City Attorney Ballot Measure Signature Drive Finishes

City Attorney Petition Drive Crosses 551 Signature Threshold, 

Dirty Tricks Alleged

Council member Ken Bukowski reports to the Tattler that the petition to abolish the city attorney as a paid staff member, circulating around the city for the last several weeks, has surpassed 551 signatures; enough to place the measure before Emeryville voters in November despite allegations of signature suppressing dirty tricks .  If the petition is certified by the County Registrar of Voters, citizens will be able to decide for themselves if the city of Emeryville should subcontract out its legal services as most cities our size do or to continue to retain the paid city attorney position and its staff.

Mr Bukowski told the Tattler that the petition drive, a grassroots effort conducted by many concerned Emeryville residents, has netted 773 signatures total and of that amount 202 are probably invalid due to errors he detected, leaving 571 valid and acceptable signatures for the County.  The County has indicated that a minimum of 551 valid signatures need to be verified to place the measure before voters in November.

  

Dirty Tricks

Mr Bukowski told the Tattler that two Emeryville resident signature solicitors, who might have had a change of heart about the petition drive midway through their signature gathering efforts, failed to submit all their collected signatures, a prosecutable crime he says.  Many signatures may have been discarded by the two he says.
Mr Bukowski said he will be talking to the District Attorney's office about this breach of public trust by the two unnamed citizens, with the intent of filing a complaint.

Petitions for ballot initiatives must have the proper number of signatures and the signers must accurately and legibly provide their printed names as it appears on their voter registration card on file.  In addition, the proper address as it appears on the voter registration card must also be entered.  Any mistake invalidates a signature.

Although the city attorney ballot initiative has been taken up by many Emeryville citizens, it's been associated most strongly with council member Bukowski as he was the progenitor and its most vocal supporter.