Scarcnet News Summaries (Advocacy Institute)
Bipartisan Coalition Supports Proposition 10, But Public Support Declines Slightly
Length: pages
Abstract
California's Proposition 10, a ballot initiative that would raise the cigarette tax by 50 cents a pack to fund early childhood development, prenatal care and anti-smoking programs, is being promoted by a diverse, bipartisan coalition that includes Democrat and film director Rob Reiner, former Republican Senator Michael Huffington and conservative icon Charlton Heston. Reiner said recently, "We don't agree on much, that's true. But the one thing we do agree on is helping young children."
Although the initiative has enjoyed wide popular support in recent months, a Field Poll found that support among voters fell from 56 percent in August to 48 percent this month. The change has been in the percentage of respondents who are undecided, up to 19 percent from 10 percent in August. The tobacco industry has poured millions of dollars into defeating the proposition, with some estimates reaching $20 million, mostly for television ads depicting the tax as an unfair burden on smokers and claiming that it will create an unaccountable bureaucracy. Reiner said his group would spend around five million dollars on television and radio ads featuring Heston, actor Martin Sheen and former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.
Source: Don Terry, "Cigarette Tax Supported By Unlikely Coalition," NEW YORK TIMES, October 18, 1998, p. A20.