Proposition 95--Food, Shelter for Needy : Markets Go All Out in Bid to Defeat Hunger Initiative

Led by the state’s grocery industry, opponents of Proposition 95 have raised $1.5 million during the last four weeks to mount an aggressive television ad campaign aimed at defeating the Hunger and Homelessness Funding Initiative, according to campaign finance reports filed with the state.

The advertising fund has already far surpassed the $800,000 level forecast earlier by campaign officials and could climb to $2 millionby Election Day as major market chains such as Lucky and Safeway kick in upward of $170,000 each to fight the ballot measure.

“We’ll spend all we can get and we hope to get more,” said Frank Noto, a consultant to Citizens Against Proposition 95.”

The campaign has bought $1 million worth of television advertising, covering every market in the state. The more than 400 spots will be broadcast on Spanish-language outlets, as well as the major English-language television stations.

New Fines

Proposition 95 would seek to raise $50 million to $90 million annually through new fines on Health, Safety and Building Code violations. The money would be funneled into various food, shelter and job training programs.

Grocery industry representatives have estimated that it will cost the average supermarket about $5,000 in fines for Health Code violations annually if Proposition 95 is approved.

Proposition 95 proponents, meanwhile, are “essentially broke . . . and colossally in debt” as they enter the final week of campaigning, said Wes Van Winkle, legal counsel to Californians Working Together to End Hunger and Homelessness.

“We’re on our hands and knees,” Van Winkle said. “The problem is the homeless don’t have any money. They can’t compete with a Safeway. We have to appeal to people’s better instinct (in raising campaign funds), and that only goes so far.”

Proposition proponent Conway Collis said, “You have to ask yourself, why is it worth it to (the grocers) to spend so much to defeat this?”

The coalition supporting the measure raised $899,732 in the last year, but spent more than two-thirds of it just to get the initiative on the ballot through a professional, statewide signature-gathering drive.

Last-Minute Campaign

Now proponents are waging a last-minute campaign to obtain free “fairness doctrine” time from stations that sold ad time to the opposition, according to Van Winkle.

Under the Federal Communications Act of 1934, broadcasters are obligated to present both sides of important issues. Based on some interpretations of the law, stations will grant free time to campaigns that cannot afford advertising to respond to their opposition. Some stations, such as KCBS in Los Angeles, do not recognize an obligation to grant fairness time to proponents and opponents of ballot measures.

So far, Van Winkle has been able to obtain about $180,000 in free fairness time from about 18 of 20 stations contacted. He said the pro-Proposition 95 campaign may get additional time from seven stations that he has not yet contacted.

Letter to Stations

But James Abrams, an attorney working for the Citizens Against Proposition 95, has written to television stations urging them not to award time to the opposition under the fairness doctrine, according to a copy of the letter given to The Times.

Abrams argues that the law does not require fairness time for ballot initiatives. He contends that the Californians Working Together group is “able to pay for television time.” He said the pro-Proposition 95 campaign has raised $899,000, and “it is obvious that they have chosen to spend the money other than on television advertising.”

The grocers meanwhile, kicked off a second front for their campaign Monday with “bag stuffers” and banners in thousands of supermarkets statewide.

Among the biggest contributors to the Citizens Against Proposition 95 are Vons Grocery Co., $175,000; Lucky Stores, $171,000; Alpha Beta Stores, $122,000; Safeway $116,000; Ralphs Grocery Co., $65,000; Albertson’s Inc., $60,000; Hughes Markets Inc., $21,500, and Carl Karcher Enterprises $15,000.