The numbers are now official! We reported in our November 11, 1998 newsflash that Home Depot had won a citywide referendum vote in Toledo, OH for rezoning residential land to commercial for more parking lot space for Home Depot. We reported that Home Depot garnered 42,024 votes, and the citizens group that fought the rezoning got 33,979 votes. But what we did not report at the time was the unbelieveable outpouring of corporate money that Home Depot threw into this one referendum vote. The Westgate Neighborhood Association raised and spent $14,297 in their effort. But hold onto your wallets, because Home Depot spent $497,549 to win 42,024 votes. That calculates out at $11.84 per vote — which is enough to make any politician think twice about running against Home Depot. Local citizens were outspent by a rate of $35 to $1. Despite being totally outgunned financially, Westgate Neighbors managed to grab 45% of the vote — a very high negative rate for a building supply store. Even with its more than lavish spending, Home Depot only took 55% of the vote. If 4,023 votes had changed, the election would have been won by the citizens. This demonstrates a strong block of anti-sprawl voters in Toledo who were not swayed by all the mass mailings and media ads that flooded the community for weeks up to the referendum.
As far as we know, this is a record campaign expenditure by a retail company in a sprawl-busting campaign. It illustrates how unlevel the playing field is for citizens who chose to try and “influence” public opinion at the ballot box. Because campaign finance laws usually do not limit corporate spending on a ballot question, large corporations like Home Depot can nail down votes by simply spending like there was no tomorrow. For further details of Home Depot’s solid gold vote in Toledo, contact Peggy Daly-Masternak at [email protected].