NO 49,644 50.00%
YES 49,635 50.00%

The latest campaign filing report by the Mayor-Garcia run "Yes on A & B, Mayor Garcia Committee to Protect Police & Fire and Repair Infrastructure in Long Beach" shows that between Jan. 1 through March 3, 2020, it spent $638,866 to convince voters to approve the Mayor/Council-sought measure that sought to eliminate the 2016 sale tax's reduction date (2023) and end date (2027.)

The $638k sum doesn't include 2019 amounts spent by the Garcia-run committee for the measure (put on the ballot by a July 2019 Council vote without dissent. As previously reported in "Follow the Money" coverage by LBREPORT.com here here and here, the Garcia-run pro-Measure A committee's largest contributors were LB's police and firefighter unions.

The City of Long Beach separately paid $100,000 to a firm (Carrillo Strategies) to design, print and mail two fliers on Measures A & B sent to roughly 110,000 LB households. The City called its content informational (approved by the LB City Attorney's office and outside election counsel) that didn't explicitly advocate a "yes" or "no" vote on the measure. The City also inserted the flier in one cycle of city utility bills.

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There was no organized or competitively funded campaign committee in opposition to Measure A. Audible opponents consisted mainly of individual taxpayers who indicate they spent less than $1,000 for yard signs and hand-distributed fliers and also made comments on social networks.

Measure A was opposed by two Reform Ticket candidates in the March 3 election: Robert Fox (2nd dist.) and Juan Ovalle (8th dist.) Mr. Fox has advanced to a November 2020 runoff against Cindy Allen, backed by the Mayor/police-firefighter unions. In the March 24 tally, Mr. Ovalle was within 135 votes of advancing to a runoff against 8th district incumbent Al Austin (backed by the Mayor/police-firefighter unions) who'll face organized-labor backed Tunua Thrash-Ntuk in November.

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As to the possibility of a recount challenging the Measure A final vote total expected later today, see LBREPORT.com coverage here.

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