Written by Nicholas Vetrisek
Democrats at the state and local level of California government have been using taxpayer funds to pay for massive advertisement campaigns in support of select legislation.
All across the state, elected Democrats have been using millions of taxpayer dollars to fund information campaigns that eschew neutrality and are partisan to a fault. They use the money to pay for top dollar campaign consultants, as well as television and radio advertisements. Even though it’s in blatant violation of the law, it has gone on unabated for years.
Government Code Section 54964 explicitly states, “An officer, employee, or consultant of a local agency may not expend or authorize the expenditure of any of the funds of the local agency to support or oppose the approval or rejection of a ballot measure, or the election or defeat of a candidate, by the voters.”
Unfortunately, despite the law clearly stating that this conduct is illegal, campaigns continue to violate it and even ones that are prosecuted essentially receive a slap on the wrist. This happened in the case of Measure H, a Los Angeles County quarter-cent sales tax initiative that Democrats in the local government spent $1 million to advertise.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association sued and won, but the county settled for $1.35 million and admitted no wrongdoing. The $1.35 million, of course, came from taxpayers. The measure itself was passed and is expected to bring in $3.5 billion in revenue. This perverse situation has exempted corrupt elected officials from facing any serious consequence for violating the law, with taxpayers ultimately eating the bill.
The only solution to this clear corruption is to properly prosecute elected officials and punish them accordingly—the way we would for any average citizen. Otherwise, nothing will change and the corruption will persist. Forcing taxpayers to pay $1.35 million obviously isn’t going to deter Democrat officials from corrupt behavior.
