Oct 16, 2008 10:35 pm US/Eastern
Question 1 Proponents Struggle To Compete With Ads
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Many Massachusetts voters have already have seen it: a new TV ad with a dire warning about the potential impact of Question 1, the income tax repeal on the November ballot.
People should expect to see a lot more of it as the campaign against the tax cut shifts into high gear. This is because the "No on Question One" forces are well-financed with more than $1.3 million at last report, compared with barely $30,000 for the group behind Question 1.
That means many more ads over the next 19 days arguing one side of the hottest political debate in the state.
If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
Free money falling from the sky, that's how they're depicting the savings taxpayers would realize if Question 1 passes.
Opponents argue cutting state taxes will force "drastic cuts to our schools, our health care, and our police and fire.
Question 1 advocate Carla Howell was amused by the hyperbole when we showed her the new ad, but she not that amused.
"It's just the same old sky is falling junk we've been hearing all year, that they roll out every time there is a tax cut proposed or when they're lobbying for more tax increases," Howell said.
According to one of the ads against Question 1, "State aid to our local communities would be slashed, driving up our property taxes."
Howell claims the ad wrongly claims local aid would see deep cuts if the income tax repeal passes, a mark of the establishment's refusal to confront its own failures.
Where could the cuts come instead?
"From tens of billions of dollars in government waste," Howell said.
"There's nothing riskier than continuing to let our big government, high-tax politicians recklessly tax and spend, drive jobs out of the state, drive businesses out of the state," Howell added.
Watching state leaders try to plug huge holes in a budget that's only a few months old doesn't exactly inspire confidence, it's true.
But Howell faces a deficit of her own -- of cash to compete with the "No on One" ad blitz, and of momentum, with WBZ's most recent
Fast Track showing support for
Question 1 lagging behind the opposition.
Supporters of Question 1:
smallgovernmentact.orgOpponents of Question 1:
votenoquestion1.com
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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