Prop. V: Rerouting Money From Military to Social Uses

The Rev. Jesse Jackson struck a responsive chord recently before a roomful of campaign workers in Los Angeles.

“We cannot spend the billions we spend a year on the arms buildup and have money left over for health care, housing and job development,” he told his audience.

The response was particularly enthusiastic, evident in the applauding and singing that followed his address, because the group he was addressing had formed part of the effort behind placing this very theme before Los Angeles voters on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The enthusiasts cheering Jackson were the ground troops for Proposition V, the Jobs With Peace measure that sets out to change the direction of federal spending, with the help of the City of Los Angeles.

Advisory Council

That ballot measure seeks to create an advisory council in city government that would advocate a shift in federal funds away from the military and into social and community programs. If it passes, it would mark the first time a city has established an office expressly to press Washington for a reduction in military spending.

Under the measure, that advisory council would also encourage administrators of public and private pension funds to divest themselves of military-related investments and assist local firms that may lose military contracts.

Opponents contend that the initiative is an unsound venture into national policy, that it lacks the power to change and that it would harm the local aerospace industry, add to the city’s bureaucracy and cost taxpayers money better spent on city services.

“This isn’t going to do anything about military spending,” Councilman Ernani Bernardi said. “It’s not going to have any power to change things because it doesn’t have any muscle behind it.”

But supporters such as Councilman Robert Farrell disagreed. Farrell and the others stressed that the military-to-domestic spending initiative is neither anti-Reagan nor politically partisan, although proponents are unhappy with the government’s current priorities.

“The choices being made in this country right now are having devastating effects on our communities, and there is a direct correlation between the increase in military spending and the actual slashing of health care, housing and educational programs,” said Anthony Thigpenn, executive director of the Jobs With Peace Campaign.

Opponents Organize

To fight the initiative, about a dozen major aerospace firms in Southern California have formed a political committee to press a radio and television campaign. They claim the initiative will lead to “institutional harassment.”

“The aerospace companies are concerned that Proposition V represents an attack on their industry and the jobs they provide,” said Chris Vosburgh, a spokesman for the No on V committee.

Vosburgh said the firms also fear that pension boards would be pressured to abandon holdings in companies that have defense contracts, jeopardizing both the companies and the investment funds.

Under the measure, the Department of Water and Power could print wording on monthly electrical bills to solicit donations to finance the work of the advisory council. According to proponents of the initiative, the council could function at an annual cost of no more than 15 cents per household and additional funds could be sought from federal, state, county and private sources.

Members of the Jobs With Peace council would be appointed by the mayor and City Council and would include representatives of public employee unions. Three staff members would run the office. And a provision in the initiative states that after five years, if the City Council determines that the office is no longer needed, the matter could be placed once again before the voters.

The initiative is the second petition drive to reach voters on the strength of a grass-roots Jobs With Peace movement. The first measure--approved by 61% of the city’s voters in the November, 1984, election--ordered a study each year of how much of the taxes collected from city residents wind up in the nation’s defense budget.

A contract for the initial study has not yet been awarded.