Erik the Phantom, in trying to control the woman he loves (Christine, pictured with him), inadvertently wrecks his chance to win her affection. From the 1943 adaptation of Phantom of the Opera.

Continuing our exclusive Election ’24 analyses, Opp Now contributors argue that local/State gov’t’s tax mania ultimately brought the chandelier down on themselves this cycle (so to speak) via misguided measures RM4 and Prop 5. Featuring comments from: Cato Institute’s Marc Joffe, HJTA’s Jon Coupal, transit expert Tom Rubin, and real estate agent Mark Burns.

Biggest mistake of the election?

Marc Joffe, Cato Institute federalism and state policy analyst: The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA) gave opponents a huge gift by making an error in the ballot language for Regional Measure 4. After BAHFA spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on consultants to craft a poll tested summary, Tom Rubin, founder of the opposition group, realized that they had made a simple error calculating the annual cost of the bond measure. This led to an embarrassing court challenge and, ultimately, cancellation of the $20 billion “affordable housing” bond measure.

Jon Coupal, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association president: Putting Prop 5 (ACA 10) on the ballot without realizing it targeted homeowners, a high propensity voting block.

Tom Rubin, former SoCal Rapid Transit District CFO: California Democratic Party in Sacramento with continuing with Prop 5. They lost big, but figured that they had to try it. After all that went on with the CA Supreme Court’s tossing out the Taxpayer Protection Act, a lot of voters appeared to remember.

MTC/BAHFA dividing $48.3 billion in taxes over 53 years and getting $670 million a year for RM4.

Biggest loser?

Mark Burns, Bay Area real estate agent: The biggest losers were the MTC, which was pushing Proposition 5 hard so they could ram through future bad policy; Attorney General Rob Bonta, who went to court to ensure that voters would not be properly informed about what Proposition 5 would do; some wildly progressive District Attorneys in Pamela Price and George Gascon; and of course Governor Newsom, who sent his former chief of staff to go run against Kevin Kiley in the 3rd Congressional district (she lost) and who campaigned hard against Proposition 36, which passed overwhelmingly.