YES on 33, NO on 34

At a housing event (File Photo – Ryan Bell)

The corporate interests behind both the campaign to stop rent control in California and the campaign to punish the nonprofit sponsoring rent control have raised more than $140 million to spend on – among other things – advertisements designed to deceive voters in advance of the November 5^th election.

By The Editorial Board

– Vote YES on 33.  Vote NO on 34.

Proposition 33, is just 23 words: “The state may not limit the right of any city, county, or city and county to maintain, enact or expand residential rent control.” Prop 33 also has the support of the California Democratic Party, labor icon Dolores Huerta, and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.

Proposition 34 is a vindictive measure put on the ballot by the apartment owners to only affect one organization: AIDS Healthcare Foundation to punish them for funding rent control.

Campaign Finance: Don’t fall for their misleading ads!

In a kind of shell game, corporate landlords contribute millions in campaign cash to the California Apartment Association Issues Committee. CAA then moves that corporate landlord money to both No on 33 and Yes on 34.

To date, the CAA Issues Committee has raised $119,917,365, according to campaign filings at the California Secretary of State website. Its top three contributors are Essex Property Trust ($28,795,000), Equity Residential ($20,468,500), and AvalonBay Communities ($18,179,000).

Three separate committees make up the No on 33 campaign: Californians for Responsible Housing sponsored by the California Apartment Association; Californians to Protect Affordable Housing; and Homeownership for Families sponsored by the California Association of Realtors. Those three committees have raised $104,500,738, with some of that money coming from the CAA Issues Committee mentioned above.

At the same time, the CAA Issues Committee is contributing a large portion of money to the Yes on 34 campaign. Yes on 34 sponsored by the CAA Issues Committee has raised $36,441,114 so far.

Together, the grand total for the three No on 33 committees and the Yes on 34 committee is $140,941,852.

– Vote YES on 33.  Vote NO on 34

Proposition 33, is just 23 words: “The state may not limit the right of any city, county, or city and county to maintain, enact or expand residential rent control.”