CHARTER VOTE ALL BUT ASSURED.Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer Mayor Richard Riordan's charter reform initiative appears to have qualified for the ballot, based on a random sample of petition signatures, the City Clerk's Office said Thursday. But the fact that some of the petitions were circulated by people who were not city residents could present a legal snag to the effort to get an elected charter reform commission initiative on the ballot. Assistant City Clerk In the United States, a City Clerk is an elected or appointed official who is responsible as the official keeper of the municipal records. In some places, the Clerk may be known as the "Village Clerk" or "Town Clerk". Kris Heffron said more than 73 percent of 9,000 signatures checked at random have been found to be valid. City law requires at least 71.2 percent of randomly checked signatures to be valid to qualify without requiring a count of all 304,000 signatures turned in. There are about 100 other signatures that have to be submitted to the random check before the final determination, but Heffron said it looks like the initiative will clear the requirement. ``If you look only at the signatures counted, the issue appears to have qualified,'' Heffron said, adding an official certification may be made early next week. The news of the apparent qualification was welcomed by supporters of the initiative to create an elected charter reform commission, including Studio City attorney David Fleming
David Fleming . ``We have turned in so many more signatures than have ever been turned in in the history of the city that I didn't have any doubt we would qualify,'' Fleming Flem·ing , Sir Alexander 1881-1955. British bacteriologist who discovered penicillin in 1928. He shared a 1945 Nobel Prize for this achievement. said. However, Heffron said the random count has been complicated because checkers checkers, game for two players, known in England as draughts. It is played on a square board, divided into 64 alternately colored—usually red and black or white and black—square spaces, identical with a chessboard. with the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Registrar's Office have found that some of the petitions were not circulated by city residents. As a result, Heffron said she has asked the City Attorney's CERTIFICATE, ATTORNEY'S, Practice, English law. By statute 37 Geo. III., c. 90, s. 26, 28, attorneys are required to deliver to the commissioners of stamp duties, a paper or note in writing, containing the name and usual place of residence of such person, and thereupon, on paying certain Office to determine whether to apply city law, which requires city residency A duration of stay required by state and local laws that entitles a person to the legal protection and benefits provided by applicable statutes. States have required state residency for a variety of rights, including the right to vote, the right to run for public office, the for circulators, or state law, which allows nonresident non·res·i·dent adj. 1. Not living in a particular place: nonresident students who commute to classes. 2. circulators. ``We're waiting for an answer from the city attorney,'' Heffron said, adding that a ruling is expected today. Signatures collected by nonresidents have not been allowed on any initiative petition checked by the city in the past. However, the proposal to form a charter reform commission is governed gov·ern v. gov·erned, gov·ern·ing, gov·erns v.tr. 1. To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; exercise sovereign authority in. 2. by state law. State law gives the county registrar See domain name registrar. discretion to decide whether the petitions must be circulated by city residents. Initiative backer Michael Keeley, an attorney, downplayed the potential impact of the issue, saying the campaign checked closely to make sure enough circulators were city residents so any invalidation in·val·i·date tr.v. in·val·i·dat·ed, in·val·i·dat·ing, in·val·i·dates To make invalid; nullify. in·val would affect an ``insignificant number of signatures.'' Even if the City Attorney's Office rules that city law applies and that prevents the initiative from passing on the random count, Keeley and Fleming said they are confident that a full count will find that they have the 197,000 valid signatures needed to qualify the initiative for the ballot. ``We are completely confident that we have submitted at least 200,000 signatures so that this will ultimately qualify,'' Keeley said. The City Clerk's Office has until Dec. 16 to determine whether the initiative qualifies for the ballot, but even then the campaign faces additional roadblocks. Initiative backers including Riordan have asked a federal judge to force the City Council to place the initiative on the April 1997 ballot and to allow the 15-member charter reform commission to be elected by council district, as required by federal law, rather than at-large, as state law appears to require. At the direction of the City Council, the City Attorney's Office has filed papers in court to have Riordan's petition for action dismissed, which could block the election, at least for April. The council has appointed its own advisory panel on charter reform, and some council members have questioned the need for an elected panel. One supporter of the initiative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, with the latest legal issue raised by the City Clerk's Office, that it appears officials are throwing up every possible roadblock to kill the initiative. Heffron denied that the latest legal issue was raised by any council member. |
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