Fact check: Did Jordan Cunningham’s opponent just approve a huge tax increase in Morro Bay?

Nearly every city in San Luis Obispo County is putting some form of tax increase on the November ballot.

So are the Atascadero, Shandon and San Miguel school districts.

Yet only one elected official — Morro Bay Councilwoman Dawn Addis — has been attacked for it.

Addis, a Democrat, is challenging Republican incumbent Jordan Cunningham for state Assembly.

The Cunningham campaign has attacked Addis for “sitting on the sidelines asking for money” during the COVID crisis and, more recently, it sent out a fund-raising request with this headline: “Opponent votes to raise taxes while Cunningham fights for Central Coast.”

“Earlier this week, Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham’s opponent — on her city council — voted in favor of a multi-million dollar sales tax increase. This is in the middle of a pandemic, during a terrible recession and record-high unemployment,” says the July 17 “memo” from a senior account executive with Meridian, a political consulting firm.

For the record, Addis did not vote for or approve a tax increase. She joined other Morro Bay City Council members in putting a sales tax measure on the November ballot. That’s a huge difference, and conflating the two is just plain wrong.

What’s more, Morro Bay is not alone.

City councils in Atascadero, Grover Beach, Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo also have sales tax measures on the ballot, and in Pismo Beach, voters will decide whether to approve a 1% bed tax increase.

In California, local officials don’t have the power to raise taxes, thanks to Proposition 13. What they are doing is giving voters the opportunity to decide whether they’re willing to tax themselves to help maintain a decent level of city services.

That takes a certain amount of political courage. And they’re doing it thoughtfully and with good reason. If our cities can’t find other revenue sources to boost battered budgets, cuts to services will be the other answer.

No tax is popular with voters, especially in a rotten economy. But voters should be given the opportunity to decide for themselves — anything less smacks of paternalism.

In attacking Addis, the Cunningham campaign is, in effect, criticizing every local official who’s voted to put a tax measure on the ballot.

That’s not a good look for him, and to put it simply, he’s better than this. He would be far better off empathizing with local cities and school districts and continuing to press for state funds to bring them financial relief.

As we’ve often said, Cunningham has a strong record to run on.

He’s worked hard to get unemployment benefits for desperate San Luis Obispo County residents who’ve been unable to get through to the Employment Development Department during the COVID crisis — people like Gabrielle Saunders, the Nipomo mom who spent three months trying to get benefits, sometimes calling as many as 100 times per day.

Just this week, his police transparency bill — which would require departments to release records of officers accused of serious misconduct, even if the officers resign — made it through the Senate Committee on Public Safety with a unanimous 6-0 vote.

We applaud his efforts on these fronts, which truly serve the well-being of his SLO County constituents.

So why stoop to ugly, misleading campaigning?

It’s only going to leave a bad taste in the mouths of swing voters who may be undecided.

Here’s a plea not just to Cunningham, but also to all Central Coast candidates gearing up for the November election.

We’ve got enough negativity in our lives right now.

Instead of telling us how awful your opponents are, tell us how you plan to make things better.

Clarification: This editorial has been updated to reflect Assemblyman Cunningham’s efforts to secure financial relief for local government.

This story was originally published August 6, 2020 at 5:05 AM.