STOP the Special Exemptions Act - NO on Prop 32 | LAPPL - Los Angeles Police Protective League

Sep 2012

STOP the Special Exemptions Act - NO on Prop 32

LAPPL Board of Directors

Police officers, firefighters and the rest of California’s middle class will be silenced if big corporations have their way this November.

Prop 32 is NOT what it seems. It was intentionally written to create special exemptions for billionaire businessmen, giving them even more political power to write their own set of rules.

Prop 32 exempts secretive Super PACs, which can raise unlimited amounts of money from corporate special interests and billionaire businessmen to support their favored candidates and defeat their enemies. Corporations already outspend labor 15 to 1 on political expenditures nationally and 3 to 1 in California; public safety cannot afford to lose our voice in local communities and state government.

Prop 32 will silence the collective voice all the organizations that advocate on behalf of public safety – those of us who stand on the front lines to fight for our public safety system every day. If corporate special interests are allowed free rein to do as they please, we will see public safety issues we care about the most pushed to the side. Issues like:

Police Officers Bill of Rights

Working conditions and safety

Compensation and benefits

Attracting top level recruits

Retaining experienced officers

Prop 32 is NOT what it seems. The special interests funding Prop 32 are targeting the voices of public safety professionals today, and next they’ll target the issues we care about most. Many of the top donors to the ‘Yes on 32’ campaign have already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to roll back our pension benefits. That’s why the League has joined dozens of other public safety associations to oppose Prop 32. It’s bad for public safety and bad for California.

Don’t believe the lies of Prop 32 supporters. Here are some facts to consider:

Prop 32 claims to bring reform to the political process – but Prop 32 will not take money out of politics. Like many so-called attempts to “clean up the mess in Sacramento,” the proponents of Prop 32 ignore the fact that full and complete disclosure of the source of campaign funds is the only real way to give voters the information they need to make up their minds.

Prop 32 exempts Super PACs and independent expenditure committees, and does nothing to prevent anonymous donors from spending unlimited amounts to influence elections.

Prop 32 doesn’t tell you that employee contributions to political campaigns are already voluntary under existing law today. The Constitution guarantees everyone that right.

Every leading government reform group in the state, including the League of Women Voters and California Common Cause, opposes Prop 32 because it’s not real reform. While Prop 32 claims to be “paycheck protection,” it is really paycheck deception.

Tell your family and friends and please Vote NO on Prop 32 to protect policies for all Californians, not just the corporate special interests. For more information and to get involved please visit LAPD.com.

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