State’s Major Newspapers Agree: No on Prop. 22
The LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle and more than a half dozen other key media across the state, have joined California Professional Firefighters in opposing Proposition 22, the League of California Cities' ballot initiative.
The proposition, which will be on the November 2nd ballot, is flawed with hidden measures that will hurt fire districts, siphon billions from schools, public safety and other vital services and further break our dysfunctional budget process.
Here's what the newspapers are saying:
"Proposition 22 goes too far in its efforts to shield transportation and redevelopment projects from the cuts that are shrinking government programs throughout the state." - Los Angeles Times
"In these lean times, it is hard to argue that every last redevelopment dollar should be sacrosanct - as Prop. 22 proposes - when the state is making excruciating choices to cut education, public safety and social services." - San Francisco Chronicle
"We oppose 'ballot-box budgeting,' in which voters lock in portions of government spending, making it more difficult to cut budgets and increasing pressure for tax increases." - Orange County Register
"Proposition 22 is a complex, one-sided initiative that would make a Sisyphean task virtually impossible by locking into the state constitution yet another funding restriction."- Sacramento Bee
"In good times, this measure would seem more defensible. These aren't good times." - San Diego Union-Tribune
"Proposition 22 isn’t the solution. It treats a symptom of the state’s financial crisis with a new dose of disease." - Santa Rosa Press Democrat
"We sympathize with frustrated California voters who deserve better state fiscal policies. But they should not let their frustration result in the passage of an ill-conceived ballot measure that is likely to have long-term unintended consequences." - Contra Costa Times
"Proposition 22 is ill-timed and an overreach. It should be rejected." - Fresno Bee
