FSC: Current Polls Show Dead Heat Over Prop 60

CANOGA PARK, Calif. — The Free Speech Coalition this afternoon reported that current polls show that voters are in a dead heat over Proposition 60.

The FSC said that 40 percent are opposed to the initiative and 40 percent are for it. Twenty percent of voters are still undecided.

“Performers and public health experts have spoken out about how dangerous and misguided this measure is, and we call on voters to help us defeat it on Nov. 8,” said Eric Leue, the Free Speech Coalition’s executive director and campaign manager for Californians Against Worker Harassment.  

Leue said that 45 California newspapers have now come out against Prop 60, the initiative that would allow any resident of California to sue anyone involved with an adult production, including performers, if they watch an adult film and don’t see a visible condom.

He noted that the editorial boards of all the state’s largest papers have all strongly opposed Prop 60, as have both the state Democratic and Republican parties, hundreds of public health and civil rights advocates, and every major performer group.

“We see broad opposition to this measure from editorial boards across the state, and across the political spectrum,” Leue said.

Top selected editorials, so far, include:

• The Los Angeles Times, which says the “heavy-handed Proposition 60 would deputize every Californian as a condom cop … an extreme approach — and demonstrably counterproductive”;
• The Orange County Register, which says Prop 60 “could be exploited by people trying to damage a controversial business or earn a cut of a resulting fine”;
• The Sacramento Bee, which says Prop 60 could create “an all-out war, in the courts and by the state ... which could just drive performers further underground and make them less safe”; and,
• The San Francisco Chronicle, which says Prop 60’s condom requirement “doesn’t make sense” and “invites legal bounty hunting. Also performers, who often use screen names, could have their identities and addresses made public, a feature that invades privacy and could lead to harm from porn-addled stalkers.”

A full list of newspaper that have endorsed No on Prop 60 include:

• Bay Area Reporter
• Chico Enterprise-Record
• The Daily Californian (Berkeley)
• The Daily Breeze (Torrance)
• The Daily Democrat (Woodland)
• Daily Press (Victorville)
• The Desert Sun (Palm Springs)
• East Bay Times (Oakland/Contra Costa County)
• Glendale News-Press
• Hanford Sentinel
• The Fresno Bee
• La Opinión (Los Angeles)
• Long Beach Press-Telegram
• Los Angeles Daily News
• Los Angeles Times
• Orange County Register
• Oroville Mercury-Record
• The Madera Tribune
• Marin Independent-Journal
• Marin Magazine
• Merced Sun-Star
• Mercury News
• The Modesto Bee
• Monterey County Herald
• The Sacramento Bee
• Santa Barbara News-Press
• San Diego City Beat
• The San Diego Union-Tribune
• San Francisco Chronicle
• San Francisco Bay Guardian
• San Francisco Examiner
• San Gabriel Valley Tribune
• San Mateo County Times
• San Mateo Daily Journal
• Santa Clarita Valley Signal
• Santa Cruz Sentinel
• Santa Rosa Press-Democrat
• The Argonaut (Los Angeles)
• The Record (Stockton)
• Redlands Daily Facts
• Riverside Press-Enterprise
• Ventura County Star
• Whittier Daily News
• The East Bay Express
• The San Diego Free Press