Libs & soda, the continuing obsession -- amazing. Bloomberg to Back Soda Tax in Berkeley New York Times LOS ANGELES — In Berkeley, Calif., where a campaign is on to persuade voters to impose a 1-cent-an-ounce tax on sugary drinks, the spending fight has been lopsided indeed: Proponents of the tax had raised $135,000 as of last week, compared with $1.4 million spent by the beverage industry, which has successfully blocked just about every attempt nationally to levy such a tax. In Berkeley, a city of 117,000, that amounts to nearly $12 per resident spent to defeat the ballot measure. Now, Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York who has made a campaign of trying to curb consumption of sugary drinks, is throwing in some financial weight. Aides said that he had decided to spend money in Berkeley to help counter the beverage industry, most likely by paying for mailings and get-out-the-vote efforts. His first contribution was $85,000, but the aides would not say how much he intended to donate over the course of the campaign. “We want to come in and try to equalize the spending disparity, which is enormous,” said Howard Wolfson, a senior adviser to Mr. Bloomberg. As mayor, Mr. Bloomberg tried to impose a ban on the sale of large soft drinks in New York City and to persuade the New York State Legislature to impose a statewide soda tax. He was defeated on both counts. But he contributed close to $10 million to a successful campaign to impose a heavy tax on sugary drinks in Mexico last year, and there has been a notable drop in soda consumption since it went into effect this year. In Berkeley, known for its liberal leanings, the beverage industry sees an opportunity to drive the final nail into the coffin of the soda tax — though the industry acknowledges that it could be a tough fight, given the community’s long and idiosyncratic political history. Mr. Bloomberg is staying out of a similar battle being fought across the bay in San Francisco, where there is an initiative on the ballot for a 2-cents-an-ounce soda tax. By every account, soda-tax proponents face a much tougher battle there. Because of the way the San Francisco measure is written, a two-thirds vote is required for approval under California law, compared with the simple majority needed in Berkeley. And Mr. Bloomberg has never been known as a man to invest in what he sees as a losing cause. nytimes/2014/10/18/us/michael-bloomberg-to-back-soda-tax-in-berkeley.html?ref=nyregion&_r=0
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 10:02:25 +0000
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