Opinion: No-on-98/Yes-on-99 declares victory
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With just over a quarter of the votes counted statewide, victory has been declared by the campaign to defeat the Proposition 98 quest to protect property from some government takings and phase out rent control. They are the same folks who put together Proposition 99, a sort of taking-reform-lite.
Here’s part of a statement from Tom Adams, president of the California League of Conservation Voters board:
Twice now - with the defeat of Prop. 90 in 2006 and Prop. 98 tonight - voters have rejected fraudulent initiative schemes by special interests. Despite the fact that landlords spent nearly $8 million to fool the voters about Prop 98, the voters once again showed that they see these cheesy schemes for what they are. Hopefully, this will send a strong signal to others that the voters have little tolerance for dishonest tactics.
There was a little deception all around. The No-98/Yes-99 folks put out lots of mail featuring elderly renters worrying about being evicted with the repeal of rent control laws. In fact, rent control would have continued to apply until they vacated their apartments. But the fact that repeal of rent control was slipped into the measure without much fanfare apparently was enough to turn off a majority of voters, not to mention a majority of newspaper editorial boards. The Times editorialized against 98 and for 99. So this time, at least, we had company. Not like in February, when our page came out in favor of Prop 93 term limits reform, along with pretty much nobody else -- except the papers in Vallejo and Vacaville.
Update from AP: Not even close.