O.C. Cash Helps Voucher Allies Air First TV Ad

SACRAMENTO — With less than three weeks remaining before the election, school-voucher proponents on Tuesday launched their first television commercial, thanks in large part to hefty contributions from a philanthropic Newport Beach couple and other Orange County contributors.

The commercial will air in Southern California for now, and not the San Francisco Bay Area, because of a lack of funds.

According to a report released Tuesday by Secretary of State March Fong Eu, at least four Orange County residents and companies are among the 30 major contributors backing the school voucher initiative, Proposition 174.

Easily the largest donors were millionaires Howard and Roberta Ahmanson, who had given one-fifth of the $2.1 million raised by the Yes on 174 committee’s campaign as of Sept. 18.

While all of the large pro-voucher donations come from individuals and private companies, the forces opposing Proposition 174 have collected a war chest topping $10 million from political action committees and public school employee unions across the state, campaign finance statements show. The pro-voucher commercial attacks the role played by these unions in the opposition campaign.

At a press briefing Tuesday, pro-174 campaign leader Ken Khachigian said he hopes to raise enough money to air more television commercials as the election draws near, and said it is “a major, major disappointment that the business community has taken a walk on this campaign” by not donating to the effort.

The controversial initiative on the state’s Nov. 2 ballot would give parents about $2,600 per child in government money toward the tuition at any voucher-redeeming private, parochial or public school.

The Ahmansons, frequent contributors to conservative causes, Republicans and anti-abortion candidates, have given a total of $411,823 to the pro-voucher campaign through personal contributions, and those made by Fieldstead & Co., their Irvine-based philanthropic venture. The voucher initiative is their No. 1 political priority this year, Roberta Ahmanson said in an interview Tuesday.

“It puts accountability back into the educational system of this state; it gives parents a chance to have some say in the values their children are taught,” said Ahmanson, whose son attends a private school.

“It puts both the responsibility and the power back in the hands of parents,” she added. “Let’s give the parents a shot at this. We’ve given the state school system a shot and they haven’t done so well, so why not? Let’s give the parents a chance. Most of them will, most of the time, make better choices.”

In an addition to their donations, the Ahmansons played host to an August fund-raiser featuring Polly Williams, a school-choice advocate from Minneapolis, and were honored during the state Republican convention at a pro-voucher fund-raiser, where former U.S. Education Secretary William Bennett spoke.

“We think this is the watershed issue,” Roberta Ahmanson said of the voucher initiative. “If we can win it in California, it makes it a whole lot easier for a whole lot of other people all across the country. If we can win this, it’ll break the logjam.”

In addition to the Ahmansons, other major Orange County contributors include Safi Qureshey of AST Research, who gave $25,000, and state Sen. Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove), whose Garden Grove-based Container Supply Co. gave $12,500. In-N-Out-Burger, whose headquarters are in Irvine, has also given $25,000.

Besides the Ahmansons, the largest pro-voucher contributors are Los Angeles tycoon Joseph Alibrandi, who helped launch the initiative and has donated $174,500 to the effort, and EBCO Enterprises, a company based in Emoryville, Calif., which has donated $171,000.

Among the other contributors of more than $10,000 are several Los Angeles companies and residents of Long Beach, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco and Pasadena, as well as people from as far away as New York, Chicago, Florida, Kansas and Texas.

Despite large contributions from these wealthy political activists, proponents of the measure are struggling in the face of opposition by top public officials, including Republican Gov. Pete Wilson and Democratic President Bill Clinton.

Khachigian said key supporters have called on former President Ronald Reagan to join the effort, but have received no response. While in office, Reagan supported the concept of using tax-funded vouchers and tax credits to help parents pay private school tuition.

Those fighting Prop. 174 have collected some money from the AFL-CIO, the League of Women Voters and the Committee to Protect the Political Rights of Minorities, but the leading contributors have been seven unions and associations that comprise the public education establishment, according to the state report released Tuesday.

The political arm of the California Teachers Assn. has given $8,489,128, while the California School Employees Assn. has given $1,010,375, the California Federation of Teachers $355,886 and the Assn. of California School Administrators $317,518.

Since August, voucher opponents have spent this money on radio and television ads attacking Proposition 174 as too risky and costly, and raising the possibility that tax money would be given to private schools that could discriminate against children.

Rick Manter, manager of the opposition campaign, said the pro-voucher camp’s lack of a full-scale television campaign shows a fundamental weakness.

“That is about as feeble an attempt to generate support for this as I can imagine,” Manter said. “They have no real campaign. . . . There is no support.”

In their first commercial, voucher proponents paint an unflattering picture of California’s public schools, while also criticizing the big-spending campaign being waged by foes of Proposition 174.

The 30-second spot opens with shots of several television screens showing snippets of the opponents’ television commercials, then switches to a narrator who emphasizes the unions’ role in the anti-voucher campaign.

“I want the best for my kids. Why don’t they?” says the narrator, a paid actress who home-schools her children.

Khachigian said he expects the initiative to be behind in the polls for at least another week, until the new ad begins to penetrate.

“I’m not so stupid to think they could run eight weeks of uninterrupted media and not have a great jump in the polls,” he said. “I would guess that their lead was substantial right now. If after a week or 10 days of being on the air, if we’re not moving at all, then we’ve got a very serious problem.”

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