Just wondering….

(This post will be an active post as I learn more over the next few months)

Anyone is allowed to submit an argument in favor or against a ballot proposal. The more elected officials and bona fide organizations that signoff the more likely it is to be chosen by the registrar of voters. They have a set of criteria that they need to follow. But it basically boils down to the argument that has signers that represent the most people. So government and bona fide organization having their officers sign is important.

In our case we had:

• David Casas Council Member City of Los Altos and former VTA Boardmember
• Patrick Moore Member, 1996 Measure B Citizens’ Watchdog Committee
• Greg Perry Member, VTA Board of Directors (and Mountain View Vice Mayor)
• Douglas McNea President, Silicon Valley Taxpayers’ Association
• Kevin Takenaga Chair, Libertarian Party

A nice goodly number of titled people. A goodly chance to get our voice heard.

Before measure is on ballot:

1. Line up ballot argument signers. Trying to do this on a compressed schedule is difficult. And a compressed schedule is what you may have if the ballot argument is put on by a government body. In many cases, a government body can put a measure on the ballot only 63 days before the election.
2. Get the signature forms and get them signed by the people you want to appear on the ballot statement. Get multiple forms and get the possible signers to sign multiple copies. This will allow for choosing exactly who will appear on the ballot very late in the game without having to run around collecting signatures again. You do not want to be scrambling around the day arguments are due trying to collect signatures. You may discover that a key person is out of town.
3. Find out when the ballot argument due. Keep in mind that the Registrar has to translate the ballot into a zillion different languages. So this deadline will come faster than you think. For the June 6, 2006 ballot, main arguments were due March 15, 2006
4. Know the word count limit and how the words are counted. For example, URLs may be counted differently.

Remember these are strict rules and this is a legal process. In legal processes, form counts for a lot. If you don’t follow the rules to the letter, that could be grounds for your argument to be discarded or challenged in court.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I was one of a few select people to get sued by one of the less than “Five Most Powerful People in Silicon Valley” to stop our “No on Measure A” argument from appearing on the June 6, 2006 ballot here in Santa Clara County. A little bit of a correction here, apparently at the very least, Rick Callender is one of “10 Most Influential African Americans in the Bay Area for 2005″.

So what was the reason for their excitement? Well we over here in the powerless and influenceless corner were a little surprised. Here we are being used as being dismissed as not being relevant and we get sued!

So how can you or your group join the lucky elite. Lets start off with some basics.

1. You need opposition that is generally willing to not listen unless you are agreeing with them in all details. In this case, Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG) fits the bill. Now I want to put in a cavaet here. SVLG does some good things. For example, the Sierra Club of which I am part and SVLG generally agree that more housing, denser housing is a good thing in developed areas not on greenfields.
2. You need to do some googling and some basic research on your opposition.
3. Finally, you need a ballot argument that will cause some excitement.

Now the “sue” part. In our case, we discovered through the State of California legislative website, that the SVLG is trying to lower the sales tax their members pay by trying to get we found SB552 – Elaine Alquist passed. In Santa Clara County, they would lower eliminate the State tax portion of the sales tax bill so that while you and I will continue to pay 8.25% or higher. SVLG members get to only pay 2.75%! This bill has an “Inactive Status”. There is also this reference for the last historical action:

LAST HIST. ACTION : Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56.

Joint Rule 56 refers to the California Constitution Art. IV, Sec. 10(c), which states:

(c) Any bill introduced during the first year of the biennium of
the legislative session that has not been passed by the house of
origin by January 31 of the second calendar year of the biennium may
no longer be acted on by the house. No bill may be passed by either
house on or after September 1 of an even-numbered year except
statutes calling elections, statutes providing for tax levies or
appropriations for the usual current expenses of the State, and
urgency statutes, and bills passed after being vetoed by the
Governor.

In other words, nothing happened with the bill so it died. Unfortunately, we didn’t notice that until after we submit our argument. Fortunately, our opponents let us correct this by filing a lawsuit. The correct number turned out to be SB1291.