Did Yuba County Supervisors declare that no tax dollars were used to promote Measure K to increase sale taxes by 1%? That’s what citizens are claiming was said at a Yuba Supervisor candidates’ forum recently.
Supervisors Gary Bradford, Doug Lofton and Mike Leahy were adamant that no public funds were used for the political campaign. If the supervisors were right then who paid hundreds of thousands to hire public relations agencies ($7,000 each month), print and send mailers, produce signs and buy media ads?
The county was spending money to groom voters long before a Measure K Campaign Committee was even formed with the Elections Clerk of the County. Monies contributed by businesses and unions to the Committee were a pittance compared to the overall campaign budget.
A Freedom of Information Action (FOIA) disclosure early in the campaign revealed that the supervisors’ assurance is completely false. And, the state constitution prohibits the use of tax dollars to solicit more revenue in an election from citizens. It is a violation of people’s civil rights to use their own funds to persuade them to pay even more.
The county has never disclosed how much they have spent in total to illegally promote Measure K and it took months to obtain information via the FOIA request referenced above. A Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) staff report said that from 2015 through 2018, when local tax measures began wildly increasing statewide, the agency received 34 complaints about taxpayer funds being used for campaigns to raise taxes.
The FPPC says it has no enforcement power but District Attorneys (DA) do. It says DAs should file an action against civil rights violations but former Yuba Co. DA Pat McGrath compromised his role as an independent and unbiased prosecutor by campaigning for and endorsing the legally flawed Measure K.
Last week, a You Tube video was posted of an interview with Supervisor Michael Leahy. Leahy said that he voted along with other Supervisors to put Measure K on the ballot thinking it would be a general fund request. However, Leahy said, “When it (the campaign) went out it wasn’t done the way I would have done it, but we (the supervisors) went along with it (the campaign).” The campaign was coordinated by County Administrator Robert Bendorf.
Leahy explained that he thought the campaign would make clear to the public that the monies would be dispersed proportionally for various departments and needs as a general fund tax going into the county coffers. It was pitched as a Public Safety measure instead to win over the voters.
For these reasons Leahy was the only supervisor voting against appealing Superior Court Judge Steven Berrier’s ruling that Measure K violated Proposition 218’s requirement that a “special tax” needs more than a 2/3s approval of voters to be victorious. Measure K passed with only 53%. Berrier agreed that Measure K was promoted as a Public Safety tax rather than a General Fund tax.
The additional 1% tax continues taking about $10,000 each month during the appeal from citizens, amounting to more than $3.6 million so far that people would have had in their bank accounts if the county accepted Berrier’s ruling. And, additional monies are coming from the people’s tax dollars to pay a Nevada County law firm to counter Berrier’s decision.
Leahy added, “Right now I believe it (Measure K) is dead.” Leahy said there were other ways to fund government rather than increase taxes and the Supervisors have proven that.
The County’s Measure K appeal will likely not be heard until mid-2020 allowing the county to continue making $10,000 a month off their deceptive ploy. From the very beginning Yuba County people have been hustled and scammed by a measure that now even if the citizens prevail in court all the money illegally taken by the county it keeps.
(Get Lou’s podcast at “No Hostages Radio” and his articles at nohostagesradio.com)
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