August 16, 2006

"Lawsuit: Wording of Greenlight ballot measure 'confusing'"

"Greenlight residents group leader Phil Arst is suing the city of Newport Beach over how the city worded Greenlight's initiative for the November ballot.

The measure, commonly known as Greenlight II but officially called Measure X, would tighten the voter controls on major developments in the city.

With the suit, filed Monday in Orange County Superior Court, Arst seeks to block the ballot language drafted by the city attorney and have it replaced with a description he wrote. The suit says the city's language is "lengthy, disjointed and confusing to the average reader."

Arst said Tuesday that what the city wrote will confuse and possibly bias voters because it focuses on technical issues and only mentions voter approval — the hallmark of the measure — at the very end.

"People that signed the initiative petition can't recognize that what they signed and approved of is being voted on," he said."

The story is here.

Posted by Randy Riddle at August 16, 2006 10:10 AM