Proposition 95 Food, Shelter for Needy : Business Groups Line Up Against Hunger Measure

Business groups opposed to Proposition 95 have launched a last-minute fund-raising campaign that has taken in $700,000 in cash and commitments, allowing them to mount a full-scale advertising effort that seemed impossible just two weeks ago.

“The industry began to realize what the impact of this will be,” said Roger Hughes, chairman of the 43-store chain of Hughes Markets. “The impact will be substantial.”

Citizens Against Proposition 95 is piecing together a campaign of television, radio and print ads as well as direct mail.

But the biggest effect may come from “bag stuffers” and banners in thousands of California supermarkets and restaurants, reaching millions of potential voters daily.

Among the themes the campaign hopes to hammer home is that the initiative will “feed the bureaucrats and not the homeless.”

Proposition 95, the hunger and homelessness funding initiative, would raise $50 million to $90 million annually by imposing new fines on health, safety and building code violations. The money would be funneled into various housing, food and job training programs designed to help the homeless.

John Jervis, co-manager of the anti-Proposition 95 campaign, said grocery, restaurant and apartment operators have also recently been encouraged by editorial support from several newspapers. And since they now see some chance of defeating the proposition that has proved popular in recent polls, businessmen are choosing to financially support the campaign to defeat it, he said.

In particular, the state’s large grocery chains, such as Hughes and Vons, have stepped into the fray and they have the concentrated financial might that is lacking in the restaurant field.

“We think the cause is right, but the way it is being administered is all wrong,” William Davila, president of the Vons chain of supermarkets, said of Proposition 95. He said it is not fair to single out a few industries to pay for a problem that affects all of society.

Davila said that Vons has about 360 stores in California, serving more than 5 million shoppers per week and each of them will be bombarded with banners and leaflets in opposition to the ballot measure.

An effort to reach that many potential voters is significantly more extensive than the type of campaign envisioned even two weeks ago, when consultants planned on getting their word out primarily through radio talk shows.

As of Sept. 30, Citizens Against Proposition 95 had raised just $16,000 in cash and $53,000 in non-monetary contributions. Officials were hoping to raise $100,000 and doubted they would exceed $200,000.

But now, Don Beaver, president of the California Grocers Assn., said he is confident that the campaign can raise $800,000 and could raise as much as $1 million by Election Day.

Still, Proposition 95 proponent Conway Collis said, “That’s not enough to beat us. It would take a massive expenditure to mislead California’s voters . . . a lot more than $1 million.”

The Proposition 95 forces, Californians Working Together to End Hunger and Homelessness, are essentially broke until a series of scheduled fund-raisers bring in some additional money.

The committee has raised $747,601--including $273,803 in loans--and spent $815,847 as of Sept. 30. About $650,000 was spent just to get the measure onto the ballot.

But Collis, who is also a member of the State Board of Equalization, said, “We will have the resources to run a serious campaign.”

Celebrity Parties

He estimated that the Proposition 95 campaign will raise an additional $250,000 by Nov. 8, largely through a series of celebrity cocktail parties and dinners and an organized labor fund-raiser sponsored by Los Angeles Labor Council leader Bill Robertson.

The late emergence of the anti-Proposition 95 effort raises a few problems for the campaign.

While the budget allows for some television advertising, a campaign consultant said he doubts that much air time will be available at this late date in the election season. “It’s all been bought” by other campaigns, Jervis said.

And “slate cards,” which are mailed to voters in support of numerous issues, are filling up fast.

The essential message of the ads that are being pulled together is that the Proposition 95 program is too expensive to administer, said Frank Noto, another consultant to the campaign. Up to one-third of all money raised under Proposition 95 could be spent on administration.

Another theme is that there are hidden costs to taxpayers, such as the need for new judges. Ads will also warn shoppers that higher food and rent prices would be passed along to consumers.

Doubts Within Industry

But even within the food industries, there are some doubts about fighting the proposition.

Stanley Kyker, executive vice president of the California Restaurant Assn., which opposes the proposition, said many of his organization’s members are reluctant to join the fight.

“Most people in the industry see themselves as running clean, sanitary operations,” said Kyker. He said they see the purpose of the initiative--to aid the homeless--as “strong and sound . . . the goal (as) not arguable,” though the method is questioned.

And, Kyker said, many also fear that there could be a backlash against restaurant and market operators if they are seen fighting what is perceived as a good cause.