This footage is from October 31, 2003.
I took advantage of having access to Tom Ammiano in person Friday to ask him about the other propositions on the ballot. What he said makes sense to me. I hope it will be helpful to you in making your decisions about tomorrow's elections.
Video clip - Why YES On Prop G (3 MB)
Lisa: What about "G," the "Rainy Day Fund?"
Tom: "Yeah, I think that's really good. Of course, it's mine. But the interesting thing is that you have broad support for it from the business community, from health advocates, from progressives. It's just a matter of fiscal prudency that doesn't hurt anybody. When you're in good times, you take some of that money and put it away, so when you're in bad times, the "boom bust cycle" or "spend and purge" as we call it, doesn't mean laying off people, doesn't mean cutting services, doesn't mean, gee what about this Sophie's Choice that we usually have to face with our social services. You take that money that you put away during good times and you withdraw it for the bad times and it's just a great equalizer. It's a great budget device. I mean there's a lot more to having a effective budget for all people, but this is a very significant way to do it. We should have done it years ago. So I'm hoping that it will pass quite handily."
