Businesses, chambers react to failed inititatives

The resounding defeat of Proposition B and the narrow defeat of Proposition A gave chambers of commerce and businesses across the state a reason to kick up their heels and celebrate election night.

Proposition B, the Missouri Voters for Fair Elections initiative that would have established a public campaign finance system for political candidates via an increase in the corporate franchise tax, was defeated by a statewide margin of nearly 2-1 64.6 percent to 35.4 percent, according to unofficial returns from the Secretary of State's office Nov. 8. Greene County voters also defeated the measure 65.18 percent to 34.82 percent, according to unofficial returns from the Greene County Clerk's office Nov. 8.

Proposition A, the initiative to prohibit construction of new billboards and restrict existing billboards along certain Missouri highways, also was defeated, but by a narrower margin 51.1 percent to 48.9 percent, also according to unofficial returns from the Secretary of State's office Nov. 8. Greene County voters passed the initiative 54.31 percent to 45.69 percent, according to unofficial returns from the Greene County Clerk's office Nov. 8.

No Tax Dollars for Politicians, the group that led the opposition to Prop B, maintained that the initiative was taxation without representation.

Missouri Chamber of Commerce President Dan Mehan and the Missouri chamber organized No Tax Dollars for Politicians a year ago, and said the organization was confident that Missouri voters would not pass Prop B, even before returns began coming in election night. The organization declared victory over Prop B at about 9 p.m.

"(Prop B) was a dumb idea to begin with," Mehan said. "It was a tax increase, voters saw that, and voters don't think it's right to send tax dollars to pay for political campaigns. Although we were outspent 4-1 by out-of-state special interest groups ... they could not match our grassroots network we put together through our coalition and through the Missouri chamber federation."

Citizens, businesses and trade organizations joined the efforts of more than 80 Missouri chambers of commerce, including the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, to defeat the Prop B initiative. Mehan said the chambers' combined efforts made the victory possible.

"It was a huge part of the campaign ... it's something that a campaign of imported money and managers can't muster. We had a presence on Main Street, and they didn't," Mehan said.

While Mehan still has strong words for Missouri Voters for Fair Elections' campaign tactics, he did say the Prop B campaign exposed a weakness in Missouri election laws.

"We need to tighten up the initiative petition process and limit the influence of out-of-state special interests in determining public policy in Missouri," Mehan said. "Right now we are vulnerable to deep pockets from outside Missouri paying to put a proposition on the ballot and then trying to buy the election ... We can't let that happen."

Mary Kay Meek, community relations director for Meek's Building Centers, said she's pleased with the outcome.

"It speaks volumes about what the citizens of Missouri thought about that proposition ... I was surprised at the wide margin of defeat because there weren't that many ads in southwest Missouri against it, and the ads for it made it sound innocuous," Meek said.

She said the proposition would have meant a substantial increase in Meek's corporate franchise tax, which would then have increased each year. "It would have been increases on top of an increase."

Fair Elections Campaign Manager Doug Gray could not be reached for comment for this story. In a previous issue of the Business Journal, Gray said that the Fair Elections initiative was put on the ballot by Missouri voters who felt that campaign funding was out of control and that Prop B would have leveled the playing field for average citizens to run for office.

"We have money-driven politics here ... candidates spend more time raising money from special interest groups than they do listening to voters ...," Gray said.

The narrow defeat of Scenic Missouri's billboard initiative, Proposition A, left its campaign director, Karl Kruse, bitterly disappointed.

"The organization as a whole is very disappointed of course, and outraged. We feel this election was bought with a multimillion dollar campaign of lies and distortion," Kruse said.

He said the initiative, which passed in Greene County, tended to fare better in urban areas "where people have a little more education and are more sensitive to environmental issues."

Kruse said Prop A was ahead for much of the evening on election night, but the margin began narrowing around 10 p.m. By the time the St. Louis area returns came in, Kruse said Prop A was only one or two percentage points ahead.

"We were ahead for a long time, and I was getting calls for victory comments, and I said it was way too early ... It was 53-47 in our favor for a long time, then the bottom fell out," Kruse said.

Kruse said he's not sure what the plans are for Scenic Missouri. Reworking the initiative and bringing it to the ballot again is a possibility, but he said the organization would be reluctant to do so unless it was confident it could match the opposition in campaign funding.

Kent Ayers, Lamar Advertising of MissouriSpringfield's vice president and general manager, said while Lamar focuses on maintaining its approximately 900 billboards in southwest Missouri, Prop A gave his company cause for concern.

"This is a good outcome for small businesses in Missouri that can benefit from outdoor advertising. It also sends a good message regarding property rights in the state of Missouri, and at the same time it sends a message to our industry that we need to do what we can to become a better industry and one that is seen as making a contribution to the communities that we operate in," Ayers said.