Schwarzenegger's redistricting measure ordered off ballot
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SACRAMENTO - A Superior Court judge on Thursday kicked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's redistricting measure off the special election ballot, ruling that supporters violated California's constitution by using two versions of the initiative in the qualifying process.
"The differences are not simply typographical errors," Judge Gail Ohanesian said. "They're not merely about the format of the measure. They are not simply technical. Instead they go to the substantive terms of the measure."
The proposal, Proposition 77, is one of three initiatives that the Republican governor is supporting in the Nov. 8 special election. It would take the power to draw legislative and congressional districts away from the Legislature and give it to a panel of three retired judges.
Attorney General Bill Lockyer asked the judge to order the measure off the ballot because its supporters used two versions -- one to gather voter signatures and another that they gave to him to prepare a title and summary of the proposal to use on petitions.
Daniel Kolkey, an attorney representing the measure's author -- Ted Costa -- argued that the differences between the two version were minor and stylistic.
Kolkey said that holding initiative proponents to a requirement that there be no differences between what is submitted to the attorney general for review and what is circulated to voters could invalidate a measure for a simple printing error.
Kolkey said he will appeal the ruling.
The ruling is a big setback for Schwarzenegger, whose ballot agenda has languished in the polls under almost constant criticism from rival Democrats and labor groups who are opposing his proposals.
If the judge's ruling stands, Schwarzenegger and his supporters will be forced to go before voters with just two ballot measures: a complex plan for imposing new limits on state spending and a proposal that would lengthen the probationary period for public school teachers before they are granted tenure.
Some critics have said that the proponents of the redistricting measure should have more quickly disclosed the problems with the two versions of the petition.
"If you read the declarations carefully ... the proponents deliberately ran the clock out," said Deborah Caplan, an attorney representing the initiative opponents, who noted that the measure's backers knew for almost a month about the discrepancies.