Countywide : Foes Raise $11,000 to Fight Measure J
Opponents of a May 14 ballot initiative calling for a half-cent sales tax for jail construction said Thursday that they have raised $11,000 in the short time since they decided to organize a campaign to defeat Measure J--less than two weeks.
But proponents of the tax raise, including the Committee to Keep Criminals in Jail and Sheriff Brad Gates, have raised about $160,000 over several months, according to Eileen E. Padberg, a political consultant for that group.
Revenues from Measure J--which would raise an average of about $345 million a year over 30 years--are expected to be used to build a 6,720-bed jail in Gypsum Canyon, just east of Anaheim Hills, which is strongly opposed by neighbors.
Bob Zemel, chairman of Taxpayers Against J, said the biggest boost to their campaign to defeat the measure was from Gov. Pete Wilson, with his recent proposal to raise the state sales tax by 1 1/4 cents to deal with a state budget shortfall.
Zemel said in a press release that Wilson’s announcement “was the biggest contribution made to the effort to kill Measure J.”
Some of the anti-Measure J money was raised during a fund-raiser last week at the law offices of Anaheim Mayor Fred Hunter.
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