Mailer Using Reagan Quote Causes Furor

Opponents of Proposition 45, an initiative that would alter California’s strict term limits law, harshly criticized a mailer sent to Republican households implying that former President Ronald Reagan would have backed the measure.

And foes of Proposition 42, who two weeks ago hadn’t even mounted a campaign, are spending $3 million on a TV ad blitz to defeat the measure, which would earmark a gasoline sales tax for transportation.

The Proposition 45 mailer includes a photo of Reagan and a 1989 statement in which the former president and California governor, now suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, expressed opposition to term limits. “Like President Reagan, Proposition 45 puts its faith in the voters to make the right decisions for themselves,” the mailer says.

“This is a grotesque, disreputable and disrespectful misappropriation of President Reagan’s name and image,” said Dan Schnur, a Republican and manager of the No-on-45 campaign.

“I’d say it’s fair to call it deceptive,” said California Republican Party spokesman Rob Stutsman, noting that the GOP opposes the initiative, while the state Democratic Party is the biggest financial backer of the measure, having spent $3.2 million for its passage.

Currently, Assembly members are limited to three two-year terms, and state senators can serve two four-year terms. Under Proposition 45, legislators could run for two more two-year terms in the Assembly, and one more four-year term in the Senate, if they gathered signatures of 20% of the voters who cast ballots in the prior election. .

A spokesman for the former president and First Lady Nancy Reagan said they have expressed no opinion on any candidates or propositions on Tuesday’s ballot.

But Bill Carrick, who is managing the Yes-on-45 campaign, said the ad “implies only one thing. President Reagan didn’t like term limits. He made it very clear.”

Fewer than 40% of registered voters are expected to turn out for Tuesday’s election, but interest groups are spending millions on ballot measures and legislative primary contests.

One of the most high-profile efforts involves Proposition 42, which would dedicate the gasoline sales tax to transportation projects. It is backed by business groups, road construction companies and some labor unions.

The amount of sales tax varies with the price of gasoline. But the state Department of Finance estimates that the tax will bring in $678 million next year.

Fearing that the proposition would strip money from public schools and other state programs, the California Teachers Assn. and the Service Employees International Union, which represents 141,000 state workers and 40,000 Los Angeles County workers, have pumped $3 million into a TV campaign to defeat the measure.

The latest Field poll showed 61% of likely voters favored the proposition, with 23% opposed.

“As people get a deeper understanding of what 42 is, it is going to lose support,” said Carrick, who produced the ads for the two unions.

Transportation advocates reject a key contention in a television spot by opponents that Proposition 42 won’t take effect until 2008.

“I know with campaign advertising you can be ... loose with the truth,” said Steve Schnaidt, staff director of the Senate Transportation Committee. “But in the interest of accuracy, it’s not true.”

Schnaidt said Proposition 42 would embed in the state Constitution provisions of a law that requires gas sales tax to be spent on transportation projects from July 2003 through June 2008. The measure would also require that the tax continue to be used for transportation projects beyond 2008.