(Originally posted at the Pay Their Fair Share blog)

Disclosure: I proudly work for Yes on 24

Let me begin by saying I’m proud to have helped launched the brand new Pay Their Fair Share website, located at paytheirfairshare.com. If you’re in California, it’s your best resource to find out who’s really opposing Proposition 24 and why. Even if you aren’t in the Golden State, we hope Pay Their Fair Share gives a fresh look into the bad behavior of major corporations during our tough economic times. Below the fold you’ll find the first piece originally posted to the blog over at Pay Their Fair Share, which I authored. Other posts have previously appeared on this website.

New Committee Formed to Oppose 24 is More of the Same

We’ve written extensively on the hypocrisy of the main campaign opposing Proposition 24. Notably, they claim they’re a coalition that includes small businesses, when in reality their funding comes from multistate corporations, none of which could be considered ‘small’. Many of them have laid off workers in California and across the nation, and they aren’t hiring just because they’ve been handed some new tax giveaways.

However, there may be a second show in town. A new committee has formed to smear Prop 24, referring to itself as the “California Healthcare Institute Issues Committee”. Their initial filing, which the state received this week, lists Sandra Pizarro as the person controlling the committee. Pizarro is listed as a Vice President at, yes, the California Healthcare Institute.

According to its own website, the California Healthcare Institute (CHI) exists “to forward the interests of California’s biomedical community”. That’s hardly objectionable on its surface. But who calls the shots at the CHI?

Well, the board of directors includes a lot of corporate executives, some of whom work for very familiar companies. For instance, there are executives from Amgen, Pfizer, Roche (which owns Genentech), Johnson & Johnson, Edwards Lifesciences, Gen-Probe Incorporated, Abbott Laboratories, Allergan and Medtronic Inc. What do these companies have in common? They’ve each given thousands to the main committee against Prop 24, the supposed coalition including small business. Combined, they’ve already poured in over $2.7 million.

While this new committee hasn’t raised money, it clearly has an affluent donor pool to work with. More likely than not, the plan is to use the committee name to trick Californians into thinking Prop 24 would somehow harm their healthcare.

That argument won’t hold water. If anything, many Californians have seen their healthcare harmed by draconian budget cuts, cuts that will only get worse if these corporations succeed in their campaign. If we really care about healthcare issues in California, we’ll vote Yes on 24 and make these giant companies pay their fair share.