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November 08, 2006
Why TABOR Failed
Two words - Bill Owens.
TABOR's ballot question was brilliantly written. The actual law? Not so much. Asking people to cut spending should have been an easy sell in Maine, where government spending is out of control.
But as of this writing, it's a nine-point defeat. It may narrow, but I think it's still a goner. What on earth happened?
The first blow was the Bill Owens ad. Bill Owens did a pro-TABOR ad for Maine that touted the benefits of TABOR in his state of Colorado. It was a good ad - positive and personal. Unfortunately, though, Owens had made another ad in the past where he said a 'glitch' in TABOR had led to billions in cuts.
Someone really should have seen that ad coming. It was devastating, because it suggested that Owens said one thing to people in Colorado, and another to us in Maine. That sort of thing doesn't go over well with voters.
The other problem was overpromising. There was nothing in TABOR to suggest that taxes would be cut - the measure only promised spending caps. But in the ads, Mary Adams said our property taxes would go down. A lot of voters, including people I spoke with, were savvy enough to realize the referendum, as written, said nothing about property taxes and felt as though they were being lied to.
When voters feel they are being deceived, they usually won't end up on your side.
In the end, though, I think it was the Owens commercial that defeated TABOR. There's not a lot you can do to counter the perception that one of your biggest supporters is talking out of both sides of his mouth.
Posted by slublog at November 8, 2006 12:12 AM
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