Nov. 3 Vote Targeted : Foes File Lawsuit to Stop Cityhood for Santa Clarita

A group opposed to Santa Clarita cityhood filed suit Thursday, asking Los Angeles Superior Court to block the Nov. 3 incorporation election.

The suit, filed by Anthony J. Skirlick Jr. on behalf of Citizens Against Cityhood, charges that the election violates the First Amendment of the Constitution and the state Elections Code because no arguments against cityhood appear on the ballot.

“This omission is a direct consequence of a series of precipitous acts executed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Aug. 6, 1987, when this body voted to allow the Santa Clarita cityhood measure to appear on the Nov. 3, 1987, ballot,” Skirlick said.

Skirlick said the board, led by Supervisor Mike Antonovich, hurriedly passed the resolution allowing the issue on the ballot without any compelling reasons.

Skirlick, an air-traffic controller acting as the group’s attorney, said the board’s action prevented many potential city council candidates from entering the campaign because they were given just one day to file nomination papers.

“For an issue of this magnitude, to allow only one day for petition gathering and for candidate declarations is to insult the most basic principles of the democratic process,” Skirlick said.

Opponents of cityhood had five days, until Aug. 12, to submit ballot arguments against incorporation, but that was still not enough time, he said.

If the court does not throw out the election, the lawsuit asks that an opposition argument to cityhood of 300 words or less be inserted in the sample ballot and voter-registration materials.

Named as defendants in the suit are Los Angeles County, Registrar-Recorder Charles Weissburd and the Board of Supervisors.

Six cityhood opponents, including two children, picketed a cityhood fund-raising event Thursday at the Blue Moon Restaurant in Castaic. The protesters carried homemade signs that said “Vote Against Cityhood,” “Cityhood Means No Added Growth” and “Cityhood Means Higher Taxes.”

Art Donnelly, chairman of the City of Santa Clarita Formation Committee, said he would not comment on the lawsuit until he had consulted the committee’s attorney.

In a related development, Donnelly said he received a letter from state Sen. Ed Davis (D-Valencia) favoring incorporation.