An otherwise sleepy, off-year November election is about to get a lot more attention.
Political Action Committees (PACs) are gearing up to sway voters on two measures that would direct Bexar County venue tax dollars toward a year-round rodeo district on the East Side, known as Proposition A, and a new downtown NBA arena for the Spurs, known as Proposition B.
The roughly $1.3 billion Spurs arena leans on funding from Bexar County, the team’s owners and the City of San Antonio. But the Nov. 4 ballot proposal is the first — and perhaps only — time that voters will be asked to weigh in on public funding.
Against that backdrop, big money is being spent to rally supporters and opponents on the ballot initiatives.
PACs are expected to report their fundraising and spending twice before the election, but the final totals won’t be known until semi-annual campaign finance reports are due in January.
Here’s a look at the groups trying to win your vote and what we know about their funding so far.
Inside Prop. A & B’s ‘vote yes’ campaign
Win Together PAC
The San Antonio Spurs are spearheading the campaign to pass both Prop A and Prop B, through a PAC called Win Together.
The Spurs are teaming up with the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo to support both initiatives because their respective projects each require voters to approve raising the county’s hotel tax from 2% to 3% and extending its rental car taxes.
Prop A: $191.8M for stock show and rodeo district on East Side
Prop B: $311M for new downtown Spurs arena
Total: $503M generated by extending the existing rental car tax and increased hotel tax, from 2% to 3%
Combined, those so-called “venue” taxes are supposed to produce about $503 million over the next 30 years, divided between the basketball arena and the rodeo projects.
The Spurs hired longtime local political hand Andrew Solano to manage the campaign, as well as some other consultants, including MAP Strategies, which has worked on past bond election campaigns in San Antonio.
Solano said the campaign is Spurs-funded, but “if people want to donate to the PAC, they certainly can.”
On Saturday, the Spurs hosted a joint launch party at Idle Beer Hall and Brewing that drew a who’s who of San Antonio business leaders and politicos.
Manu Ginóbili takes the stage at the “Win Together” campaign kickoff rally. Credit: Blaine Young for the San Antonio Report
San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo CEO Cody Davenport at Saturday’s rally. Credit: Blaine Young for the San Antonio Report
Ron Nirenberg greets attendees at the Spurs’ campaign kickoff event. Credit: Blaine Young for the San Antonio Report
Former Mayor Ron Nirenberg was in attendance, along with Councilmembers Marc Whyte (D10) and Marina Alderete Gavito (D7), for a party that featured Spurs’ DJ Quake and the hype squad, craft brews and cocktails and photo ops with rodeo horses.
Flyers, T-shirts, campaign signs and even Manu Ginóbili repeated the Spurs’ mantra that taxpayers won’t pay a thing for the new arena — something arena critics say misconstrues a very complicated public financing structure that does actually involve property taxes.
The groups urging ‘vote no’ on Spurs arena
Defending Public Money for Public Good PAC
The COPS/Metro Alliance, a faith-based group that opposes putting public dollars toward private development, formed this PAC to campaign against just Prop. B — the $311 in county money that could be designated for the Spurs arena.
It’s staying neutral on Prop. A, the East Side venues.
COPS/Metro started in San Antonio in 1974 but now has chapters across the country. The group’s work is funded primarily by dues from member organizations, including churches and unions.
Local COPS/Metro leaders formally launched their campaign against Prop. B on Sunday at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, where they invited stadium finance experts to break down the Spurs’ term sheet to a crowd of roughly 400 people.
Their strategy is focused on highlighting other potential uses for the public money, such as flood infrastructure and shoring up a city budget deficit.
Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has been among their biggest allies, but did not attend their kickoff due to concerns about legal prohibitions surrounding campaign activity.
San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones calls for a pause in negotiations. Credit: Amber Esparza / San Antonio Report
Graciela Sanchez leads a No! Project Marvel protest. Credit: Diego Medel / San Antonio Report
COPS/Metro Alliance leader Father Jimmy Drennan speaks at City Hall. Credit: Amber Esparza for the San Antonio Report
No! Project Marvel
This group has been campaigning against both the proposed Spurs arena and surrounding development plans — known as Project Marvel — since before they were even unveiled at City Hall last November.
No! Project Marvel has a stated goal of opposing the arena district on the Nov. 4 ballot. It doesn’t have a PAC, but its members meet every Saturday.
Local climate organizer Annalisa Peace said that she and King William resident Anne Alexander spearheaded the group after learning about the downtown development plan from neighborhood meetings last summer.
Out of frustration with the city’s lack of public input, the pair personally paid to print several hundred yard signs expressing their discontent.
“We were just saying, ‘Hey, we can’t do anything [to stop this].’ So we got the signs printed,” Peace said. “Then they started going up all over the place.”
The movement quickly grew to include neighborhood activists, housing organizers. As demand for its signs grew, people started paying to print their own batches to distribute to their neighbors.
Many of its members were involved in the Conservation Society’s unsuccessful fight to stop the removal of the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures — where the arena is expected to be built, and plans to move a city-owned water utility plant to make way for Project Marvel.
How to vote on Prop. A & B