CALIFORNIA: AIDS Healthcare Foundation Donates $10M To Dem-Backed Rent Control Ballot Measure

The San Jose Mercury-News reports:

Amid a tense battle over rent control in California, real-estate interests are writing big checks to defeat a November ballot measure that would give cities more power to regulate what landlords can charge tenants — and the initiative’s backer responded this week with a $10 million cash infusion.

“We know we will be significantly outspent by the opposition, backed by deep-pocketed developers and investors who continue to wreak havoc in the housing markets,” AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein wrote in a news release Tuesday.

“The greed of these billionaire corporate landlords is causing wide-scale misery for millions of Californians, and the scourge of homelessness will get much worse because the rent is too damned high. The California dream is dying, and only the voters can save it in November.”

With 97% of the votes cast, the California Democratic Party overwhelmingly endorsed Prop. 10, which will allow local communities to expand rent control. #YesOn10 #RentIsTooDamnHigh pic.twitter.com/wvleeqZuNm

— Yes On 10 (@voteyeson10) July 24, 2018

RELATED: In recent years the AHF has appeared on JMG for its deep-pocketed newspaper campaigns against the use of Truvada as a daily HIV preventive. Weinstein has characterized Truvada as a “party drug.” In 2016 the AHF backed an unsuccessful California voter initiative which would have mandated the use of condoms in all porn productions. Also in 2016, the AHF launched a Bernie Sanders-themed STD awareness billboard campaign titled “Feel The Burn.”