CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS: THE AD CAMPAIGN

Ballot measure: Proposition 134. Whose ad: Taxpayers for Common Sense.

The current advertising campaign for the proposition, which would raise the tax on alcoholic beverages, features 30-second radio and television spots designed to capitalize on the opposition by teachers and other education groups. The sponsoring Taxpayers for Common Sense is an organization formed by the alcoholic beverage industry. In the ad, Del Webber, vice president of the California Teachers Assn., is standing in a classroom talking to the camera.

Elements of the ads, with an analysis by Times staff writer Virginia Ellis.

Ad: “. . . And that’s what is so terribly upsetting about Proposition 134. Of all the hundreds of millions of dollars it costs California taxpayers, not one red cent goes to schools, where it is needed most.”

Analysis: Proposition 134 will raise an estimated $730 million in additional tax revenue in its first year. The proposal earmarks revenue from the new taxes for a variety of alcohol-related programs and does not go into the state’s general fund where about 40% would automatically go to education. Nor does it directly designate any of its funds for schools. But it does direct that a minimum of 4% of the money be devoted to education programs on alcohol and drug abuse. Those funds are to be distributed by each county, and schools are expected to compete for them at the local level.