution is all about trying to prevent any policies that help people quit smoking, keep youth from ever starting to smoke and reduce exposure to secondhand smoke. Allowing convicted racketeers to fund his ballot measure committee is a mistake," Knox said.
Knox said tobacco companies inflict enormous harm on our state. A brand new report from researchers at the University of California, San Francisco shows that tobacco costs our state $18.1 billion a year. That comes out to $487 per Californian and $4,603 and per smoker.
Almost 15 percent of deaths in California in 2009 are attributed to smoking, for a total of 34,363 deaths. This represents $6.8 billion in lost productivity and 587,000 years of potential life lost.
Across the globe, tobacco kills 5 million people a year and if current trends hold, a billion people will die this century from tobacco use. ACS CAN calls on the governor to return the money. Opponents to Proposition 1 have raised virtually no money and Proposition 2 does not even have a campaign committee to oppose it.
For more information, visit www.acscan.org.
Background on Prop. 1 and 2 contributions
How does the $13,212,726 dumped into the Prop. 1 and 2 campaign coffers so far break down?
The main committee, “Brown; Yes on Props 1 and 2, A Bipartisan Coalition of Business, Labor, Republicans, Democrats and Governor," has raised $12,418,226 and has spent $11,221,528 to date. (http://fppc.ca.gov/...)
The California Business Political Action Committee, sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce, has raised $794,500 and has spent $312,401 for the campaign to date,
In contrast, the Vote No on Prop. 1 campaign, has raised $89,100 and has spent $53,077 to date. (http://ballotpedia.org/..._(2014))
The campaign for and against Proposition 1, the $7.5 billion water bond on the November 4 ballot, remains the classic David and Goliath battle of this election season in California.
Governor Jerry Brown, the Republican and Democratic Party establishment, corporate agribusiness interests, oil companies, construction unions, corporate "environmental" NGOs, prominent billionaires, the health care industry and big water agencies are backing the Yes on Prop. 1 campaign. In contrast, a grassroots coalition of fishing groups, environmentalists, consumer organizations, Indian Tribes, family farmers and Delta water agencies is campaigning to defeat Proposition 1.
The top 18 campaign contributors – those who donated $250,000 or more - have raised a total of $11,835,279 to date for the Yes on Prop. 1 and campaign, according to the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). (http://fppc.ca.gov/...)
Dignity Health, which just contributed $250,000, is the latest corporate contributor to the Yes on Prop. 1 campaign. That donation followed the contribution of $250,000 to the campaign by Aera Energy LLC, a company jointly owned by affiliates of Shell and ExxonMobil.
The Bakersfield-based Aera Energy is one of California's largest oil and gas producers, accounting for nearly 25 percent of the state's production, according to the company’s website. (http://www.aeraenergy.com/...)
Corporate agribusiness interests, the largest users of federal and state water project water exported through the Delta pumping facilities, have donated a total of $850,000 to the Yes on Prop. 1 campaign. The California Farm Bureau Federation contributed $250,000 and the Western Growers Service Association donated $250,000.
Stewart Resnick, the Beverly Hills agribusiness tycoon, owner of Paramount Farms and largest orchard fruit grower in the world, contributed $150,000 and the California Cotton Alliance contributed $200,000 to the Yes on Prop. 1 campaign.
Resnick and his wife, Lynda, have been instrumental in promoting campaigns to eviscerate Endangered Species Act protections for Central Valley Chinook salmon and Delta smelt populations and to build the fish-killing peripheral tunnels - and have made millions off reselling environmental water to the public.
The largest individual donor in the Yes on Prop. 1 campaign to date remains Sean Parker, who has contributed $1 million to the campaign. Parker is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist who cofounded the file-sharing computer service Napster and served as the first president of the social networking website Facebook. He also cofounded Plaxo, Causes, and Airtime.
Four members of the Fisher family, who own the controversial Gap stores and Mendocino Redwood Company, have collectively donated $1.5 million to the Yes. on Prop. 1 and Prop. 2 campaign. (http://www.indybay.org/...)
Doris F. Fisher contributed $499,000, John J. Fisher $351,000, Robert J. Fisher $400,000 and William S. Fisher $250,000. The Gap become notorious among labor and human rights advocates for employing sweatshop labor in the Third World to produce its clothes.
In contrast to the $13,212,726 in donations to the Prop. 1 and 2 campaigns listed on the FPPC website, the FPPC states, “No committee opposing this ballot measure raised enough money to reach the reporting threshold."
