Libertarians help California county save $98 million in school taxes

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.lp.org/lpnews/0404/califo...-defeated.html

Libertarians help California county save $98 million in school taxes


Obscured by news coverage of the March 2 passage of a $15 billion bond measure to refinance California's debt and another $12.3 billion for state-wide school construction, there was some good news for Libertarians, who oppose raising taxes to fund further government waste.

In Santa Maria -- a city of about 85,000 in Santa Barbara County, midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco -- voters rejected a proposed bond measure that would have cost them $98 million for school construction. Known as Measure V, it required 55 percent approval to pass; it got 50.26 percent of the vote.

The county Libertarian Party is claiming responsibility for the defeat of this added school tax, and school administrators and teachers are more than willing to let them take the blame, said county LP chair B.J. Wagener.

Wagener has had a public access television show for about three-and-a-half years, and he used his platform to remind voters in Santa Maria of another time the local school district got a bond approved with a promise to build a school.

"I got a lot of hate e-mail from school teachers and administrators, and from former school teachers and administrators," Wagener acknowledged. "I've had really controversial people on my show, but this show hit the teachers right where they live."

Public school officials and teachers were hoping the voters would have forgotten about the bond money they've misused in the past, said county LP secretary Robert Bakhaus.

"They were supposed to build a new junior high school about two decades ago, and they never have gotten around to it," Wagener said. "They got the bond passed, then spent about $2 million to renovate a pre-existing building into a glorious Taj Mahal of an administrative building. They didn't have money left for the junior high school they had promised."

The original Taj Mahal is a famously opulent building in India.

"People forget what these people do with the money they get from taxes," Wagener said. "Some [taxpayers] contacted us, saying they were happy I reminded them of how the school district wasted the money the last time."

On his show, Wagener interviewed the author of the ballot argument against the bond measure, while also showing a video tour "of the Taj Mahal administrative building, showing how previous bond monies had been wasted, lavished on creature comfort for public school administrators," Bakhaus said.

Eventually, the LP and other anti-tax groups hope to "force them to stop building government schools and start allowing independent charter schools instead," Wagener said. "They could right now, but they won't let that happen."

It's been proven that charter schools could operate on 70 percent of what it costs a public system school to function -- maybe even less -- and such schools have a history of turning out better-trained students than the public schools do, he said.

Wagener's public access TV show is crucial to the Santa Barbara County LP's brand of activism, Bakhaus said, noting that the group uses the show instead of "campaign debate sound bites. We haven't lost any of our campaigns since we stopped worrying about candidates and started worrying about issues."

"If you're the only Libertarian in your community, go on public access television and you will build your own libertarian cadre," Wagener added. "If you're the only one, you won't be for long. People see me on TV regularly, and it's helping the Libertarian Party grow.

"You just have to be one determined person, and have a soap box to speak from. We are exposing corruption. People know it's out there, but I show it to them on video. When you show the truth, people will notice."