Measure B No Mickey Mouse Thing to Disney

Looks like Disneyland Resort President Paul Pressler may have a future in politics.

Over the last few days, park employees who live in Anaheim received a signed letter from Pressler urging them to get out and vote today--especially if they happen to pull the lever for Measure B. That’s the local initiative asking voters to retain the 2% hike in the city’s hotel bed tax. It was imposed last year and brought the city’s bed tax to 15%, one of the highest rates in the nation.

“I hope you will exercise your vote on election day,” Pressler said in the letter. “ . . . If you believe that Measure B is good for Anaheim, please vote yes on Measure B.”

So why is Disney, which never met a tax abatement it didn’t like, so keen on squeezing tourists for an extra 2%? The increase is critical to help Anaheim come up with nearly $546 million needed to fund the expansion of the Anaheim Convention Center and pay for infrastructure improvements for Disney’s planned companion park to Disneyland--Disney’s California Adventure.

Measure B is on the ballot essentially to neutralize another statewide ballot measure sponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. Proposition 218 would require California cities to get voter approval for any new taxes or tax increases imposed after January 1995--including Anaheim’s bed tax increase.

Disneyland spokesman Tom Brocato said Pressler’s letter to employees was “in no way an attempt to pressure them,” but rather an effort to “give them the background and the facts on Measure B.” However, the letter made no mention of arguments against Measure B. Opponents contend the high tax makes Anaheim less attractive to tourists and harms the working poor who reside in the city’s budget motels.

But hey, that’s politics.

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Marla Dickerson covers tourism for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-5670 and at marla.dickerson@latimes.com