Schools
Suit Filed Against Measure E; Vanguard Asks if Dunning Should 'Flip the Bill' to Quash It
A lawsuit was filed by Thomas Randall, Jr. and Janet Zwahlen claim that Measure E applies the law in different ways to different groups and that there are issues with the measure's wording.
Two Davis residents filed a lawsuit in federal court late last week, challenging the constitutionality of the Measure E parcel tax and the wording of the ballot measure, which is aimed at funding Davis schools.
The lawsuit was filed by Thomas Randall, Jr. and Janet Zwahlen. At the core, they claim that Measure E applies the law in different ways to different groups: Homeowners pay more than apartment dwellers. Senior citizens and people who live outside Davis but send their kids to school here don't have to pay.
The suit claims that this "raises a constitutional question under the Equal Protection of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States," which says “no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
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Four of the five candidates running for Davis School Board support Measure E, (Jose Granda being the exception). You can hear their reasons for supporting it in the video that accompanies this article. School board candidate Nancy Peterson specifically addresses senior citizens, apartment dwellers and out of town students at the 2:48 mark.
These criticisms have been regularly brought up by candidate Granda, who has also played an active role in the No on E campaign.
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In the same lawsuit, Randall and Zwahlen challenge the wording of the measure, saying it "mixes several issues into one long winded sentence and ties the vote on the Measure to the outcome of Proposition 30."
According to a release provided by Randall, they question that "the current wording is incomprehensible and that a voter voting YES on Measure E really does not know what he is voting on. Either they vote YES to pay $204? $242? $446? Or is the voter accepting the full impact of paying $766? Including the taxes approved just four months ago under Measure C. Are the two amounts $204 and $242 together tied to Proposition 30? Or are they separate. If Proposition 30 fails, are apartment residents also obligated to pay $242 or they pay zero? These questions arise because of the convoluted language in the ballot."
The Davis Vanguard ran a commentary Sunday morning calling the suit "frivolous" and "a joke." The Vanguard also asked whether the Enterprises's Bob Dunning should pay the legal bills "for the taxpayers, since it was his column that led to this desperate law suit?"
Watch the video above to hear each school board candidate address Measure E. Here's the wording of the measure:
"To offset the continued loss of significant state funding, shall the Davis Joint Unified School District be authorized to continue a special tax for a period of 4 years not to exceed the base annual rate of $20.00 per dwelling unit for multi-dwelling parcels and $204.00 per parcel for all other parcels, and levy up to an additional $242.00 to cover State funding shortfalls ONLY if the November 2012 Temporary Taxes to Fund Education initiative does not pass?"
Is the lawsuit a frivolous joke, or does it have merit? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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