If ballot question 4 fails tomorrow, opponents may stamp a
"union made" label on the final tally sheet.
Organizers of the anti-4 effort spent much of the weekend
preparing to blitz all the state's 2,100-plus polling places Tuesday.
Thousands of activists will try to convince voters that
rolling back the state income tax to 5 percent from 5.85 percent over three years would impair the commonwealth's
ability to provide good schools and highways.
"We're going to cover as many polling places as we can on
Tuesday," said Jack McCarthy, spokesman for the anti-4 Campaign for Massachusetts' Future.
"Where you can get close enough to hand out palm cards on
Tuesday, we'll do that. We'll have signs everywhere else."
Opponents of the ballot question also plan to continue their
television campaign through today.
McCarthy said the medium has been essential in building
momentum against the ballot question, which Gov. Paul Cellucci has aggressively promoted in recent weeks.
A Boston Herald/WCVB-TV Channel 5 poll released yesterday
indicated voters favored the tax cut 47 percent to 37 percent -- a substantial erosion of support over the past few months.
Meanwhile, grassroots efforts continue.
Service Employees International Union Local 285's union
offices have been "cleaned out" for the past few weeks and dedicated to the anti-4 effort, one union organizer who spoke
on the condition of anonymity said.
"That's all they're working on."
Boston-area Teamsters have not been visible in the anti-4
effort, but members of the union have been more active in western Massachusetts, especially the Springfield area.
Firefighters have also been part of the effort to defeat the
question.
While publicly arguing that Question 4 would hurt the
state's ability to deliver services, some union leaders have said on background that they're especially concerned that
draining the state's coffers an estimated $1.2 billion per year would jeopardize jobs.
Cellucci counters that the state can afford the cut and that
public-sector jobs will be more secure over the long haul if Massachusetts becomes more attractive to employers by lowering
taxes.