Panelists answered the following: Are you OK with a proposal to request donations on the county website for a legal defense fund related to Measure J litigation?
Bill Mifsud Yes. The people spoke. We live in a great country and some are sue happy. If this is what it takes to let the measure stand then I am for the proposal to request donations.
Nants Foley: I believe the supervisors have the right to solicit funds on a website. I don’t believe it will be successful.
Jim West: No. Had county supervisors campaigned against Measure J and then sought donations for their defense fund, I would say yeah. But only Supervisor Barrios opposed it—Supervisors Rivas and Botelho made a number of public statements and appearances in support of Measure J. Well they ‘won’ so let them figure out how to defend the county and keep the doors open out of the General Fund. It doesn’t really matter; ultimately taxpayers (us) are going to foot the entire bill.
Mary Zanger: Yes, we will donate because now we see the full unmasking of wealthy business interests. On display is their complete absence of conscience. Business investments have no concern for the common good. In reality, people have rights to drink clean water and to breath clean air. The earth has rights to stay alive. When lawyers come to battle over these issues they will discover that the rights of people will trump the stealth of intruders.
Ruth Erickson: Though it’s probably the only way to pay for the lawsuit, there’s much to consider! ‘No on J’ spent a huge amount of money to try to defeat ‘Yes on J’, which spent very little, yet won the election to disallow fracking. How can a lawsuit be brought to try and overturn a vote of the people? If the donated funds are less than the costs of the lawsuit, it will come out of the General Fund. It is concerning to think that the lawsuit could go on for years, so how will the county be able to budget for any overages? More questions than answers!
