Judge Tosses Challenge of Ballot Language for Dueling Fort Ord Initiatives

A Monterey County Superior Court judge dismissed a legal challenge to contentious November ballot statements—apparently because the author of the language, Monterey County Business Council President Mary Ann Leffel, had not been served.

Leaders of the Fort Ord Access Alliance, whose Measure M would designate about 540 Fort Ord acres as open space, challenged the ballot arguments submitted for rival Measure K. Their timing was about as tight as it gets: The initiative arguments were due to the ballot printer today. 

The Access Alliance's legal challenge, filed Sept. 5, accuses Secure the Promise's Measure K—a business-backed initiative to develop many of the same Fort Ord acres Measure M seeks to preserve—of submitting false statements for inclusion in the voter pamphlets.

Among the statements the Access Alliance takes issue with: That Measure M would block development of the Central Coast Veterans Cemetery, the Monterey Peninsula College Police and Fire Training Facility and the proposed Eastside Parkway. All three claims, the lawsuit alleges, are false or misleading.

The Access Alliance and one of its lead organizers, Jason Campbell, name Fort Ord Reuse Authority Executive Director Michael Houlemard and Monterey County Interim Registrar of Voters Claudio Valenzuela in the lawsuit, along with Leffel, who supports Measure K and is the alleged author of the statements in question.

The plaintiffs asked the court to delete or amend the offending statements before the ballots are printed.

"The judge [seems] to be in an awkward spot, wanting to protect the integrity of the election but also give us a chance to make our point," Campbell said, speaking with the Weekly by phone during a court recess.

He says Judge Thomas Wills asked Leffel's attorney, Colin Pearce, to attempt to contact Leffel—who had not been served—and request her permission to negotiate revisions to the ballot language.

"He is giving all parties an opportunity to correct and settle on the language," Campbell said.

Pearce, who spoke with the Weekly Wednesday morning, says Leffel was not on vacation but rather "going about her business" in Monterey County. He says he spoke with her Tuesday afternoon, during the court recess.

"Ms. Leffel is more than happy to discuss changes to the language she prepared as long as the other side will change the language they prepared," he said. "Our side did have a lot of problems with their language. It was not accurate, and a lot of it is inflammatory."

Pearce maintains Leffel's pro-Measure K claims in the voter pamphlet rebuttal arguments are accurate, because the veterans cemetery and other projects will be indirectly affected by Measure M's passage, even if they are not directly impacted by the open-space measure.

Campbell says Fort Ord Access Alliance will continue to attempt to serve Leffel. When that's accomplished, he says, he expects the court to expedite the Access Alliance's challenge.

He adds that the ruling leaves taxpayers on the hook for both the printing of allegedly false statements, and any corrections that might be issued after ballots are distributed.