San Francisco Bay: $12 parcel tax for wetlands has big financial backers

The article is about Measure AA wetlands protection (and more trails) for the Bay.  Campaign funding is paid in large part by big money interests, many with Bay properties which will be affected by sea level rise.

(If Measure AA passes, it will be a corporate shared cost effort with property owners, beyond what government may provide. Not that that's a bad thing, but it is a vested interest.)

By Paul Rogers, progers@bayareanewsgroup.com

When environmentalists wade into political contests, they're almost always outspent by big business. 

But that's not the case with Measure AA, a $12 annual parcel tax that will appear on the June 7 ballot in all nine Bay Area counties to fund wetlands restoration and flood control projects around San Francisco Bay's shoreline.

 

Environmental groups have linked arms with big business this time around, in essence becoming part of the Goliath in the David vs. Goliath contest. The coalition is overpowering anti-tax groups in fundraising by a huge margin, according to campaign spending reports released Friday.

Through last week, the Yes on AA campaign had raised $2.3 million, while opponents have not formed a campaign committee and are relying on volunteer efforts. The yes campaign has hired heavyweight political consultants, conducted professional polling, sent out glossy mailers and begun airing ads on every major Bay Area TV station.

If approved by two-thirds of all the voters in the nine counties combined, the new tax would raise $500 million over the next 20 years to build levees and restore thousands of acres of wetlands and tidal marshes as a buffer to storm surges and floods in every Bay Area county.

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Submitted by Kathy Meeh