Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Tax Measures Failing in California Special Election! - UPDATED!!

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

As expected, five of six budget-related ballot measures on Tuesday's special election that would help reduce California's projected $21.3 billion deficit were failing, early returns showed.

The defeat of the measures would put the state that's already in financial abyss into a deeper hole, but the voter rejection would further confirm Californians' disapproval of the way Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature are handling the state's fiscal crisis.

With nearly 14 percent of the precincts reporting results, Propositions 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D and 1E were failing while the only measure voters were approving was Prop. 1F, which would freeze salaries of top state officials including lawmakers and the governor.
I'll try to post a final entry later, when enough precincts report their tallies ...

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UPDATE: Okay, here's the headline at 10:15 at the Los Angeles Times: "
Package of Budget Measures Heads to Defeat." And here's the San Francisco Chronicle's headline: "Californians Just Say No To Budget Measures":

California voters on Tuesday soundly rejected a package of ballot measures that would have reduced the state's projected budget deficit of $21.3 billion to something slightly less overwhelming: $15.4 billion.

The defeat of the measures means that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Legislature will have to consider deeper cuts to education, public safety, and health and human services, officials have said.

Propositions 1A through 1E - which would have changed the state's budgeting system, ensured money to schools in future years and generated billions of dollars of revenue for the state's general fund - fell well behind in early returns and never recovered.

The only measure that voters approved was Proposition 1F, which will freeze salaries of top state officials including lawmakers and the governor during tough budget years.In a written statement Tuesday night, Schwarzenegger said that he believes Californians are simply frustrated with the state's dysfunctional budget system.

"Now we must move forward from this point to begin to address our fiscal crisis with constructive solutions," the governor said.
Here's the table from the Fresno Bee, with 32.9% of precincts reporting:

Prop 1A
(spending caps, taxes)
Yes36.6%
No63.4%
Prop 1B
(payments to schools)
Yes40.1%
No59.9%
Prop 1C
(lottery borrowing)
Yes38.3%
No61.7%
Prop 1D
(diverting child development funds)
Yes37.6%
No62.4%
Prop 1E
(reallocating mental health funds)
Yes37.1%
No62.9%
Prop 1F
(elected official pay)
Yes76.4%
No23.6%
I'll review all the final results and analysis tomorrow ...

5 comments:

  1. I never liked California's direct democracy. This is one of the few times I do like it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. As I noted yesterday, professor, this is the beginning of the conservative, Republican resurgence! Not only are these losing badly, but Gov. Benedict Arnold should be ashamed of himself pimping these tax and robbery measures. Go to the California Secretary of State website. As of this comment, the only county I could find any of the 1-5 measures winning is. . .San Francisco county. Of course.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Professor,

    Cough, cough!

    You have been infected with the Filthy Blog Pox. Be sure to spread the wealth.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I know I currently reside 3000 miles to the east of California, but I am so damn glad to see this happen.

    The leftist MSM Obama dog-washers have been pushing the idea upon the dumbmAsses that Americans are willing to support higher taxes in order to fund bigger government.

    Bullshit.

    Let's all hope this is a harbinger of bigger and better things to come.

    -Dave

    ReplyDelete