Can You Spot The Falsehoods In This Flier Carried By Door-Knockers Seeking Votes For Sales Tax Hike?

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(April 26, 2016, 4:50 a.m.) -- An LBREPORT.com reader indicates that on Sunday April 24, an individual not recognizable as a neighbor knocked on his door, knew his name and his wife's name (apparently from a list of voter identifying information) and urged them to vote for Measures A & B. The door-knocker didn't say if he was paid, and if so by whom, and didn't tell the resident that the Measures placed on the June 7 ballot by the City Council would raise LB's sales tax to 10% (while it's 9% in Signal Hill/Lakewood and 8% in most OC cities) and would allow the current and future Councils to spend its revenue for any general fund items they wish.

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Instead, the door-knocker handed the resident a flier displaying a photo of Mayors O'Neill, Foster and Garcia (which recently arrived by mail in some parts of town.) The flier indicates that it was paid for by a political committee that has thus far received over $170,000 in cash and in-kind contributions from LB's police and firefighter unions that will negotiate new contracts for themselves with City Hall after the June election.

When the resident asked if there was any guarantee that the tax revenue will be spent to rebuild police and fire levels, the door-knocker pointed to the separate printed flier you see below and read it aloud. The resident had the presence of mind to capture a photo of the flier and email it to us.

Can you spot the falsehoods in its "answers" to the second and third questions?

Answer 2's text that the tax increase "will be spent to protect and improve 911 paramedic response, hire more police officers, restore firefighters and fire engines, and fix crumbling streets, sidewalks, alleys and public infrastructure like libraries and parks" is false.

The sales tax hike is a general tax that current and future City Councils can spend on any general fund items they desire. Source: City Attorney's Impartial Analysis of Measure A, parapgraph 2: ("The measure, which was placed on the ballot by the Long Beach City Council, proposes a general tax, from which the revenue would be placed in the City's general fund.")

Thus, current and future Councils could spend all or part of the tax hike on raises for city employee instead of providing more police officers or restoring de-funded fire engines for taxpayers. Or the Council could give another round of double-digit raises to city management (including six-figure club members), as then-Vice Mayor/now Mayor Garcia did along with recently-re-elected Councilmembers Al Austin, Dee Andrews on November 5, 2013 without restoring police or fire resources. Or the Council could spend the tax on its new Civic Center, instead of neighborhood streets, sidewalks and alleys. [The Council-approved Civic Center transaction imposes 40+ years of annual escalating (CPI) payments on LB taxpayers, shrinks LB's Main Library, gives away part of what is now public Civic Center property permanently to a private developer, without seeking bids for a less costly City Hall seismic retrofit and without approval by a vote of the people that the Council wants now for the tax hike.]

The flier's text largely parallels a misleading ballot label that City Councilmembers voted without dissent to show voters (see below.) It tries to lure the public into voting for the measure with a string of items that aren't guaranteed before inserting the words "and maintain general services" so Councilmembers can spend the tax for whatever general fund items they wish.

Answer 3's text that Measure A contains "strong legal protections to ensure the new revenue is spent responsibly" is false. The Council offers a so-called independent Citizens Oversight Committee, hand picked by the Mayor, with no legal power to change any Council spending decisions. A Council resolution of its current "intent" carries no binding legal power on actions by the current or future Councils.

Regardless of what the Mayor, Councilmembers or a city employee union-funded campaign may tell voters, the Measure A sales tax hike is legally a blank check, enabling whatever general fund spending items current or future Councils may desire.

Measure A does include one legal guarantee: if approved by 50%+1 Long Beach voters in June, LB consumers will pay a 10% sales tax rate while it's 9% in Lakewood/Signal Hill and 8% in most OC cities. Those other cities provide their taxpayers with police, fire and infrastructure at levels that LB City Hall, under its current Mayor and Council, says it can't do.

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