Secession Study Backers End Petition Drive

With a final blitzkrieg of paid solicitors greeting holiday shoppers well into the night, proponents of studying San Fernando Valley secession wrapped up their petition drive Wednesday claiming victory.

Leaders of Valley VOTE, the group spearheading the campaign to study splitting Los Angeles, said that with hundreds of workers across the Valley on Wednesday, they are confident of meeting their goal of 200,000 signatures.

They plan to discuss whether to ask the city and county, which fund the Local Agency Formation Commission, the panel that would oversee a study, for more money. Valley VOTE Chair Richard Close said the signatures represented strong community support for examining creation of what would be the nation’s sixth-largest city.

“The 200,000 people who signed this want to see a study, and they want to let the voters decide,” Close said. “You’re going to hear over and over in the next year or two, ‘Let the people decide.’ ”

The drive appeared to be losing steam just a few months ago, as activists were struggling to collect the signatures needed to force a secession study. But thanks to emergency legislation filed by Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks), the deadline was extended three months, until Wednesday.

State law requires a study before a vote on secession, as well as a petition drive before a study. The activists need signatures from one-fourth of the Valley’s registered voters--about 135,000 names--but set out to gather many more, knowing some of the signatures would not be valid. If the study determines Valley cityhood is financially viable, the issue could go before voters across the city as early as 2000.

Valley VOTE President Jeff Brain said the activists plan to submit the signatures to LAFCO at its Dec. 9 meeting.

Although Valley VOTE has now succeeded in collecting the signatures, it is still fighting a battle over who will pay to have the signatures verified.

LAFCO members Wednesday discussed the issue and seemed to be leaning toward assuming the cost themselves instead of charging the petition sponsor, Valley VOTE, as is LAFCO’s usual practice in incorporation drives. Following advice from county lawyers, LAFCO also decided to check only a random sample of the signatures, drastically reducing the costs.

But LAFCO did not take a formal position and its nine members conceded they lack the money to pay for verification, which could cost as much as $270,000 if all the signatures are checked, which may be necessary if the sample is not definitive. The agency may ask the city and county, its primary source of funds, for more money.

“It’s one thing to say ten grand for a sampling, but suppose the sampling is not sufficient,” Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. “You’re talking six figures. . . . I think it is a subversion of the process.”

“I totally agree that there should not be charges for petitioning the government,” Councilman Hal Bernson added. “[But] LAFCO does not have the funding, and does not have access to the funds.”

Valley VOTE leaders have argued no state in the country charges for verification except Florida, and that such a practice violates constitutional rights. Before the meeting, they presented LAFCO with a strongly worded letter from a powerful ally--Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Northridge), who agreed with their contention.

“The proposal of your commission is, in a word, despotic,” McClintock wrote. “I believe that the continuation of this course will foment a serious constitutional crisis.”

LAFCO Chairman Thomas E. Jackson, a Huntington Park councilman, was clearly annoyed by McClintock’s rhetoric, saying he is no despot.

“This is the amount every other petitioner is charged,” he told Valley VOTE members. I realize it’s a lot to pay. . . . Go to McClintock and tell him to help you with some legislation to help with your constitutional rights.”