A last ditch effort by a group of Santa Clara residents to change the language of a ballot measure that could get rid of California’s last elected police chief has failed.
On Dec. 18, Satish Chandra, Joyce Davis and Carolyn McAllister filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court over Measure B, which will ask voters on March 5 whether the city should change the police chief role from an elected position to an appointed one.
The three residents — two of whom were on the seven-member Charter Review Committee that examined the issue earlier this year — argued that the way the question was worded was “biased and unlawful” and left out crucial information: that the police chief is currently an elected position. They asked the court to step in ahead of the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Dec. 29 printing deadline for ballots.
Judge Thomas Kuhnle, however, disagreed with the residents’ argument in his Dec. 26 ruling, which denied their request to have the city change the ballot language.
Kuhnle said that the resident’s didn’t argue that the wording of Measure B is “false and misleading.”
“Petitioners’ concerns are instead focused not the words used but rather, the words not used,” Kuhnle said in his decision. “They argue this causes the ballot question to be biased and partial.”
The measure submitted to the registrar of voters asks voters, “Shall an amendment to the City Charter providing that the Chief of Police position be appointed by the City Manager be adopted?” Ballot measures are allowed to be up to 75 words, but Measure B is less than half of that, prompting the residents to argue that “there is sufficient space to add six words (‘instead of elected by the voters’).”
“The words used (or not used) in the ballot question here do not signal the City Council’s view nor do they disparage other views,” Kuhnle said.
In an email, the residents’ attorney, Bradley W. Hertz of the Sutton Law Firm, criticized the judge’s decision.
“Even with the court’s ruling, my clients continue to believe that it is extremely important that voters know that a yes vote on Measure B takes away the citizens’ existing right to elect their police chief,” he said.
In a statement, city spokesperson Janine De la Vega praised the ruling.
“In issuing its order, the court has affirmed that the ballot language approved by the City Council does not create bias nor disparage the opposing views,” she said. “More importantly, the ruling validates that the ballot language selected by the Charter Review Committee and adopted by the City Council is legally compliant.”
The process of putting Measure B on the ballot has been a contentious one after a community survey circulated by the city to gather feedback from residents was hit by thousands of bots. Councilmember Kathy Watanabe called it “tainted.” Both she and Mayor Lisa Gillmor oppose moving away from an elected police chief.
In order to be elected police chief, you must be an officer living in Santa Clara. But with less than 10 of the department’s cops living within the city’s boundaries, proponents of a yes vote on the measure say it doesn’t give them many options — especially when even less than that pool may be qualified for the job.
On March 5, Santa Clara voters will also vote on Measure A to decide whether they want to move the city clerk role from an elected position to an appointed one. Despite having almost identical ballot language, Measure A never faced a legal challenge.
If either measure fails, the next election for police chief and city clerk will take place in November 2024.