Is TAMC inappropriately stumping for Measure Z?
The public might not rally behind another sales tax hike, warned Debbie Hale, executive director of the Transportation Agency of Monterey County. It was June, and TAMC’s board was discussing whether to ask county supervisors to approve a November ballot measure raising the county’s sales tax by one-half of one percent for 25 years. If it wins, the measure will generate an estimated $980 million for transportation projects. Without private funding, the measure could be doomed to failure, Hale told the board, because state law prohibits TAMC– and every other government entity– from using public funds to try to influence an election. But the public has, by and large, rallied behind TAMC. After the supes placed Measure Z on the ballot, it won speedy endorsements from the county’s 12 city councils, the Aquarium, the Hospitality Association and even the historically anti-tax Monterey Peninsula Taxpayers Association. Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, the Yes on Z campaign raised more than $73,000,
