– After spending more than $2 million in less than six months, supporters of a $800 million proposal to expand medical research in Jackson County were decidedly unsuccessful when voters went to the polls last week.
The campaign, backed by area hospitals and the University of Missouri-Kansas City, failed, despite a more than $1 million boost in the campaign’s final month. Opponents of the plan pulled some 84 percent of the vote, compared to only 16 from supporters. Their significant loss came after they outspent their opponents nearly four-to-one.
What the tax’s opponents lacked in financial resources, they made up for with a diverse coalition, including the African-American progressive group Freedom Inc., Springfield-area attorney and medical research advocate Brad Bradshaw, and Missouri Right to Life, which often opposes medical research because of the potential use of stem cells.
“I want to thank Jackson County’s voters for rejecting this irresponsible tax increase,” Pam Fichter, president of Missouri Right to Life, said last week. “Their vote has helped to send a message to pro-cloning groups: we will not let taxpayer money fund anti-life research.”
Freedom Inc., typically a supporter of Democrats (who often support increased revenues), criticized the tax as regressive and said it could hurt needy residents.
“Our community has supported sales taxes in the past,” they said in a statement last month. “However, the general consensus is that this tax, at this time, and for this purpose is too burdensome and does not address the most pressing needs of the community.”
Bradshaw said throughout the process that he believed a tax in Jackson County could hurt the chances of passing a much larger, statewide medical research tax if placed before Missouri voters.
It was almost a surprise the issue arrived on the ballot, in the first place. In August, the Jackson County Legislature approved a plan to place the 20 year, $40 million-a-year sales tax increase proposal to fund a new medical research and development institute in Kansas City.
The institute would have been a collaborative effort between the Children’s Mercy Hospital, Saint Luke’s Health System, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute. Donald J. Hall, CEO of Hallmark Cards, had pledged $75 million to help build the facility.