Press Release: Appeal Filed to Invalidate Local School Bond Election Contests

By on

Press Release - For immediate release

Contact: Christopher Robell (650) 245-7395   chris_robell@yahoo.com  

Blog: ballotlabel.blogspot.com
June 22, 2023

Appeal Filed to Invalidate Local School Bond Election Contests

Redwood City resident Christopher Robell has filed an appeal to overturn the lower court decision pertaining to two local school bonds*.

After a three hour trial on April 18th, Judge Nicole Healy subsequently ruled on May 9th in favor of County Counsel. Robell was not surprised by the decision given the judge’s tone and bias.

This case, vitally important to ensure fair elections, is really about a key Constitutional issue: ensuring the government does not use public money to influence an election.  

There is no appellate court case that has ruled on this kind of situation where the government used the ballot question to sway election results.

Robell welcomes anyone interested and willing to file amicus briefs as part of this appeal.

————

* Redwood City Elementary School District’s $298 million bond (Measure S) and Sequoia Union High School District’s $591 million bond (Measure W). The election challenge was initiated as a result of the ballot labels (the 75 word question that voters see as they vote) that do not comply with mandatory statutes nor the California Constitution.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

RCSD's Alarming Secrecy to Hide Plans to Float Bonds Before the Appeal Deadline

By on
Did Redwood City School District (RCSD) meet in secret to hide its intent to float bonds subject to the election contest before the appeal window was closed? FACTS: 2/15/23:  RCSD Board authorized the issuance and sale of Series A bonds ($90 million)   3/29/23: I filed the Statement of Contest with the San Mateo Superior Court 5/9/23:  Judge Healy ruled to dismiss the election contest case.  But DWK (the district's bond counsel) knew I have 60 days to file an appeal. 5/24/23: RCSD Board had a closed session, simply titled "Conference with Legal Counsel - Anticipated Litigation". There was no other information given to the public as to what this was about. Zero.  But what really happened behind closed doors (with DWK, the district's bond counsel attending) was a calculated, deliberate strategy by DWK (the district's bond counsel who attended the closed session) to float the Series A bonds despite the fact they were subject to the Election Contest where the 6...
Read more
By on
April 3, 2023  Press Release - For immediate release Contact: Christopher Robell (650) 245-7395    c hris_robell@yahoo.com     Blog: ballotlabel.blogspot.com Redwood City Voter Seeks to Invalidate Local Bond Measures  On March 29, 2023, Christopher Robell filed election contests in the Superior Court of San Mateo County to set aside the Measure S (Redwood City Elementary School District's $298 million bond) and Measure W (Sequoia Union High School District's $591.5 million bond) elections. The issue: the Measure S & W ballot labels, which are the 75-word ballot questions that are often the only thing voters read before they vote, were misleading and not in compliance with the law. Mark Church, Registrar-Recorder of San Mateo County, is the elections official for both elections but did not reject these measures.  Historically, there has been an ongoing problem of the unsuspecting public being misled by municipal bond advisors who write the ball...
Read more

Press from "Redwood City Pulse"

By on
 The local Redwood City Pulse publication covered the appeal: https://www.rwcpulse.com/top-story/redwood-city-resident-keeps-up-legal-fight-against-county-elections-chief-7472232 8/30/23 Redwood City Pulse Article re: Appeal So many problems with the Magistrate's conclusions.  She provided no statutory analysis regarding how she reached her conclusions. Instead, she searched for (or used County Counsel's) statutes that seemed to support a desired conclusion without context. For example, she claims that as long as the amount of the bonds is included in the ballot question, the election cannot be invalidated.  At the trial, I asked if it would therefore be ok for the tax proponents to promise to solve world peace and world hunger as long as the bond amount is disclosed? She said that was a hypothetical. That is completely ridiculous and doesn't make sense. And, as Judge Judy would say, if it doesn't make sense, it's not true.  So how did she arrive at this prepostero...
Read more