It’s a sad state of affairs when millions of taxpayer dollars can be spent on a political campaign to fool voters into supporting faux property rights protections.
But that’s precisely what happened last night with the passage of Proposition 99 – which will do nothing to protect property owners from eminent domain abuse. Proponents of this measure, namely wealthy developers and government fat cats, have succeeded, for the moment, in protecting the status quo and their bottom line.
Sadly, supporters of Prop 98, which would have protected ALL property (homes, small businesses, farms and places of worship) simply couldn’t compete with the miillions of dollars funneled from local governments into an obscure campaign committee to pay for slick ads of deception. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, your tax dollars at work! It’s no surprise, but does provide some solace that the Fair Political Practices Commission smells enough of a rat about this public funding issue to have begun a full-scale investigation.
Unfortunately, in the interim, property owners will continue to suffer as the vultures of government and development anxiously circle their property, salivating at the golden opportunity to go in for the kill.