December 18, 2008. Kevin Cummins.
Yesterday I spoke with the UT. Today they wrote:

Is the San Diego Association of Governments under the impression that it is not subject to the rules of the California Fair Political Practices Commission?...

Such obnoxious uses of public money to promote ballot measures have become common in California in recent years, thanks to a bizarre appellate court ruling that governments could spend as much as they wanted on “informational efforts” so long as their propaganda did not explicitly say “Vote for Measure X.” ...

These travesties prompted the state Fair Political Practices Commission to step in and clean up after the appeals court. Earlier this month, the political watchdog adopted policies with the force of law forbidding local governments from disseminating any information that is not “fair and objective.” ...

None of this seems to have registered with SANDAG. Its agenda for tomorrow's committee meeting describes hiring a campaign consultant to run an all-out push to persuade voters to raise taxes. This sort of thing is no longer allowed.

Says who? Says FPPC Chairman Ross Johnson...

That won't be nearly good enough. Here's what should happen instead: SANDAG's request for proposals from political consultants must be withdrawn immediately. The days of politicians using taxpayers' money to persuade those same taxpayers to raise their taxes are over...

Click here to read the whole thing.

See Also: SANDAG Reeducation Camp