June 28, 2006

Immigration measure off ballot

"The backer of a San Bernardino city immigration initiative says he probably will start over after a judge ruled Monday that he did not gather enough petition signatures to put the measure before voters.

San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge A. Rex Victor said that the number of signatures needed to qualify the City of San Bernardino Illegal Immigration Relief Act should have been set about twice as high as it was.

The judge said he would allow San Bernardino resident Joseph Turner, who wrote the proposed law, 10 days to gather more signatures.

More than 1,600 additional valid signatures would be needed.

Turner said he probably won't try.

"When you put a lot of work into something and an activist judge throws it out, it's disappointing. I'm not going to lie," he said. "I don't anticipate going for the 10 days. I have to work for a living."

Instead, Turner said, he will probably start collecting signatures for a new measure, and he plans to submit voter petitions in six months.

"It will be more draconian," he said. "It will bring the hammer down on illegal immigrants."

Turner did not give specifics.

The proposed law would have enlisted city agencies to try to curtail illegal immigration through sanctions on employers who hired illegal immigrants and landlords who rented to them.

The judge's ruling hinged on a section of San Bernardino's charter that requires petition sponsors to submit voter signatures equal to 30 percent of the total ballots cast the last time the city elected a mayor.

In November, when Turner started collecting signatures, City Clerk Rachel Clark told him the standard was an election in 2001, when incumbent Judith Valles faced no challengers.

Turner submitted his petitions in April, about two months after a landslide victory by Pat Morris in a mayoral election that drew more than twice as many voters as in 2001. The petitions had 3,124 names, and the county registrar of voters stopped counting at 2,217 verified signatures -- one more than required.

But Victor ruled that the February election should have been the standard, and the cutoff to qualify for the ballot should be 4,771 verified signatures."

The story is here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at June 28, 2006 09:30 AM