Super-Sized Deception From Fast-Food Giants

The television ad funded by the opponents of Proposition 72 -- an initiative that would require large and medium-sized business owners to give health benefits to their workers -- offers a grim scenario. "Our family-run restaurant is doing OK," says a lovely Latina, walking past tables crowded with customers. "Well enough to provide benefits for our workers." But Proposition 72 would threaten all of that, she adds. It would cost her restaurant more than $100,000. It would force her to raise prices or fire workers. It would mean getting rid of the restaurant's "good private health plan" in favor of a "government-run plan." The ad ends by warning viewers that Proposition 72 would kill jobs and eliminate health benefits.

If George Orwell were alive today, he would marvel at the ad's scare tactics, distortions and its fundamental misrepresentation of Proposition 72. For one thing, the woman in the ad isn't a restaurant owner; she's an actress. The Los Angeles restaurant where the ad was filmed actually has only 12 employees, making it too small to be affected. The initiative would require employee access to private plans, not government insurance.

Moreover, the leading corporate sponsor of the effort to block its passage is McDonald's. Other sponsors include Burger King, Wendy's, Jack in the Box, Walgreen, Best Buy, Target, Sears and Yum! Brands (owner of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC). Concern for the plight of family businesses is now being used as a political tool by the very companies that have driven mom-and-pops out of business.

The fact that Proposition 72 even appears on the ballot is further evidence of how California's initiative laws, initially passed to thwart corporate influence in politics, now facilitate just the opposite. In 2003, the Legislature passed a bill requiring that large and medium-sized companies offer health insurance to their workers. The story should have ended once then-Gov. Gray Davis signed the bill into law. Instead, the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Restaurant Assn. and their corporate allies have spent millions of dollars to rescind the law through the initiative process.

A "yes" vote for Proposition 72 would keep the law, calling for companies with 50 to 199 full-time workers to provide them with health insurance by 2007. Companies with 200 or more full-time workers would have to insure them and their dependents by 2006.