ACLU to Sue Over VOTE Petition Ban

ACLU attorneys announced Sunday that they will file a federal lawsuit seeking damages from the city of Los Angeles for ousting San Fernando Valley secession activists from the Van Nuys Airport during a July air show.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California alleges officials at the city-owned airport violated the 1st Amendment and the state Constitution when they kicked out people gathering signatures on petitions that could eventually lead to the splintering of the Valley from the city of Los Angeles.

The lawsuit, which the ACLU said it would file today, will ask the city to reimburse Valley VOTE for the cost of hiring professional petitioners to collect up to 20,000 signatures. That’s the number the group estimates its volunteers would have netted had they not been removed from the Van Nuys Aviation Expo ‘98, which attracted about 250,000 spectators.

“We just want to make clear that we’re serious. Valley VOTE has suffered some serious damage,” said Peter Eliasberg, the ACLU attorney representing the Valley organization.

One petitioner alone gathered 80 signatures in an hour before being ejected by airport security, Eliasberg said.

The incident at Van Nuys Airport was especially harmful, Eliasberg said, because Valley VOTE must gather 135,000 signatures by Aug. 27 to prompt a state-sponsored study and potential vote on secession.

The federal lawsuit also will seek a court order barring the city from interfering with Valley VOTE’s petition drive in the future, Eliasberg said.

Officials at the city attorney’s office could not be reached for comment Sunday on the planned ACLU action.

John J. Driscoll, executive director of the city Department of Airports, acknowledged that Van Nuys Airport officials illegally barred the petitioners during the July 18-19 air show, and he publicly apologized to members of Valley VOTE.

Driscoll blamed the incident on miscommunication between Van Nuys Airport Manager Ron Kochevar and airport security.

The City Council earlier this month decided to help Valley VOTE try to gain a 30-day extension of the deadline. Valley VOTE Chairman Richard Close said that remedy is insufficient. The city lacks the power to grant Valley VOTE more time to solicit signatures--only the state Legislature can do so, Close said.

“The city has admitted wrongdoing, and the city has done nothing about it,” Close said. “The city hasn’t even held accountable the people who did this.”

He also complained that the City Council required Valley VOTE not to sue over the airport incident before assisting the group in its attempt to win an extension.

Last week, the Local Agency Formation Commission ruled it had no legal authority to stretch Valley VOTE’s deadline. LAFCO is the state authority charged with determining the viability of an independent Valley city and the financial consequences of secession to the sundered city of Los Angeles. If the findings are favorable for Valley secession, LAFCO would then decide whether to place the issue on the citywide ballot.

Because the Aug. 27 deadline is fast approaching, it might be next to impossible to convince a federal judge or state lawmakers to grant the extension before the clock runs out, Close said.

Instead, Valley VOTE may ask the judge to require the city to pay its “fair share” of the LAFCO study, which is expected to cost $1 million, Close said. State lawmakers have already agreed to chip in $340,000 for the study if the city and Los Angeles County agree to pay $330,000 apiece.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, who represents the West Valley and called for the city intervention to extend the deadline, said she was not surprised by Valley VOTE’s legal action. However, she said the city has made an honest effort to help “right the wrong” that was done to Valley VOTE.

“They are exercising their legal rights, but I am really sorry and saddened,” Chick said. “Any lawsuit brought against the city is not good news.”

Meanwhile, emergency legislation to extend Valley VOTE’s petition by three months is scheduled to come before the Senate Local Government Committee today. The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks).