Riordan’s Bid to Put Reform Measure on Ballot Hits Snag

Mayor Richard Riordan’s petition drive to create a government reform panel has hit a snag as the number of valid signatures needed to qualify the measure for the April ballot is falling short.

While the petition’s backers are confident that the measure will eventually qualify, it could be delayed from appearing on the April ballot, a development that could damage its chances of passage in the future.

Election officials said Thursday that they have verified 69% of a random sample of signatures submitted by Riordan and his supporters--short of the 71% needed to qualify. About 10% of the sample group remains to be checked.

If the measure does not qualify based on the random sample, state law requires election officials to verify at least 197,000 of the total 303,000 signatures by Friday--a difficult if not impossible task, election officials say.

State law gives the city 30 working days to verify the signatures on a petition. But it is unclear what will happen if election officials cannot meet the Friday deadline.

Riordan and his supporters, however, are not giving up hope, saying the measure can still qualify in the next few days based on the final thousand or so random sample signatures.

“I think it’s so close now it could go either way,” said David Fleming, a Studio City attorney and Riordan ally who helped lead the campaign.

Even if the measure fails to qualify based on a check of the random sample, Rick Taylor, campaign manager for the petition drive, said the measure probably will qualify based on a check of all 303,000 submitted signatures.

“Clearly, we can qualify on a full count, but the question is can they qualify it by the deadline?” he said.

The measure would appear to have a better chance of passing during the citywide April election because Riordan can campaign for it while running for reelection.

In addition, any delay in launching Riordan’s reform panel gives a competing reform committee appointed by the City Council more time to establish itself.