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LETTER: Ballot Measures 

 Portrait of California on March 7: Gay people make us uncomfortable. Gambling is good, as long as it's on the reservation. If jail is good enough for adults, it's good enough for kids, too. We want the death penalty to extend to all felonies. We have more seniors and childless couples than families with school-age children. We hate lawyers even more than insurance companies (that one really hurts!). We hate tobacco companies the most. [This graph only]

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Bay Area Voters Are State's Contrarians - Some winning measures lost big here 

Proposition 28, which would have repealed the tobacco tax, went down to defeat by a large margin statewide, but in the Bay Area, the results looked like an election in North Korea -- 82 percent in Marin voted no, 81 percent in San Francisco, 79 percent in Alameda and Santa Cruz counties, 78 percent in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and 76 percent in Contra Costa.

No other urban area in California had such large anti-smoking margins.

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Oak View may continue to reap rewards of tobacco tax 

 Oak View is one of six sites in Orange County to benefit from tobacco tax revenues totaling more than $1 million.

     The center recently received $80,000 in funding, which it plans to use to hire a full-time public health nurse and for family health workshops and seminars.

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Calif. OKs Billions in Bond Debt 

Voters on Tuesday also defeated a measure that would have repealed the state's 50-cent cigarette tax. But experts said that speaks to a different sentiment than voters' generosity. ] "I don't think it's even viewed by most voters as a taxing measure," Kelso said. "It's tobacco – that puts it in a category all its own." [This graph only

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I don't think it's [California's Prop. 10] even viewed by most voters as a taxing measure. . . It's tobacco – that puts it in a category all its own.
Clark Kelso, professor of law at the University of the Pacific, on the defeat of Prop. 28. Quoted in Werner, E. <i>Calif. OKs Billions in Bond Debt</i>

• Tobacco tax repeal snuffed out 

The resounding defeat of Proposition 28 was a relief to health and child welfare groups, who backed the voter-approved, 50-cent-per-pack tax in 1998 to raise money for early childhood development programs and fought hard to preserve it in this election. . . But Ned Roscoe, president of Cigarettes Cheaper! and author of the repeal measure, vowed to continue fighting a war of attrition against the tax.

``From what we learned this time, we could do something similar again for less money,'' he said.

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Proposition 28 Defeated In a Landslide 

California voters overwhelmingly defeated Proposition 28, which would have repealed Prop 10 -- the 50-cent tobacco tax passed in 1998.

``Tonight's landslide victory sends an unmistakable message to the tobacco industry -- our children are more important than your profits,'' said Rob Reiner, the Chair of the No on Prop 28 campaign.

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• Calif. Passes Ban on Gay Marriages 

Reiner returned to the political theater to oppose the measure that would have repealed the 50-cent-a-pack cigarette tax he campaigned for in 1998. With 14 percent of precincts reporting, the measure had 966,711 no votes, or 71 percent, and just 402,039 yes votes, or 29 percent.

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American Cancer Society: Big Tobacco Loses Again! 

With today's resounding defeat of Proposition 28 the voters of California have once again handed Big Tobacco a Big Loss. . . The coalition partners are ecstatic in the knowledge that cigarettes will NOT be cheaper.

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SALTER: On these 4 props, answer is 'No' 

One fact should suffice as reason enough to reject this colossal time-waster: The man who got it on the ballot is president of a mega-chain of stores called -- "Cigarettes Cheaper!" . . Mr. Cigarettes Cheaper! wants to repeal the tax for several altruistic reasons, he says. Among them: The folks in charge of spending the money are taking too much time deciding which programs will make the best use of the dough.

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So Many Questions, So Little Time - Unless ... 

At FAQvoter.com, Voters Don't Have Wait Until March 7 To Get Intelligent Answers About the California Primary . . Haven't made up your mind about Proposition 28, which would repeal the Rob Reiner-sponsored tobacco tax? Check out the rival campaigns' answers when asked: ``How much do the owners of Cheaper Cigarettes receive in tobacco merchandising benefits?'' and ``If (California's tobacco tax) works so well, won't funding go away as more people quit smoking?'' [This graph only]

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LETTER: No On Prop. 28 

I am a junior at Albany High School, Alameda County. . . The 50-cent tax created the California Children and Families First Program to fund early childhood development programs and also shaped health care, preschool, family mentoring and other critical programs for young children and their families. If Proposition 28 passes, all of those great programs would end, for lack of funding.

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EDITORIAL: Golden State Taxes 

Supporters of the repeal have no money from big tobacco companies, who are AWOL after enduring Mr. Reiner's tirades against them ("They're out there to kill kids"). . . The prospects for Mr. Roscoe's repeal of the tobacco tax are dimmer, given it's being greatly outspent. California voters are likely to retain the status quo on taxes, which given the state's current tax-happy liberal legislature, will count as a political signal for it not to push hard to make a fat state government even fatter.

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In a Video E-Mail Message, Earvin 'Magic' Johnson Urges Californians to Vote No on Prop 28 

With less than 24 hours before polls open, thousands of Californians received a video e-mail message form Earvin ``Magic'' Johnson urging them to vote ``No'' on Proposition 28. . . The message was taped at a February 28th event where Johnson announced his opposition to Prop 28 and encourages recipients to forward it to as many people as possible. To see the video message, go to www.NOonProp28.org/magic.html.

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POLITICS: It would repeal Prop. 10, which drove up the cost of smoking while funding early childhood programs. 

Among other issues, Prop. 28 prompts heated debate about what is a fair tax. Some groups — including the Orange County Taxpayers Association and the state Republican Party — favor repealing the tax because it forces a minority — smokers — to cough up cash to benefit the majority. . . But opponents of Prop. 28 say the extra $700 million a year raised statewide is a fraction of what the state pays to deal with problems that are a result of smoking.

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Criticism Of Cigarette Tax Smolders 

"The truth is the tax represents a revenue stream and people who are in the government at the state commission level or county level express noble motives or noble intentions, but what's lost is none of the money actually has gone to children," Roscoe said in a telephone interview.

Reiner, in Fresno on Thursday to campaign against Prop. 28, said counties are moving faster to submit plans than he expected.

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