Big Soda Pours Money into Berkeley Soda Tax Vote

Next week residents of Berkeley, California, will decide whether to place a penny-an-ounce tax on sugary beverages, writes Mother Jones. The beverage industry has fought off similar taxes and restrictions in every American city where they’ve been proposed, but it has never faced a more formidable challenge than it does in this overwhelmingly liberal and well-educated college town. The soda fight is, if nothing else, a case study in whether truckloads of cash can sway a politically engaged citizenry.