Jim Righeimer's Charter Off The June Ballot
JUDGE RULES "NO"...
Following a long, long day at the courthouse for the folks involved, (the hearing didn't begin until after 4:00!) the word from Superior Court a few minutes ago is that Judge Franz Miller has ruled that Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley will NOT be ordered to place Jim Righeimer's Charter scheme on the June 5th ballot.AS HE SAID YESTERDAY...
Consistent with his tentative ruling, posted HERE, Judge Miller decided that the rules guiding Kelley are part of the state statute and that Kelley did not violate them when he declined to accept the late submission of paperwork from City Clerk Julie Folcik and cannot be ordered to do so.
NO WORD ON APPEAL
No word yet from The City about whether it will appeal this decision or not. The clock is ticking and it is my understanding from Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley this afternoon that sometime the first week of April (not April 1st as was previously stated) is when Kelley and his crew could receive the information for the ballot. After that the ship has sailed and his process cannot accept anything else. It seems unlikely that an appeal could be processed in such a short time, but you just never know...THAT WAS RIGHEIMER, NOT SAN ONOFRE
So, that wasn't San Onofre melting down that you heard this evening - that was Jim Righeimer reacting to yet another failure in his political life. If he plans to proceed with
this bogus Charter scheme his new target will have to be the November General Election, when LOTS of folks will find their way to the ballot box. And, that means the city will save tens of thousands of dollars by placing it on the November ballot, if that's what happens. Of course, we've probably already spent that much and more for the services of Jones Day on this issue. And, it also means that both sides of this issue will have eight months in which to convince the voters on the wisdom of their position. Whether it passes then or not, at least the largest possible chunk of the electorate will have had a chance to make their voices heard. That's how this process is supposed to work...Labels: Charter City, Jim Righeimer, Judge Franz Miller, Julie Folcik, Neal Kelley
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 3/27/2012 04:12:00 PM
10 Comments:
Let's all grab a pint at Skosh's and celebrate!!! So awesome to see this news...
Wow! Another failure of Righeimer and Company and our overpriced incompetent attorneys at Jones Day. You would think the council would of waited for the judge's ruling before they voted to pay Jones Day more money. What ever happened to pay for performance that is so common in the private sector? So far Jones Day and the other legal hacks have failed at every turn. Remember all the boasting about how much is being saved in legal fees by having a private law firm as the city attorney. What a bunch of crock. Also where is the $150,000/year Director of Communications, Bill Lobdell, on all this? Remember all his fact checks and promises of transparency? After he was hired at the city full-time you nary hear a peep out of him. Talk about wasting tax dollars.
Don't you wonder why Teri Sforza at OC Watchdog has never said a word about all the misdeeds and legal fees being paid in Costa Mesa. It looks like she is in Righeimer's back pocket too. I guess looking out for tax payers in Costa Mesa is not on her agenda.
OC Watchdog, Where Are You?
I couldn't have said it better! :-)
Its not about how much we pay Jones Day, its about how much Jones Day is paying Righeimer and using the guise of legal work as a vehicle.
Its not about how much we pay the law firm of Jones Day, its about how much Jones Day is paying Righeimer under the guise of legal work. The more work Riggy gives them, the more money they give him back.
I'm a lawyer! Please please can you get me a job there?
Sounds like smart lawyers draining the City like starving vampires thirsting for blood!
Sometimes justice and the universe work hand in hand... when does this all stop? The residents of COSTA MESA deserve better than this rinky dink council and its ego driven brotherhood of Righeimer. I'm guilty of not paying attention in my community but you can believe that complacency is over....I'm in
As a City Clerk, you are supposed to do your job. No matter if you agree with the issue or not. She should be fired. This isn't just a simple mistake, she had days to file this.
I'm mystified too. Tuesday in Court Jones/Day argued it was simple human error, an inadvertent mistake, and should not be a reason to keep their charter proposal off the ballot even though a deadline was missed. Wednesday in Court Jones/Day argument was very similar to the City’s announcement; suddenly it was significant professional failure on the part of Julie Folcik. Julie Folcik is/was their client. This seemed very strange to me. I didn’t know why an attorney would turn on their client like that. Can an attorney even do that?
What really mystifies me is why turn on Julie? Besides being one of the sweetest people on the planet, she is incredibly efficient and professional, loyal, always positive, gracious and polite. I heard staff and city councilmen and members of the public were going out of their way to encourage her last week. Why throw her under the bus now? If she ends up losing her job, good luck Costa Mesa on finding anyone nearly as competent and public service oriented.
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