Commercial Blitz Begins in Effort to Sell State Ballot Measures to Voters

The television campaign to pass state bond and budget measures on the March 2 ballot has begun and the advertising blitz will gain intensity in the days ahead.

The first commercials promoting passage of Proposition 55, a $12.3-billion bond measure to build and repair schools and colleges, hit the airwaves this week.

Ads began running Thursday for Proposition 56, an initiative to lower the two-thirds vote requirement for legislative approval of tax increases and the state budget.

And next week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to launch TV spots to persuade voters to approve $15 billion in deficit-reduction bonds and a separate balanced budget amendment.

The television commercials are the costliest element in Schwarzenegger’s campaign to convince state voters that the bond measure (Proposition 57) and companion balanced-budget amendment (Proposition 58) are the best way to deal with California’s budget crisis.

To pay for the ads, the governor is engaged in torrid fundraising. He headlined a major fundraiser Thursday night in San Francisco and will hold a private dinner and fundraiser at the Sacramento Kings-San Antonio Spurs basketball game tonight in Sacramento.

Schwarzenegger’s commercials are expected to stress the importance of passing the deficit bonds and balanced-budget plan to speed California’s economic recovery.

Ads for the other bond measure on the ballot, Proposition 55, emphasize the need to build and repair schools. The 30-second commercial, tailored for each of the state’s major metropolitan areas, features a teacher talking about the importance of building classrooms to ease crowding and fix leaky roofs, broken bathrooms and dangerous conditions at local schools.

The commercial makes no mention of the fact that $2.3 billion of the bond issue would go to construction and repair of facilities at community colleges, the state college and university system and the University of California.

Ads for Proposition 56 -- which would allow lawmakers to pass budget matters by a 55% vote rather than a 67% vote -- focus on certain aspects of the measure. Against the backdrop of a food fight, an announcer notes that California has the worst credit rating of any state, that lawmakers are considering cuts to schools and healthcare, and that the Legislature has a record of passing late budgets. The commercial says that if the measure wins voter approval, lawmakers will not be paid unless they pass a budget on time.

The ad claims that changing the requirement for budget passage would end partisan gridlock. It makes no mention of the fact that the initiative would also lower the requirement for legislative approval of tax increases.