Jerry Brown notably absent from new Proposition 30 ad

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The Proposition 30 campaign launched its first television ad Wednesday, but there was something conspicuously missing from the spot -- Gov. Jerry Brown.

The initiative is Brown’s effort to raise sales and upper income taxes to help balance the state budget. But the governor himself is not in the first commercial of the campaign.

Instead, the ad features state Controller John Chiang and focuses on a message of accountability, arguing that the money would be placed in a special fund guaranteed for public schools that ‘Sacramento politicians’ won’t be able to touch. What the ad doesn’t mention, opponents say, is that the new money can effectively be deducted from the money otherwise owed to K-12 schools and community colleges.

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, a spokesman for the No on 30 campaign said that because of the complicated formulas that dictate school funding, money for education would increase even if the measure fails. “Schools get more money either way,” spokesman Aaron McLear said. ‘This money goes right to politicians to spend on anything they want. It doesn’t necessarily go to schools.”

A Yes on 30 spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the ad, but the Yes on 30 YouTube page has a number of new 30-second spots, some of which do include Brown.

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-- Anthony York in Sacramento