Cheryl Auger was stunned this month when one of her Pasadena neighbors and friends received a flier in the mail featuring her state assemblyman, with a line stating, “Higher taxes on plastic products will enrich corporate interests with no guarantee of reducing plastic waste.”
“I interpret it as a message, as a warning to members of the Legislature,” said Assembly Member Jesse Gabriel , whose constituents received one of the mailers. “If that’s the intent, it’s backfired because it’s made us even more committed to trying to pass meaningful legislation to crack down on plastic pollution.”If they are unable to draft legislation by June 30, the issue will go straight to voters as a ballot measure.
The coalition’s mailers targeted constituents of at least five lawmakers — Assembly Members Gabriel, Chris Holden , Eduardo Garcia , Jacqui Irwin and Rebecca Bauer-Kahan . None were consulted before their images were included in the mailers, according to Michael Bustamante, a spokesman for the coalition.Irwin sent a statement saying she preferred a legislative solution to the problem of plastic waste, and as yet has not “taken a position on the single use plastics initiative.
Like his colleagues, Gabriel said he wants the Legislature to solve the issue, but described the mailers and intimidation campaign as “unsettling” and “confusing.”
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