Prop. 23 campaign concedes defeat

Backers of Proposition 23, the ballot initiative to suspend California's ambitious global warming law, conceded defeat, calling the outcome "a victory for Wall Street over Main Street" and vowing to continue their efforts to "save jobs" and curb energy costs. “While the global warming law may attract venture capital dollars to the state, they will not translate into the jobs or economic activity promised by Proposition 23’s opponents,” said Jack Stewart, president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Assn. Opponents of the initiative raised more than $30 million to defeat it--three times as much as proponents. Stewart took aim at Silicon Valley venture capitalists such as John Doerr and Vinod Khosla, who opposed the initiative along with other major clean-tech investors who see the climate law, known as AB 32, as paving the way to an economy powered with alternative energy...more