Transportation Sales Tax Vote Made Nearly Certain

A proposal for a half-cent sales tax to pay for transportation cleared the Orange County Transportation Commission on Monday and is now virtually certain to be placed on the November ballot, officials said.

The commission voted 5 to 1 in favor of putting the hotly contested Measure M initiative to the voters, with Supervisor Roger R. Stanton opposed. Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder was absent. Stanton and Wieder had argued that too little time has passed since the measure was defeated last year.

“I think we’re doing the right thing,” said commission Chairman Dana Reed. “The problems are so severe that we cannot wait another two years . . . and if we didn’t get on the 1990 ballot we’d have to wait until ’92.”

Last year’s measure lost 53% to 47%. Voter turnout, however, was a record low of 22%. Measure M backers believe that this fall’s gubernatorial race promises a heavier turnout and a better chance of winning, but others believe a larger turnout will do nothing to change Orange County voters’ traditional abhorrence of new taxes.

The commission gave initial approval to placing the measure on the ballot last week and ratified that move Monday by approving its second reading. The Board of Supervisors must still give its approval but that is a technicality expected to be completed without incident next Tuesday, said commission Executive Director Stan Oftelie.

Directing the campaign for Measure M will be Sacramento-based political consultants David Townsend and D.J. Smith, who organized the drive for transportation sales tax initiatives in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, Reed said. All three initiatives were approved by voters.

Reed said the consultants plan to run 20 to 30 different campaigns within Orange County, stressing local traffic problems in each area that could be relieved by an infusion of sales tax dollars. This neighborhood-based appeal is intended to overpower anti-tax sentiment.

Measure M opponents include tax foes, environmentalists who say it does not do enough to slow growth, and officials who support the tax but feel it is too soon to put the matter before voters again.

Commission Chairman Reed also sharply criticized the Orange County Register on Monday for its editorial page stance against Measure M. He said the paper’s opinion pages represented the only “statistically significant” organized opposition to the measure and as such would be targeted by M supporters during the campaign.