PROP. 51 NOT WHAT IT SEEMS.

Byline: Joel Fox

AS a wise person once said, you can't always tell a book by its cover, and that is surely the case with Proposition 51 on the Nov. 5 ballot. The measure carries an agreeable ballot title: ``The Traffic Congestion Relief and Safe School Bus Act.''

Sounds good, but then how to explain some of the scalding words directed at Proposition 51 by the press. A Bakersfield newspaper editorial called Proposition 51 ``a taxpayer rip-off''; The Sacramento Bee called it ``corrupt''; a San Diego newspaper editorial said it will ``rob'' the public; and an Orange County columnist referred to ``plunder.''

The attacks against Proposition 51 are prompted by the way the initiative was put together.

The special interests that contributed money to put the measure on the ballot will be the big beneficiaries if the measure passes.

Proposition 51 is not the transportation relief measure it purports to be.

If passed, Proposition 51 would take 30 percent of the sales tax on new and leased cars and direct that money toward 45 specific projects, create 17 new spending categories overseen by 8 different government agencies.

The measure diverts $1 billion of general fund money currently going toward health care, safety and other purposes and directs it toward projects of dubious value.

The specific projects were included in the initiative because the project sponsors paid for their opportunity at grabbing taxpayer dollars. Some examples:

--The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians contributed $250,000 and included in the measure is a train line out to their casino in the Palm Springs area.

--The California Railroad Museum Foundation paid $75,000 and would secure a $7 million grant to build a Railroad Technology Museum and get $1 million a year operating support for the museum.

--A $40 million music concourse would be constructed in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park after contributions from the Music Concourse Community Partnership and the San Francisco-based California Academy of Sciences.

--Rose Perot Jr.'s Hillwood Development Corp. gave $120,000 and would see a $30 million rail grade crossings project completed near a San Bernardino cargo center the company is constructing. Local transportation agencies say there is no traffic problem at this location and the project is not necessary.

--Locally, The Newhall Land and Farming Company has kicked in $150,000 and would see road widening and interchange construction in Santa Clarita to clear the way for a 21,000-unit housing project.

You get the idea. If you have a venture and some big bucks you can contribute, you get the taxpayers to help fund your project if Proposition 51 is approved by the voters.

Most of the transportation projects in the measure don't appear on the priority list of any transportation agency. That's why few transportation agencies support Proposition 51.

And, not all projects are transportation-related despite the measure's title. Besides the railroad museum and music concourse, money is set aside for an Oakland school for the arts and paving a golf-cart path in an Orange County Leisure World, among other nontransportation items.

There probably are some good projects in the grab bag, but with this proposition you get all or nothing. Nothing is better.

The school-bus provision mentioned in the title gets only 8 percent of the money. But there is much more money for tax-draining rail projects and special-interest projects than anything else.

In this time of uncertain and unbalanced state budgets, removing a billion dollars will lead to taxpayer troubles. Legislators will look to higher taxes to replace this money for basic needs. That's why every major taxpayer group in the state is opposing Proposition 51.

If voters don't read beyond the cover of this measure, they'll discover after Election Day that the ending of the Proposition 51 story is not what they bargained for - more taxes and little, if any, traffic-congestion relief.