TV spots for the governor’s high-stakes tax initiative began airing today and take an instant hit from an AP piece that straight-away points out how some of them misstate facts. The lede:
Gov. Jerry Brown began airing five new television commercials for his November tax proposal Wednesday, some of which misstate how the billions of dollars Proposition 30 would raise through higher sales and income taxes could be spent.
Typical of the commercials is this statement from one of them: "Money must go to the classroom and can't be touched by Sacramento politicians." While some of the money raised by Brown's Proposition 30 would go to public schools, which account for more than half the state's general fund, the statement is misleading and contradicts comments the governor himself has made.
Missing from the first ad onslaught? Brown himself. Instead, state controller John Chiang is the lead pitchman. View it here.
Meanwhile, a Reuters piece looks at the big money being pumped against the Brown plan by siblings Molly Munger and Charles Munger Jr., children of Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner, Charles Munger Sr.
