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Feinstein Promotes Props. 57, 58

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Californians for a Balanced Budget have released two new television advertisements. Both ads feature U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat who recently endorsed Propositions 57 and 58. Proposition 57 is a $15-billion deficit bond. Proposition 58 is a balanced-budget amendment to the state Constitution. The first spot, a 30-second ad, began airing Monday night only in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 15-second spot begins airing statewide on Wednesday.

Title: “Appeal,” 30-second ad

“Recovery,” 15-second ad

Producer: Don Sipple

Script: “Appeal” begins with an announcer saying, “Sen. Dianne Feinstein.” Then Feinstein speaks into the camera: “Our state faces a massive fiscal crisis. Now that’s the reality, and we’ve got to deal with it. There is a solution. The governor and Legislature have submitted to voters Propositions 57 and 58. Now, they work together. One refinances past debt, and the other prevents this from ever happening again. Now, I’ve looked at these carefully; they’re the right thing to do. So I urge you, vote yes on 57 and 58.”

“Recovery” also shows Feinstein speaking into the camera. She says: “Our state faces a massive fiscal crisis, and we’ve got to deal with it. Propositions 57 and 58 are essential to protect our schools, healthcare and economic recovery. Vote yes on 57 and 58.”

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Accuracy: That the state faces a fiscal crisis is undisputed. And it is true that the propositions were put on the ballot by the Legislature at the urging of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Feinstein also is correct in saying the measures “work together.” Neither becomes law unless both pass.

Feinstein’s description of the propositions is incomplete. Proposition 57 does refinance previous borrowing but also includes more than $3 billion for new expenses in the budget year that begins July 1, including debt service payments and state employee compensation costs. Although Proposition 58 prohibits future deficit borrowing in the manner of the Proposition 57 deficit bond, it does not guarantee that the state will not face a similar crisis again. Proposition 58 permits short-term borrowing and other types of borrowing as long as they are not labeled deficit bonds.

The 15-second ad’s claim that the propositions are “essential to protect our schools, healthcare and economic recovery” is a point of dispute. State Treasurer Phil Angelides argues that schools and healthcare could be protected by raising taxes on the rich and short-term borrowing.

Analysis: The two propositions are gaining in polls. But despite endorsements from most of the state’s leading Democrats, the measures continue to trail among Democrats, especially Democratic women. While Democrats and women generally are more supportive of bonds than the voting population in general, the measures are so closely associated with Schwarzenegger, the Republican governor, that 57 and 58 have been hurt among Democrats, campaign strategists believe.

By making Feinstein, the state’s most popular Democratic official, the spokeswoman for the measures in the campaign’s final week, strategists for the propositions hope to persuade Democrats that the measures will do more than merely boost Schwarzenegger. The 57-58 campaign’s desire to target Democrats is also evident in the decision to air the 30-second ad only in the Bay Area, the most Democratic part of the state.

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Compiled by Times staff writer Joe Mathews

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