Ballot guides for the May 19 special election have been arriving in the mail. I would normally encourage all voters to study their ballots carefully, to ensure they understand just what is before them.

Unfortunately, I can?t do that this time around because some of the necessary information required to enable voters to make a sound decision has been purposefully left out.

Furthermore, with respect to Prop. 1A, not only has vital information been withheld from voters, both the BforC and BagainstC arguments were written by proponents of the measure. No wonder they left out vital information.

I want to remind you of something very important. California was broke long before our economy went into a recession. The only reason we didn?t experience the crisis earlier on is because the governor and the Legislature lied, borrowed and cheated their way through several budget hearings, racking up tens of billions of dollars in debt in the process.

Nothing has changed. The propositions in this special election simply represent more tax hikes, more borrowing, and more smoke and mirrors.

Typically, voters are safeguarded from outright voter fraud by state officials who oversee the process. But in this case, California Attorney General Jerry Brown and Secretary of State Debra Bowen both failed so miserably they can be considered co-conspirators.

Their job is to ensure that voters receive all the information necessary in an honest and truthful manner. In this particular case, even the ballot titles have been allowed to mislead voters, and the language of the initiatives only paints part of the picture.

Proposition 1A is the big one on this ballot. The Legislature, with the governor?s approval, passed an increase to the sales tax for two years. If Prop. 1A passes, the tax will be extended for another couple of years, resulting in an additional ,16 billion in taxes.

Some Republican legislators agreed to the tax increase in exchange for the creation of a spending cap, but most people believe the spending cap is a weak and flimsy facade to business as usual. In fact, several organizations, including the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer?s Association, are encouraging voters to vote BnoC for this very reason.

The National Tax Limitation Committee indicates Prop. 1A could actually do damage by lulling voters into a false sense of security, delaying the day we might enact a true spending cap.

Most of the rest of the measures rely on borrowing money from one fund to transfer to another, or borrowing against our future. It amounts to nothing more than a shell game. Not one single measure on the ballot represents significant change to the way California does business.

Neither have I seen any meaningful reform come out of Sacramento, indicating to me that lawmakers are unwilling to institute the changes necessary to get our economy back on track.

Proposition 1F does propose to limit salary increases to legislators during deficit years. This is a nice gesture, however, it is insignificant in the long run.

I am voting BnoC on all six of the measures. If I had my druthers, I would replace the meaningless six with my top six priorities.

If California is to recover, I would suggest we cut taxes, open up our coast to oil and gas projects, reform the California Environmental Quality Act, reduce the power of the Coastal Commission, repeal AB 32, the governor?s global warming bill, and rescind the diesel engine rule that is going to decimate construction, trucking and farming operations.

Don?t hold your breath that any of the ideas I offer will get a fair hearing in Sacramento.

Andy Caldwell is executive director of COLAB and a 41-year resident of the Central Coast. For contact information, visit the COLAB website at www.colabsbc.org.

April 16, 2009