March 24, 2006

Story on Monterey VRA Initiative Case

"Proponents of the controversial General Plan Initiative will seek a speedy reversal of a federal judge's ruling Thursday that blocks -- for now -- their measure from Monterey County voters.

Backers of the stymied land-use measure will file an urgent appeal of U.S. District Court Judge James Ware's ruling that the initiative violates federal election law, their attorney Fredric Woocher said.

"We are going to file a petition to hear it on an emergency basis (with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals)," Woocher said. "They don't have to do it, but at some point they will hear it."

The litigation is the latest twist in the six-year political battle over a new county general plan -- a 20-year growth blueprint for unincorporated areas of the county.

Thursday's ruling could have far-reaching impacts on initiative campaigns throughout the state, Woocher said.

Shortly after the decision became public, Woocher said, he got a call from an attorney about an initiative in another city.

"What happens to that?" he said.

In his ruling, Ware said the general-plan measure proposed by slow-growth advocates violated the federal Voting Rights Act because initiative petitions weren't circulated in both English and Spanish to prospective voters.

"The initiative in its present form cannot legally be adopted by the county... or presented to voters," Ware said."

Posted by Randy Riddle at March 24, 2006 08:58 AM