KernTax opinion on Prop. 29.

1. May 9, 2012
Letter to the Editor
RE: Prop. 29: A Flawed Measure Kern County Can’t Afford
Last month, Sacramento politicians admitted again what we’ve known all along: their
“house of cards” budget is collapsing. Based on overly optimistic revenue projections
no one really believed, we’re now seeing reality come home to roost as actual tax
receipts come in billions below projections. This in turn threatens core functions of local
government, public safety and education, which receive major funding by the state.
It’s no surprise revenues are still down. Bakersfield is still recovering from one of the worst
foreclosure rates in the country, and unemployment here in Kern County is still higher
than the state average, at 15.9 percent. It’s even higher in communities like Delano
and Shafter.
Times are still tough for many, and when times are tough and many people can’t even
pay their most important bills, it’s not the time for them to have to spend more money
than they have – especially on new taxes.
Sacramento should know this lesson too. But sadly, it doesn’t. Incredibly, one career
politician, apparently with too much time on his hands, thought that now, of all times,
Californians should raise their taxes by another $735 million per year to create a new
government bureaucracy. This comes to us in the form of Proposition 29 on our June
ballot, and it carries with it a price tag Kern County can’t afford.
In typical Sacramento fashion, political consultants know they can’t get your money by
saying they need more bureaucrats. So they cloak tax increases in good intentions – in
this case, cancer research. All Californians can agree that cancer research is a worthy
endeavor, but with the federal government allocating $6 billion annually to research
and California spending $70 million on tobacco prevention and smoking cessation
efforts, the last thing we need is a billion-dollar government agency duplicating many
of these efforts.
Life is never as simple as proponents would have you believe; read the fine print of
Prop. 29’s 4,515 words at readforyourself.org and you’ll see that the measure is full of
flaws. It allows a new commission, with six political appointees, to spend $110 million a
year on buildings and facilities and another $15 million for salaries, consultants and
travel. There is no accountability; these commissioners answer to no one, not the
Governor or the Legislature or the taxpayers. It allows for conflicts of interests with the
commissioners and the organizations they represent. And buried in the measure is a
provision that it can’t be modified for 15 years, even in the case of fraud and
mismanagement.
1 2012/Communications/ LTE No on 29/ 120509

2. Unfortunately, this is nothing new. If voters look at previous commissions established at
the ballot box, they will see warning signals that the proponents of Prop. 29 deliberately
chose to ignore. For example, Proposition 71, passed in 2004, created the California
Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which is better known for paying its president a
nearly $500,000 salary and its network of cronies handing out lucrative contracts than it
is for groundbreaking stem cell research.
Californians must not make the same mistake with Prop. 29. This initiative contains a lot
of the same principles that will create a new government commission with no
accountability. It’s the same kind of ballot-box budgeting that has contributed to the
chronic budget deficits our state faces today. It is a poorly written initiative that will
grow the size of our state government without lifting a finger to solve our budget deficit
or improve schools. And the timing of this proposition could not be worse.
Taxpayers in this economy shouldn’t even be asked to bankroll a cushy new state
government agency when the state is $10+ billion in the red and on the hook for $200
billion in debt. Yes, cancer research is important, but Prop. 29 is a flawed measure that
will only lead to higher taxes and bigger, less accountable government. Kern County
already sends a strong signal to Sacramento and the rest of the state: The volunteers
who conducted and participated in Bakersfield’s Relay for Life raised more than $2.1
million for cancer research without a commission, without a new bureaucracy and
without a new tax.
Please vote no on Prop. 29.
Michael Turnipseed
Michael Turnipseed
Executive Director
2 2012/Communications/ LTE No on 29/ 120509