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Cox, Prop. 6 Supporters Bring Gas Tax Hike Repeal Campaign To South Bay

SANTA CLARA (KPIX 5) – With two weeks to go until Election Day, Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox brought his fight to repeal the recently enacted hike in gas taxes to the Bay Area on Monday.

Supporters of Proposition 6 have been holding so-called "Rush Hour Rallies" up and down the state, to clear up what they call misinformation about their campaign.

"We're here to warn voters, that there is an error on your ballot," said Carl DeMaio of the Yes on 6 Campaign.

John Cox - Prop 6 San Jose Rally
John Cox, Republican candidate for Governor, speaks at a rally supporting Proposition 6 in Santa Clara, October 22, 2018. (CBS)

The proposition would repeal the state's recent gas tax hike of 12 cents a gallon 20 for diesel as well as a new annual vehicle fee.

The money is going, in part, to a backlog in repairs, that tax supporters say is sorely needed.

"If Prop 6 passes, it will bring a screeching halt to over $5 billion a year in money that will go directly to fixing our roads, fixing our unsafe bridges, and helping us get out of the traffic that we all sit in every day," said Jason Baker of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group

But Prop 6 backers, including Cox, say the wording of the measure on the ballot ("Eliminates Road Repair and Transportation Funding by Repealing Revenues") is misleading, saying it focuses on the negative, rather than simply saying it repeals the tax.

"We've been lied to year after year after year," said Konstantios Roditis, Republican candidate for California State Controller. "They take our money and they waste it."

Reporters were told that Cox wouldn't answer any reporter questions after the rally , but KPIX 5 did get a response from him on the No campaign's chief argument.

Anne Makovec, "What do you say to those who say this is a safety issue?"

Cox: "I think it's an affordability issue, it's clearly an affordability issue."

He went on to compare our roads to those in other parts of the country.

"Ours are full of potholes and we spend twice as much as Texas, so you figure it out," the gubernatorial candidate said.

The next stop for the bus is the state capitol of Sacramento, where Proposition 6 supporters are holding rallies Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.

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