Rivals of Jerry Brown submit signatures for tax initiative

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Proponents of a $10-billion annual tax hike for public schools announced Monday that they are submitting far more signatures than would be needed to qualify the measure for the November ballot.

The campaign, bankrolled by wealth Pasadena civil rights attorney Molly Munger, is submitting a total of 848,000 signatures, it said in a statement. It needs 506,740 to qualify.

The proposal is opposed by Gov. Jerry Brown, who fears it will conflict with his own tax initiative, for which he is also expected to submit signatures this week.

The governor also unsuccessfully asked another wealthy Californian to hold off on submitting signatures on yet another tax measure, which would hike taxes $1 billion on large, out-of-state corporations. Hedge fund manager and philanthropist Tom Steyer announced last week he was filing more than 955,000 signatures for the measure.

Additionally on Monday, the campaign for the Munger initiative contended that an internal poll showed that voters were split on it, with 45% in favor and 45% opposed, but after being read ‘balanced’ information about it and Brown’s measure, the Munger proposal was favored 52% to 30%

But the campaign would not release the questions that were asked in the poll. A Brown aide contended that the top-line numbers are nearly meaningless without seeing what respondents were being asked. Previous polls have showed the Munger measure, which is backed by the California State PTA, polling well below 50 percent.

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-- Nicholas Riccardi