CFC Message to Voters on Defeat of Prop 16 and 17: You Won This!

by Richard Holober, Consumer Federation of California

The taste of victory is sweet, especially when it overcomes $62 million of the worst kind of deceitful campaigning.  Two arrogant corporations received the humiliations they richly deserved when voters turned down Proposition 16 and 17 yesterday.

PG&E and Mercury Insurance were in a contest to see which would stoop the lowest to buy a law through the ballot box.  Voters saw through PG&E’s $46 million spending spree on Prop 16 and Mercury Insurance’s $16 million contribution to Prop 17.

On a sad note, the defeat of Prop 15 is a setback for the cause of clean money elections. We did get closer than ever. CFC will continue to work with allies to loosen the stranglehold of special interest money in Sacramento.

Consumers have much to celebrate today. Beating back Mercury’s attack on Prop 103 rate regulation, motorists can rest assured that their auto insurance rates won’t be jacked up without good reason.

Utility ratepayers held onto their right to pursue lower cost, more environmentally friendly alternatives to PG&E’s high priced fossil fuel-dependent electric monopoly.

Congratulations on showing the world that California voters can detect a fraud even when it hides behind boatloads of money.