El Toro Fans Play Beat the Clock and Win

An Orange County judge ruled Tuesday that a ballot argument against Measure F, an initiative pushed by opponents of a commercial airport at El Toro, met a 5 p.m. filing deadline, even though the registrar’s office had locked its doors.

Political consultant David Ellis, representing pro-airport Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, and another witness said a wall clock inside the registrar’s office had not yet struck 5 p.m. Friday when Ellis arrived with the papers.

Superior Court Judge William F. McDonald said that Registrar Rosalyn Lever was responsible for the accuracy of “public time,” which he defined as wall and office clocks.

Lever testified that she and a clerk had telephoned Pacific Bell to get an accurate time, and at precisely 5 p.m., the doors were ordered closed. Pacific Bell’s time is based on Greenwich Mean Time.

But the judge said that wasn’t good enough.

In days of old, McDonald said, villagers relied on the clock in the town square or the church clock, “despite how inaccurate [it] may have been.”

The issue is not “how accurate” time may be, but “what is the public time,” he said, adding that Greenwich Mean Time wasn’t included as evidence by either side’s attorneys.

“I have six clocks in front of me right now,” the judge said, looking around his courtroom. “Now, if the six agree, then this is the public time and that controls this court.”

He added: “It’s incumbent on the registrar to make sure the clocks are right.”

Ellis, who was elated after the ruling, said that Friday “wasn’t his best day.”

“There was plenty of traffic that day,” he said. “But now, we got [the argument] in as the judge indicated today.”

Jeffrey C. Metzger, chairman of the anti-airport Citizens for Safe and Healthy Communities, was visibly upset and lashed out at McDonald.

“There was no evidence presented that Ellis had arrived before 5 p.m. It appears the judge was going to find in their favor anyway,” he said.

Metzger and other airport opponents have not decided whether to appeal McDonald’s ruling. “We need to huddle and talk over the decision first,” he said.

At the very least, the ruling saves airport proponents the cost of mass mailings to the county’s 1.1 million registered voters.

Both sides consider ballot arguments crucial because, in countywide elections, they often are the only material read by voters before casting their ballots.

Ellis had initially arrived at the registrar’s office before 1 p.m. Friday to submit the ballot argument. He handed it over to office supervisor Suzanne Slupsky, who inspected it and told Ellis it met the 300-word limit and could be accepted despite the fact that one of the five signatures was not from a registered voter.

Ellis asked for the documents back and left to get an additional signature, that of Westminster Police Chief James Cook. On the return trip, Ellis got stuck in traffic, he said.

Adam Probolsky, who was inside the office when the doors were shut and testified for the pro-airport group, said he noticed a wall clock at the time and said it read “five to 5 o’clock.”

Probolsky also said he did not hear any kind of announcement by any registrar employee or a countdown to indicate the doors were about to close.

Adding drama to the case, Ellis asked the registrar to accept the ballot argument against Measure F in the courtroom corridor immediately after the judge’s ruling.

Lever declined, saying she needed to speak first with Deputy County Counsel Sara Parker. Parker, who was in the hallway, gave her approval.

With both pro- and anti-airport factions and their attorneys looking on, Ellis hurriedly rummaged through a folder, then handed the ballot statement to Lever.