FlashReport readers — you will hear a lot from me on this subject, but I may not be as eloquent as Jon Coupal below. On the June ballot, Proposition 98 represents very real property rights reform, preventing the abusing "taking" of private property by the government. It is an oustanding measure which deserves your energy and support.
On the other hand, Proposition 99 is a fraud — a fake. Placed on the ballot by those who would preserve the rights of government to egregiously use the power of eminent domain to trample the rights of property owners, the backers of 99 are hoping they get their measure to recive just one more vote than 98, as buried in its language is a "poison pill" that voids 98 if 99 gets more votes.
Read more below from Jon Coupal…
PHONY HOMEOWNERS GROUP FRONTS PHONY BALLOT MEASURE
By Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
The story is told that to fool Catherine II, Russian minister Grigori Potemkin constructed hollow facades of villages along the desolate banks of the Dnieper River. When the monarch and her entourage sailed by, they were impressed with the prosperity in her new territories.
Backers of a phony property rights measure, Proposition 99 on the June ballot, have borrowed a page or two from Potemkin’s book.
Last year, taxpayers, farmers and small business owners began qualifying a measure for the ballot — Proposition 98 — that would bar cities and counties from seizing private property from unwilling sellers so it can be turned over to favored developers for strip malls and other for profit projects.
To protect local officials’ power over private property, the League of California Cities drafted their own initiative, Proposition 99 – which is as fake as a three dollar bill. Although designed to be cosmetically attractive, a closer examination reveals that it is just another hollow shell. The non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office states Proposition 99, “is not likely to significantly alter current government land acquisition practices.” In other words, Proposition 99 does nothing. Well, it does one thing. If it passes with more votes than Proposition 98, which is the “real deal” for property owners, it invalidates all the protections contained in that measure.
Here is why the League of California Cities and their developer allies should be sending a royalty check to Potemkin for using his ideas. Not only have they constructed an initiative that has nothing of substance on the inside, but to further confuse the voters, they are featuring its support by the League of California Homeowners, Inc. While this attractive name may cause many voters to think this is a broad based statewide homeowners organization, it is actually a corporation whose primary function is to act as a contractor referral service.
In fact, this organization is essentially a one-man-band headed by its president, Upland City Councilman Ken Willis. Apparently, Willis values his power to take property in his community because he is willing to violate his organization’s bylaws to back the fake Proposition 99, and oppose the genuine Proposition 98. The bylaws of the League of California Homeowners clearly state, “…the Corporation shall not participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office or for or against any cause or measure being submitted to the people for a vote.”
However, the website for the deceptive Proposition 99, lists the League of California Homeowners on the top of the list of endorsers. The same website shows this “homeowners group” as an opponent of Proposition 98, which would actually curtail abuses of governments’ right to take private property.
What we have here is a contractor referral service with a misleading title being used to screen a phony property rights initiative. Potemkin would be proud. Property owners will get more protection from “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” than they will from the League of California Cities, the League of California Homeowners and their fraudulent Proposition 99.
Proposition 98, proudly sponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the California Farm Bureau Federation and the California Alliance to Protect Private Property Rights, will allow governments to take property only for genuine public purposes, like schools and roads and will bar the seizure of property so that private developers can make a profit.
With the passage of Proposition 98 in June, property owners will get real protection, not just happy talk.
Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?
Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.