WE INVESTIGATE
Editor’s Note: This article is published in our December print edition (Vol.1 – No. 4). Subscribe to our newspaper for $12 for the entire year and have it delivered to your residence.
I & J mailers (Photo – Staff).
Pasadena’s two 2018 ballot measures, I and J, which allow the City to implement a 3/4 cent sales tax to help pay for city services like fire, police, road repairs, homeless services, and after-school programs, passed overwhelmingly at the polls on Nov. 6.
By Sean McMorris
There was no opposition campaign, but quite a few mailers were sent out by proponents of the new tax. So who funded the Measure I and J campaigns? Primarily the people and organizations who will most directly benefit from the new tax: unions consisting of police, fire, service management, schools, and construction. The Mungers, a prominent and wealthy local family known for their philanthropy and political giving, also donated a significant amount to the campaigns.
The chief proponent of the measures was Mayor Terry Tornek. Mayor Tornek formed a campaign committee called “YES on Measures I and Measures J, Move Pasadena Forward.” Campaign finance reports posted on the City’s website show that the committee took in $119,156 between the months of August and November 2018. Another ballot measure committee called “Pasadenans for Measure J 2018” took in and expended $5,000 in October 2018.
The sole donation to “Pasadenans for Measure J 2018” was for $5,000 from the United Teachers of Pasadena Political Action Committee.
List of biggest donors
All other donations in support of Measures I and J appear to have gone through Mayor Tornek’s ballot measure committee. Below is a list of the biggest donors to Mayor Tornek’s committee:…(Please subscribe to continue reading)
> Want to find out the names of the funders? Help us do more investigative reporting and subscribe to our newspaper. We will have it delivered to your residence for $12 for the entire year.
Leave a Reply