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Measure G supporters winning SLO fundraising battle

October 8, 2014

sales taxBy JOSH FRIEDMAN

Supporters of Measure G, a proposed half-cent sales tax in San Luis Obispo for the next eight years, are easily winning the fundraising battle with their opponents, recently released campaign finance reports show.

As of Sept. 30, Measure G supporters have raised $21,013, while opponents of the tax initiative have raised $9,678. The Measure G proponents have more than $14,000 cash on hand, while the detractors have a little more than $1,000, according to campaign disclosure statements posted on the city website.

The Wallace Group is the leading donor to the yes on G effort, having given $1,200. Other major backers of the tax include Cannon Corporation, software company Mindbody, Tim Williams of Digital West Networks, residential development firm MFI Limited and Once Upon a Time LP, each of which have donated $1,000.

Several past and present city employees and council members have also donated to the pro-Measure G campaign.

Former San Luis Obispo council member Keith Gurnee is spearheading the opposition to Measure G. Gurney has contributed approximately $3,730, most of which he spent directly on campaign expenses.

The next largest donor to the effort to stop the sales tax is the San Luis Obispo Property and Business Owners’ Association, which has contributed $1,500. Other leading donors are San Luis Obispo residents Kevin Rice, Leslie Halls and Dia Hurd.

Rice has contributed $1,063 combined as an individual donor and through his committee Integrity SLO. Halls has donated $815, mostly in non–monetary contributions, while Hurd, has given $810, most of which came in the form of cash.


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Yesterday I got a mailer from the US Post Office boldly proclaiming:” 75% of small business sales are local. Are you closing in on yours?”


This is the complete OPPOSITE of what the Measure G proponents are saying. Vote ON on G. Keep your money.


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If Measure G fails, I am going to drive over to Mission Plaza in the middle of the night where I will open (using my multi-tool that is likely illegal by SLO City statute) a big bottle of premium beer (which I will buy outside of SLO) and down it while enjoying a bag of assorted gourmet snacks which I will also procure outside of SLO.


When I have completed my repast I am going to put the bottle in the bag and throw it at a nearby hedge. I’ll let go a mighty victory belch and light a nice cigar (which I will actually buy in Downtown SLO.)


From there I will give a nod to the Old Mission out of respect for those that came before us — those that actually built SLO. I will then jump in my truck and fly the bird as I pass by city hall on the way home…


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The Measure G supporters are the retired and present city employees, developers who stand to benefit from its passage with subsidies for their projects, Chamber staff and members with fat city contracts and grants, Downtown Assn. personnel for the same reason, and the sheep who believe the propaganda their fellow Chamber and city staff members put out. The bicycle coalition has been the beneficiary of millions of dollars in bike paths. Police and fire received $5 million in raises due to binding arbitration; that decision consumed the first year of Measure Y money and continues to grow the bureaucracy at city hall. Measure Y has been wasted on salaries and benefits for city employees. Measure G – which IS a new tax despite what some proponents would have you believe, is just more of the same.


These are the same city employees who dumped toxic waste at the corporation yard and got away with it; who lost costly lawsuits over the shooing the homeless from their cars and got raises for their incompetence; who beat the daylights out of a guy in a fight in a restroom at a restaurant on Monterey Street and got away with it; who smuggled drugs across the Mexican border, got caught, and got away with it; and all of them will never ever ever be laid off.


What projects have been completed with Measure Y money?


How/where are we $46 million better off?


What open space has been added (other than land in Pismo Beach!). Even the Sierra Club recognized the hypocrisy of this claim. Make no mistake, every man, woman and child will pay this tax. Last time I bought something I wasn’t asked for my zipcode, were you?


Just remember gas is going up Jan. 1 by a minimum of 15 cents a gallon. That will raise the price of everything hauled by truck. Your property taxes will also go up if various bond issues are passed. Add it up and suddenly we are talking real money and we still have nothing to show for it.


Don’t believe these well-heeled phonies who want your money for themselves and the pet projects.


Vote NO on Measure G.


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You have a lot to say Patti about the City of SLO. What will you say about Paso when you leave there?


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Measure G will easily pass in SLO because the majority of the City’s voters are democrats and democrats always believe the government does good things with the money it takes from it’s citizens. Most government employees also happen to be democrats and SLO is the hub for city, county, Poly and CMC employees, and they all want raises. A handful of developers will also support this measure because they want the taxpayers to pay for infrastructure improvements for their developments so they can maximize profits. For all of these people the smart move is a yes vote and they by far outnumber those of us in the private sector who do not want to pay more for the same services we are already getting.


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I think citizen voters will be really surprised when they see who is financially supporting all the New School Tax Increases and the Grover Beach Road Tax.


Please Vote. Inform Others In Your Communities.


Can You Afford All These New Tax Increases $$$$$


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