Clerk Seeks to Prepare Tobacco Issue for Vote

Saying he wants to prevent “irreparable harm” to voters, County Clerk Richard Dean petitioned a court Thursday to let him lay the groundwork for placing Community Memorial Hospital’s controversial tobacco initiative on the November ballot in case a judge declares it legal.

Dean asked the Ventura County Superior Court for permission to solicit arguments for and against the proposed initiative so he can keep the election schedule on track.

A judge will hear the petition this morning.

But county officials quickly opposed the move, saying it was a waste of taxpayer money and no action should be taken until a judge rules whether the initiative is legal.

Community Memorial’s initiative seeks to wrest control of the county’s $260 million in tobacco settlement money and turn it over to seven private area hospitals.

The money comes from a national tobacco settlement and is supposed to help the public hospital recoup the cost of treating patients with smoking-related illnesses.

Community Memorial officials contend the county will use the roughly $10 million a year over the next 25 years to pay off debts due to past financial mismanagement and not use the money for health care programs. But county supervisors voted last week to spend all of the money on health care.

Last month supervisors declared the initiative illegal and ordered Dean to keep it off the ballot. Dean told supervisors they had no authority to do this. The board ignored him and sued Community Memorial Hospital Executive Director Michael Bakst, seeking to have the initiative ruled unconstitutional.

Bakst responded by suing the county last week for refusing to put the measure on the ballot.

A hearing is scheduled on the the matter July 19 in Ventura County Superior Court.

Meanwhile, Dean is worried he won’t have time to put together all the paperwork a major election entails if he has to wait for the courts to decide who gets the tobacco money.

He said if a judge declares the initiative illegal it would be easy to take it off the ballot.

“I think this is a very reasonable request,” Dean said Thursday.

But some county officials see this as a foot in the door for initiative backers. They fear assembling the paperwork and putting together the pro and con arguments that accompany a ballot unfairly gives the measure an air of legitimacy.

“I think it is premature for him [Dean] to ask for this,” said William Moritz, assistant county counsel. “The initiative is illegal and the public should not have to pay for having these forms processed if it is declared illegal.”

Dean said Aug. 11 is the deadline for the measure to be placed on the ballot. He has set Wednesday as the date for publishing notices in local newspapers soliciting arguments for and against the initiative.

Dean is asking the court to force both sides to adhere to his schedule “in order to protect voters’ interests in this matter.”

If he waits until the results of the July 19 hearing, Dean said, obtaining arguments and getting ballots out would be difficult to manage.

“The issue is timing,” Dean said.

County officials say the clerk is exaggerating how long it will take to settle the tobacco question. Moritz believes it could be done a week after a judge hears the arguments.

“I think he has plenty of time to get this done if he waits,” Moritz said. “I don’t think a court should be ruling on this before it hears the merits of the case.”

Chief Administrative Officer Harry Hufford said if the initiative were declared legal and not put on the November ballot, then it could always be put to a special election.

“He’s letting process get ahead of policy,” Hufford said of Dean.

Attorney Steve Merksamer, who represents Community Memorial in the lawsuit, said, “This is a county that has violated election law and is now going to court to oppose its own county clerk. I think the clerk is doing what any clerk in the country should do in the same situation.”

Supervisor Frank Schillo said no taxpayer money should be spent in soliciting arguments and preparing sample ballots before a judge rules on the case.

He also noted it is the supervisors who approve Dean’s budget.

“If he does this work and wastes the county’s money, then something will suffer,” Schillo warned. “I might not vote to give him more money if he wastes it on this.”