Tax watchdog decries Initiative 1

An open space bond has unleashed a verbal wrestling match between Utah conservationists and the Utah Taxpayers Association, with both sides determined not to quit until voters see it their way Nov. 2.

At stake is a $150 million bond on this year's ballot that will pay to clean water and air, preserve open space and protect wildlife habitats through a .05-cent sales tax increase.

Both the association and Initiative 1's sponsor group, Utahns for Clean Water, Clean Air & Quality Growth, have launched all-out campaigns to educate voters about the initiative that has been endorsed by both gubernatorial candidates, but opposed by Gov. Olene Walker.

Sen. Howard Stephenson, president of the Utah Taxpayer's Association, said Thursday at a news conference that his only hope to block the bond is to educate voters about the serious flaws he sees in the initiative. In the past week, he sent out nearly a thousand e-mails to voters and organizations throughout the state, listing his 13 main problems with the bond.

The association has been joined in its efforts to defeat the initiative by the Utah Farm Bureau Federation and has also compiled a list of 49 state leaders and organizations opposed to the bond.

Initiative sponsors have answered back with their own list of 69 people and groups endorsing the initiative. The group will hold its own news conference today, just an hour before the Utah Tax Commission decides whether to issue a warning to voters about how the bond may affect Utah's economy.

Amanda Smith, head of the sponsor group, has also hired the Exoro Group to handle its publicity campaign, which includes television spots, yard signs, informational mailers and volunteers going door-to-door to discuss open space.

That campaign for open space is misleading, Stephenson said, because the measure is being sold as a "feel-good initiative" while citizens are not being told the details of the plan.

"We call this initiative a pig wearing lipstick," he said. "It's all dressed up to look like motherhood and apple pie, but what they're really bringing is pork politics."

Stephenson said he called many of the 130,000 people who signed the open space petition and found most did not even realize they had signed up for a tax increase. Most people also did not realize that $30 million of the bond is available to cities for convention centers and other buildings.

"The signatures have been collected in a deceptive way and the initiative is being sold in a deceptive way," Stephenson said.

Maura Carabello, who is handling the initiative's publicity campaign, called those accusations baseless because the sponsor group encourages voters to go to their Web site, www.utahlands2004.org, to read the petition and understand its details.