PLAN! Appeals Court Judgment

The group Prevent Los Angelization Now! on Wednesday appealed a Superior Court ruling awarding $30,000 in legal fees to two businessman who successfully sued to keep the growth management organization’s initiative off the June ballot.

At a news conference, the group also announced that it has asked three separate agencies to investigate activities of the two men, political consultant Mac Strobl and Robert Lichter, president of John Burnham & Co.

In requesting investigations by the Internal Revenue Service, the state Fair Political Practices Commission and the San Diego city attorney’s office, PLAN! claimed the pair acted as “front men” for developers behind the legal effort to keep the Planned Growth and Taxpayer Relief Initiative off the ballot.

Strobl denied all the charges. “This is clearly motivated by sour grapes,” he said. “We just see this as a vindictive effort.”

The legal debt has all but bankrupted PLAN! and will prevent the city’s major growth management organization from raising money or circulating its latest initiative. Strobl said he will press his claim for reimbursement of the legal fees, but PLAN! officials said that the organization has few assets and virtually no cash with which to pay the debt.