The Proposition 1 campaign is racing toward election day with the help of a fill-up from Uber and Lyft.
According to campaign finance documents filed with the city, the two ridesharing companies have contributed more than $8.1 million to help pass Austin Prop. 1, including a last-minute, million dollar top-off from Uber. The total, higher than most competitive state senate races, has given some supporters pause.
"I am concerned about the amount of money. It's a staggering amount of money," city council member Don Zimmerman told KVUE at a brief media conference in support of Prop. 1 Monday at Austin City Hall. "I've also been concerned for more than a decade that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent by out of town corporations to influence bond elections."
Zimmerman contends the spending in this case is justified, "If the ballot language weren't so ridiculously confusing, I think we could have spent a lot less money on both sides of this."
The two campaigns opposing Prop. 1, Austin Unites and Our City Our Safety Our Choice PAC, have raised a combined $103,000 since the beginning of the year. Roughly $90,000 was raised in the last two months.
It's the same argument used by the campaign, Ridesharing Works for Austin, which has spent millions to flood mailboxes and airwaves with ads that have themselves been criticized for shifting the focus away from the issue: A rule requiring fingerprint background checks for drivers, which ridesharing companies argue would cripple business. Prop. 1 would stop the rule from going into effect. A new television commercial features former Mayor Lee Leffingwell, who documents show was paid $50,000 for "consulting."
"The ballot language crafted by the city council is incredibly misleading, which is why we are determined to help voters understand what's really at stake with Proposition 1," spokesperson Travis Considine said in an e-mailed statement. "The resources dedicated to educating voters between now and May 7 will reflect how committed our coalition is to protecting the livelihood of thousands of drivers in our community and access to a safe, reliable means of transportation in Austin."
"On one hand maybe they're worried. On the other hand, it may just be that they can afford, that it's worth it," said Texas Politics Project director and University of Texas Professor James R. Henson, who explains ridesharing companies are likely looking at bottom line interests in Austin, as well as ways to leverage more favorable rules elsewhere.
"It can be very hard for people in Austin to believe that it's not just about us, but it's not just about us," said Henson. "This is a much broader game afoot for the ridesharing companies, and that's why they're willing to spend so much money. There's a lot more at stake than just Austin."
"We think the amount of money that they're spending to mislead voters is concerning," said Joe Deshotel, communications director for the Travis County Democratic Party, which opposes Prop. 1. "This could set a precedent that any corporation that doesn't like what happens when they negotiate with our city council that they can just run a campaign to go around them."
Zimmerman argues it's the other way around.
"I think they are bullying the startup companies," Zimmerman said of the city government.
Early voting ends Tuesday. Election day for Prop. 1 is Saturday.