Editor,
California Government Code §54964(a) prohibits local agencies from expending public funds to advocate for or against a ballot measure or other voting initiative, with some exceptions for educational/informative materials. I believe that the city has already crossed the line into advocacy with its “Safe, Stronger Laguna” campaign.
Educational/informational materials can be said to have some characteristics, which distinguish them from “advocacy.” This distinction isn’t black or white; it requires looking at the context (style, tenor and timing) of the communication and asking some questions.
First, if the communication is merely “FYI”, we should consider: has the campaign been conducted before and/or will it be ongoing? If the FYI campaign is new, how close is its launch to an election where voters might be asked to decide on issues related to this campaign? If the FYI campaign is both new and being launched near an election it is likely that it is not educational/informational, but advocacy.
Another point to consider: if an FYI campaign is really just to educate, why spend thousands of tax-payer dollars to send mailers and conduct live seminars when most FYI information is simply posted to an agency’s website? Is the information an accurate, fair, and impartial presentation of all of the facts, or are the facts misrepresented and cherry-picked to promote a political agenda and improper campaign activity? I submit it is the latter.
Indeed, a real educational/informational campaign should impart practical information that would allow for enhanced preparedness or mitigation, as in the case of earthquakes or fire-danger, like preparing food and water supplies, or clearing dead brush. In the case of Laguna Beach’s “Safe, Stronger Laguna” campaign, it can be said that it fails the characteristics of an educational campaign aimed at improving safety and limiting risks. The information imparted does not allow recipients to take any practical actions to address the claimed dangers identified in the message. The only action it would facilitate is at the ballot box, hence this is an advocacy campaign, prohibited under §54964(a).
Even Newport Beach has recently passed a resolution prohibiting the use of public funds for tax measure advocacy, seeing the inherent unfairness and problems that can arise in these situations. The city must stop using tax-payer monies to advocate for the new taxes it wants voters to approve in November.
Mike Morris, Laguna Beach
I dropped in to Susie Q Center this Tuesday to see what the city had in store. There before us were the offerings: hyper glossy posters of designated escape routes, upsetting catastrophic photos of the 1993 fire, a super-sized version of the flyer featuring a utility pols on the ground with a burnt car, a digital projector with wide screen monitor playing these scenes over and over an pushing fear into the minds of Laguna’s taxpayers as well as the plans to underground section by section as the $$$$ rolls in.
What WASN’T there: clear, concise answers to questions posed by those of us who are being fleeced into paying for the under grounding of “escape routes”.
The city-hired person who is heading up the under grounding was out of his depth. he fielded questions with a reply of plainly saying “the plan is…” several times. He inferred what the city is wishing, may or may not ever happen. He spoke specifically of the Laguna Canyon, the 133, and how Caltrans may never allow the under grounding.
So much for escaping all the fires, landslides, tsunamis and such that the city is preparing us for…
Our tax money has already been spent in the hiring of TWO companies to research the best way to SPIN the bond(tax)increase and the retail tax increase, to send out fear-inducing flyers, and Tuesday night’s shin dig. Most evident is the option that the city of Laguna Beach can decide not to use city surplus funds to assist in the payment of the project.
Where IS the city’s surplus funds going????
Hhhhmmm……somethin’ fishy going on here…
Lots of flash but no substance in this first roll of the dice, City ofLaguna.