I live and work in beautiful Orange County, California. Several years ago the voters of this county passed a 0.5% sales tax increase to fund transportation issues (such as the widening of Interstate 5 through Orange County). That sales tax increase expires at the end of 2011. The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) administers the tax, and has been running a somewhat blatant advertising campaign in support of renewing Measure M. Just one little problem: that’s probably illegal.
No matter what your view is on Measure M, it’s irrelevant; it’s illegal (under California law) for a government agency to publicly campaign for a proposition. And as the Orange County Register noted in an editorial, the OCTA issued an 8-page campaign mailer an 8-page informational brochure praising the benefits of Measure M. Sort of sounds like the campaign for pre-schools that Rob Reiner ran. You can see the ad/brochure here.
While Rob Reiner has suffered the consequences of his actions, it’s uncertain whether the OCTA will. Hopefully, the Legislature and the Orange County Board of Supervisors will tell the OCTA to spend their money on improving the freeways and not on glitzy campaign literature informational brochures.