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Ballot Statements and RebuttalsAfter submitting language for a county ballot initiative the lawyer
for the county (County Counsel) is responsible for preparing an impartial
summary of what the ordinance will do. This summary must appear on all petitions when collecting signatures to get the ordinance on the ballot, along with the full text of the ordinance. The County Counsel also gives the initiative a title - our title is below in CAPS. This title is not the same thing as the letter, assigned by the Elections Dept. The summary also appears in the official voter guide that is published by the Elections Department for all the voters in the county. Impartial Summary from the Humboldt County Counsel on Measure TORDINANCE OF THE COUNTY OF HUMBOLDT PROHIBITING NON-LOCAL CORPORATIONS FROM MAKING POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS IN LOCAL ELECTIONS. This proposed ordinance states that its specific purpose is to prohibit non-local corporations from making contributions in elections within the jurisdiction of Humboldt County, including candidate campaigns, initiatives, referendums and recalls. It provides that no non-local corporation shall pay or contribute, directly or indirectly, any money or other thing of value for the purpose of: a) promoting or defeating the candidacy of any person; or b) promoting or defeating any initiative, referendum or recall, in any election within the jurisdiction of Humboldt County. A "local corporation" is defined as "any corporation in which all employees reside in Humboldt County, and has its primary place of business in Humboldt County, and has its corporate headquarters in Humboldt County, and no portion of the corporation is owned by another corporation, and all shares of stock (if any) are owned by individuals residing in Humboldt County." The ordinance provides for a penalty payable to the County of Humboldt, in an amount ten times the amount of the illegal contribution. For illegal contributions in excess of $25,000, the ordinance requires the District Attorney to petition the Attorney General to: a) initiate a charter revocation proceeding against the corporation; or b) initiate a proceeding to revoke the corporation's right to do business in California. If the District Attorney fails to enforce the ordinance, any citizen of Humboldt County has the right to sue to compel compliance with the ordinance. If approved by a majority of eligible voters, the ordinance would take effect 30 days after such approval. Click here to download a PDF document of the official petition we circulated to qualify the Fair Elections and Local Democracy Ordinance for the ballot. Arguments and RebuttalsEach side is allowed to make a statement, or argument, about the initiative - for or against. Then each side is allowed a rebuttal to the other side's statement. The statements are published in the official voter guide from the Elections Department. You can also download a PDF document of these ballot statements, as they appeared in the Humboldt County Voter Guide.Argument in Favor of Measure TMeasure T (Ordinance to Protect Our Right to Fair Elections and Local Democracy) will ensure local control of Humboldt County elections. Measure T will protect your First Amendment rights by taking big corporate money out of local politics. In recent years, large, out-of-county corporations have attempted to manipulate our elections. · 1999 -- Wal-Mart spent $235,000 in an effort to change Eureka's zoning laws. · 2003 -- Maxxam spent over $300,000 in an attempt to recall our democratically elected District Attorney who had only been in office three months. · 2004 -- "Eureka Coalition for Jobs" flooded the airwaves with commercials in attempt to defeat a Eureka City Council incumbent and then refused to identify who paid for them. These costly campaigns have divided our community and undermined citizen's confidence in the electoral system. A 2004 Humboldt State University survey found that over 78% of registered voters in Humboldt County believe that political corruption is more likely when corporations are allowed to make financial contributions in elections. Measure T is a commonsense and straightforward initiative that will protect the integrity of Humboldt County elections by prohibiting non-local corporations, non-local unions, and non-local non-profits from making political contributions in our local elections. Measure T was organized by hundreds of local citizens, businesses, current and former elected officials, community organizations and workers dedicated to protecting our right to local control. Hundreds of unpaid local volunteers collected over 7,600 signatures (a county record) to place this measure on the ballot. Measure T poses a simple question--do you believe the rights of our local community come before the rights of out-of-county corporations? Join local business owners, elected officials, citizens, workers and local organizations in standing up for your right to local control. Vote Yes on T! For more information visit www.VoteLocalControl.org or call 444-0407. Submitted by Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap and Nicole Spencer on behalf of the Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights Rebuttal to Argument in Favor of Measure TThe proponents of Measure T mention the word "control" a lot, and even include it in their website address. That's because Measure T is all about control of local elections by groups with a personal agenda that want to exclude local employers from participating in elections that affect everyone in the community. Measure T does NOT reform local campaign finances. The special interests who wrote Measure T want to be free to donate unlimited amounts of money to local campaigns to pursue a personal agenda, but place unfair limits on their opposition. The No on Measure T campaign wants to restrict ALL campaign donations from ALL sources so that money and power do not influence the making of public policy. We propose limiting all campaign donations to no more than $500 from any person, union, business or organization, and we have adopted this restriction in our own campaign opposing Measure T. Why should employers be prohibited from donating to political campaigns while their employee unions contribute unlimited funds? Why should the definition of "local" be so restrictive when addressing what is a local corporation, and so loose when defining a local union or other organization? The answer is simple...this is a power grab that is disguised as campaign finance reform. Don't be fooled by special interests trying to control your local elections. Support REAL campaign finance reform by voting NO ON MEASURE T. Submitted by Chris Crawford, Chair of the NO on Measure T Committee (www.MeasureTNO.org) Argument Against Measure TVOTE NO ON MEASURE T Measure T is a power play to seize control of local elections. It would unfairly restrict campaign donations from local employers and does not reform local campaign finance. Last year, Proposition 75 targeted unions, but didn't restrict business contributions and the citizens rightfully rejected it. The proponents of Measure T want you to believe that corporations seek to unfairly control local elections citing as examples the Walmart campaign and the effort to recall the District Attorney. They seem to forget that both these efforts failed. Many local businesses are affiliated with a corporate parent. These are hard working local business people who employ the local workforce and enable families to buys homes and raise families in Humboldt County. Since businesses create jobs and employ a local workforce, why shouldn't they be able to contribute to local campaigns? Under Measure T, the political organizations, special interest groups and unions could participate but the employers can't. That's not fair and that's not right . There is far too much money and far too much hype in local elections. But silencing the voices of an important segment of our community is no way to fix the problem. Let's stop this "one upsmanship" and address the problem directly by limiting ALL local campaign donations to no more than $500 from any individual, business, union or organization. Want to know how unfairly Measure T was written? Look at these definitions of "local:" -- A local UNION needs only ONE local member to support candidates or issues. -- Yet a local CORPORATION would be disqualified with ONE employee or ONE stockholder out of the county!! This is an unfair and deliberate attempt to stack the deck against those who create jobs on the North Coast. VOTE NO on Measure T Submitted by Chris Crawford, Chair of the NO on Measure T Committee (www.MeasureTNO.org) Rebuttal to Argument Against Measure THumboldt County is coming together to support Measure T because money from out-of-county special interests is undermining our democratic process. Join the hundreds of citizens, local businesses, elected officials, and local organizations who are standing up for local control of our democracy and your First Amendment rights. Local Organizations · Democratic Party of Humboldt County Current and Former City & County Officials · Paul Gallegos - Humboldt County District Attorney Visit www.VoteLocalControl.org to see the hundreds of individuals and local businesses that also support Measure T! Vote YES! Submitted by Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap and Nicole Spencer on behalf of the Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights |
Humboldt County Leaders Endorse Measure T!Democratic Party of Humboldt County Green Party of Humboldt County Central Labor Council of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local #1684 Building and Construction Trades of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties Carpenters Union Local #751 Operating Engineers Union Local #3 AFL-CIO Paul Gallegos, Humboldt County District Attorney Peter LaVallee, Eureka Mayor Chris Kerrigan, Eureka City Council Dave Meserve, Arcata City Council Harmony Groves, Arcata City Council Paul Pitino, Arcata City Council Bob Ornelas, Former Arcata Mayor Connie Stewart, Former Arcata Mayor Elizabeth Conner, Former Arcata City Council Julie Fulkerson, Former Humboldt County Board of Supervisors ... and hundreds of other individuals and local businesses! Join us today! View the full list of public endorsements!
Learn More!
Learn more about Measure T in a Pros and Cons Video, produced by Eileen McGee (51 mins)
Radio Ads
Chris Kerrigan, Eureka City Counsel, and Kate Christensen, owner of The Garden Gate, support Measure T! (1 min)
Paul Gallegos, Humboldt County District Attorney, and Nezzie Wade, community member, support Measure T! (1 min)
Larry Glass, owner of The Works, and Dennis Rael, owner of Los Bagles, support Measure T! (1 min) |
Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights |
