PROPONENTS OF PROPOSITION B
ARE USING DECEPTIVE ADS
July 18, 2002 News Release from No on "B"

A television ad by the supporters of Proposition B on the Aug. 6 ballot seeks to deceive voters into believing that the proposal would result in more financial support for the Highway Patrol, the co-chair of the No on "B" committee says.

  State Sen. Larry Rohrbach, R-California, said the ad states that Proposition B will "help improve funding for the Highway Patrol." But, he said, there is nothing in Proposition B which calls for more money for the Highway Patrol.

  Proposition B is a half-billion dollar tax increase calling for a four-cent per gallon increase in the state gasoline tax and a one-half cent increase in the state sales tax. It would push the total state and federal gas tax in Missouri to almost 40 cents per gallon, and would raise the total local and state sales tax in some communities to almost 9 percent.

  Rohrbach said, "Proposition B doesn't insure anything for the Highway Patrol. The Patrol will be totally dependent on what the Legislature and the Governor appropriate for it. The ad is totally misleading."

  He said the Missouri Transportation Department will get most of the tax increase revenue. "The department's lack of accountability and credibility makes for really poor advertising. But the Highway Patrol is highly thought of, so the
Proposition B supporters are trying to use it to divert attention from the Transportation Department," Rohrbach stated.

  He said the provision in Proposition B that deals with the Highway Patrol has already been signed into law by the Governor in another bill (House Bill 1196), which really means that Proposition B has nothing at all to do with the Highway Patrol."

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COMPLAINT FILED ABOUT DECEPTIVE ADS
BY PROPOSITION B OPPONENTS
July 23, 2002 News Release from No on "B"

The No on "B" campaign committee filed a formal complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission on Tuesday, July 23 charging deception in television ads sponsored by Time For Missouri, the organization promoting Proposition B on the August 6 ballot.

  Glenn Koenen, treasurer of No on "B", filed the complaint in Jefferson City.

  The complaint requests the Ethics Commission to require Time for Missouri "to immediately place a disclaimer at the end of all their television ads - in text on screen and to be read by the narrator - stating that the commercials do not utilize Highway Patrol personnel or equipment and that the Highway Patrol is not
mentioned in the ballot language of Proposition B."

  Koenen said the television ad claims that Proposition B will "secure funding for the Highway Patrol." He said there is no funding for the Highway Patrol in Proposition B. In fact, the law proposed by Proposition B limits the Patrol's use of money from the state highway and transportation department fund to enforcement of traffic laws.

  Koenen explained that the Highway Patrol can only receive funds that are appropriated to it by the Legislature. And, if the appropriation comes from the state highway and transportation department fund, the Highway Patrol cannot use it for fighting drug abuse or any criminal activity other than speeding or drunk driving.

  The ad is deceptive in other ways as well, Koenen said, because it uses "actors in trooper-like uniforms and mock vehicles" to imply that the highway Patrol is campaigning for the proposition. "Time for Missouri is fabricating a myth that Proposition B will be a windfall for the Highway Patrol," Koenen said.

  No on "B" does not dispute that Missouri highways need repair, but is disputing the method used by Proposition B to raise $500 million in highway construction funds. It opposes use of a one-half cent sales tax increase and a four-cent per gallon gasoline tax increase because they are an unfair burden on low and moderate income people, while upper income people and businesses would feel little impact from these tax increases.

  No on "B" also objects to the omission of higher license fees and other charges for big trucks in the tax proposal. The four cents tax increase on gasoline and other motor fuels would raise less than one-third of the half-billion dollars of new taxes for highways. Big trucks do most of the damage to our roads, the committee claims, but with Proposition B, big trucks would escape paying a fair share of the new taxes.