Avoiding Political Suicide -
Watch your council members when the petitions are submitted.
With the activity of people circulating the 2-30-13 petitions, it may seem inevitable that it will be on the municipal ballot in the next general election. Because they wish to avoid the expense of a special election, the proponents of the initiative have declined to seek a special election. In any event, the initiative will go before the City Council when the signatures have been certified.
Meanwhile, there is a great deal of concern about what happens in the meantime.
In reality, there shouldn’t be a long wait before this initiative ordinance is adopted by the City. This may seem counterintuitive, but the initiative process for cities provides for a quick, easy solution—the legislative body (the City Council) may respond to the certified petition by adopting it themselves.
Here’s how the initiative petition process works in general. The details of this procedure are found at Elections Code, sections 9200, et seq. The process begins when a Notice of Intent to Circulate an Initiative Petition is filed with the City’s elections official, in this case the City Clerk. This filing includes a statement of reasons for the initiative. A request that a ballot title and summary be prepared is also filed with the elections official. In response to this request, the City Attorney is required to prepare a ballot title and neutral summary of the initiative’s provisions, which becomes part of the petition. The ballot title, ballot summary, and initiative language are published. After publication has been established by affidavit, the circulation of the petition begins. It must be completed within 180 days after receipt of the title and summary.
After submittal of the signed petitions, the elections official has to verify that the signatures are valid signatures of registered voters. Usually, despite the efforts of the petition’s circulators, there are some that are not valid, or are duplicates, etc. After discarding those signatures, if there are 10% of the registered voters who have signed the petition, it is eligible to go on the ballot.[1]
This is where the City Council can intervene and prevent delay and extended controversy. Under section 9215 of the Elections Code, the City Council can respond to submission of the certified petitions by adopting the ordinance then and there or within 10 days. If the City Council adopts the ordinance in response to the petition, it will have the same effect as if it had been adopted by the vote of the people--it cannot be amended or repealed except by a vote of the people. [Elections Code, section 9217]
So, it’s back to the City Council. A statesman-like Council member who might otherwise be disinclined to support this measure, could certainly do this community a big favor by putting this discussion to a swift and merciful end and vote in to adopt the ordinance upon presentation of the certification by the elections official.
Based on the public statements by the Council, we can anticipate that Councilmembers Watts and Zimmerman will vote to adopt the ordinance upon presentation. That leaves the other three Councilmembers—Joffe, Buchanan and Mosca. Will any of these members realize the impact of their vote if they refuse to adopt the ordinance and force it to a vote of the people? It is entirely possible that there will be more signatures submitted in favor of the ordinance than voted for at least two of these council members. In a town energized by activism and frustrated by the officials’ response to their efforts, who can say what the result would be?
A council member, however, wishing to avoid political suicide, should carefully consider how to vote on the issue when it comes before the Council when the petition is certified.
[1] If the petition had a request for a special election and is signed by 15% of the voters, a special election must be held. That doesn’t really matter here, because there is no request for a special election in the petition itself. However, it may be interesting to note that 2-30-13 could be subject to a special election if it’s proponents had requested one.
With the activity of people circulating the 2-30-13 petitions, it may seem inevitable that it will be on the municipal ballot in the next general election. Because they wish to avoid the expense of a special election, the proponents of the initiative have declined to seek a special election. In any event, the initiative will go before the City Council when the signatures have been certified.
Meanwhile, there is a great deal of concern about what happens in the meantime.
In reality, there shouldn’t be a long wait before this initiative ordinance is adopted by the City. This may seem counterintuitive, but the initiative process for cities provides for a quick, easy solution—the legislative body (the City Council) may respond to the certified petition by adopting it themselves.
Here’s how the initiative petition process works in general. The details of this procedure are found at Elections Code, sections 9200, et seq. The process begins when a Notice of Intent to Circulate an Initiative Petition is filed with the City’s elections official, in this case the City Clerk. This filing includes a statement of reasons for the initiative. A request that a ballot title and summary be prepared is also filed with the elections official. In response to this request, the City Attorney is required to prepare a ballot title and neutral summary of the initiative’s provisions, which becomes part of the petition. The ballot title, ballot summary, and initiative language are published. After publication has been established by affidavit, the circulation of the petition begins. It must be completed within 180 days after receipt of the title and summary.
After submittal of the signed petitions, the elections official has to verify that the signatures are valid signatures of registered voters. Usually, despite the efforts of the petition’s circulators, there are some that are not valid, or are duplicates, etc. After discarding those signatures, if there are 10% of the registered voters who have signed the petition, it is eligible to go on the ballot.[1]
This is where the City Council can intervene and prevent delay and extended controversy. Under section 9215 of the Elections Code, the City Council can respond to submission of the certified petitions by adopting the ordinance then and there or within 10 days. If the City Council adopts the ordinance in response to the petition, it will have the same effect as if it had been adopted by the vote of the people--it cannot be amended or repealed except by a vote of the people. [Elections Code, section 9217]
So, it’s back to the City Council. A statesman-like Council member who might otherwise be disinclined to support this measure, could certainly do this community a big favor by putting this discussion to a swift and merciful end and vote in to adopt the ordinance upon presentation of the certification by the elections official.
Based on the public statements by the Council, we can anticipate that Councilmembers Watts and Zimmerman will vote to adopt the ordinance upon presentation. That leaves the other three Councilmembers—Joffe, Buchanan and Mosca. Will any of these members realize the impact of their vote if they refuse to adopt the ordinance and force it to a vote of the people? It is entirely possible that there will be more signatures submitted in favor of the ordinance than voted for at least two of these council members. In a town energized by activism and frustrated by the officials’ response to their efforts, who can say what the result would be?
A council member, however, wishing to avoid political suicide, should carefully consider how to vote on the issue when it comes before the Council when the petition is certified.
[1] If the petition had a request for a special election and is signed by 15% of the voters, a special election must be held. That doesn’t really matter here, because there is no request for a special election in the petition itself. However, it may be interesting to note that 2-30-13 could be subject to a special election if it’s proponents had requested one.
posted by Dr. Staccato | 10:05 PM
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