No Vote on Sacramento Arena, Judge Rules

Thu, Feb 27 2014 by Neal Hobson

Citizens of Sacramento, California, won’t get a vote on the city’s decision to use $258 million from taxpayers to fund the construction of a new arena for the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley found the petitions forms contained too many errors, which violated state election laws. 

In addition, Judge Frawley indicated he believed the proposed ballot measure would have violated the city’s charter, by inhibiting the council’s ability to manage the city’s finances.

Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork (STOP) is the group that proposed the ballot measure and collected 23,000 signatures attempting to put the issue on the June ballot.  Those signatures, however, had been disqualified by the City Clerk due to inconsistencies in the legal language on the petition forms.  STOP appealed the clerk’s decision, leading to Judge Frawley’s ruling on the matter.

In a statement released after the judge’s decision was handed down, STOP said, “We call on Sacramento’s disenfranchised voters to express their outrage to their City Council, and we call on our elected representatives to begin listening to their constituents.”

Mayor Kevin Johnson, a champion of the arena subsidy and a former NBA player, issued a statement charging that, “Time and time again, outsiders have tried to undermine the right of Sacramento to control the destiny of our Kings, our downtown and our future.”

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/02/26/6192383/judge-tosses-out-stop-arena-lawsuit.html#storylink=cpy

Read Citizen in Charge President Paul Jacob’s personal opinion on the matter here (CIC takes no position on the arena issue):http://thisiscommonsense.com/2014/02/27/king-kevin-and-company/