Leaders of the “Yes on Prop 6” campaign promised Monday to recall California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for assigning a misleading and deceptive ballot title to Proposition 6, if the repeal effort fails.
The Gas Tax Repeal campaign successfully recalled Democratic state Senator Josh Newman from his north Orange County seat in June and replaced him with a Republican, eliminating the Democrats’ supermajority control of the state Senate.
Orange County voters were furious at the time over Newman’s 2017 votefor a $6 billion annual increase in gas taxes and vehicle registration fees. For only the sixth time in California in 105 years, Newman was recalled with 59.5 percent of voters, versus just 40.5 percent voting to oppose the recall.
Carl DeMaio, chairman of the “Yes on Prop 6” campaign, issued a press release stating that Becerra had deceived voters when his office intentionally struck the title from the initiative that gathered over 1 million valid voter signatures, replacing “Gas Tax Repeal Initiative” and with “Eliminates Certain Road Repair and Transportation Funding.”
DeMaio pointed to a mid-October Survey USA Poll that found 58 percent of California likely voters indicated they would vote “Yes” to repeal the gas tax and only 29 percent would vote “No”. But when the “misleading ballot title for Prop 6 is read to voters, the numbers substantially change,” DeMaio said.
DeMaio stated that Becerra’s office had bowed to special interests when it devised a claim that a “Yes” vote for Proposition 6 would eliminate some transportation funding, despite not a single word in the proposition indicating as such. Furthermore, a recent study by the non-partisan California Legislative Analyst’s Office revealed a “Yes” vote on Prop 6 could actually increase funding for road repairs by mandating that 100 percent of the original gas tax rate be dedicated to roads.
DeMaio warned Becerra, “If you steal our gas tax funds and then steal our votes by lying to us on our election ballots when we seek to repeal the tax, we will recall you from office!”
The “Yes on Prop 6” campaign still believes it will successfully repeal the gas tax, because it would save the average California family of four about $779.28 per year in taxes and fees.
Voters who believe they were defrauded of their Yew vote on Prop 6 because of the false title on the ballot were asked to contact the recall committee at www.RecalltheAG.org.
Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox supports Proposition 6; Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom opposes it.