Blowing Smoke at Prop. 10

The tobacco industry has long used media campaigns to blow smoke in Americans’ eyes, but its current onslaught of TV ads against Proposition 10 takes deception to heights that would make even the Marlboro Man cringe.

In October alone, the industry spent over $20 million on TV commercials and direct mail. That’s more than Sen. Barbara Boxer and her Republican challenger, Matt Fong, have spent to date on their entire, high-profile campaigns.

The ads claim that Proposition 10 amounts to “hundreds of millions of dollars for bureaucrats with no specifics, no accountability and no controls on how they spend the money.” In fact, only 1% of Proposition 10 dollars can be spent on administration, and the remaining funds must go to specific early childhood development programs like literacy education. The programs must demonstrate their progress in yearly audits that must be made public.

What’s most deceptive is the tobacco industry’s claim that “not one penny of Proposition 10 money goes to our schools.” In fact, Proposition 10 would be a $750-million-a- year windfall for education in California, which is why the initiative is endorsed enthusiastically by all major education organizations, from the California Teachers Assn. to the National Education Assn. and the PTA, as well as by leaders of all political stripes, including Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.

Counties could spend their Proposition 10 dollars on preschool education, for example, or on turning day-care centers that do little more than baby-sit into the kind of enriching educational environments that are essential to stimulate brain development. While nearly 90% of brain growth occurs during a child’s first three years of life, only 4% of public spending on children is earmarked for those years.

Far from squandering taxpayer dollars, Proposition 10 would more likely save taxpayers money by nurturing the minds of children, cutting the need for expensive remedial education later on.

The tobacco industry’s pall of smoke is thick, but smart voters will see through it.