http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... e=politics

Anti-illegal immigrant measure didn't qualify for city ballot
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Monday, June 26, 2006


(06-26) 14:27 PDT San Bernardino, Calif. (AP) --

A judge ruled Monday that an anti-illegal immigration activist had not collected enough signatures to hold a city vote on a measure that would severely curtail the rights of illegal immigrants.

San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge A. Rex Victor granted activist Joseph Turner 10 days to collect the signatures needed to qualify his measure for a September special election in the city 70 miles east of Los Angeles.

The initiative, which the City Council referred to voters last month, would be one of the most far-reaching in the nation in its effort to limit the rights of illegal immigrants.

As written, it would bar undocumented residents from renting in the city and force day laborers to prove they are legal residents. The initiative would also ban day labor centers, deny permits, contracts and grants to employers who hire illegal immigrants and require that city business be conducted in English.

Turner said after the judge's ruling that he doubted that he would try to collect the needed signatures in the 10-day window, but would instead return to voters with an even "more draconian" initiative.

"I was told I needed to gather a certain number of signatures and I gathered those signatures. I followed the process to the T, to the letter. And now they tell me, 'You're wrong,'" Turner said. "This is not going to deter me or make me go away. I'm going to come back harder and stronger."

The initiative has attracted national attention and prompted copycat measures elsewhere, including in Hazleton, Pa. That city recently gave tentative approval to a measure that would revoke the business licenses of companies that employ illegal immigrants, impose $1,000 fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and make English the city's official language.

In San Bernardino, the debate over the initiative has created tension among the city's population of 200,000. Just under 50 percent are Hispanic, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Its previous mayor was a Hispanic woman elected to two terms.

On Friday, an immigration rights activist was cited for battery after allegedly slapping Turner following a court hearing.

The council was set to schedule an election date earlier this month, but instead voted to ask a judge to determine whether they could legally do that after receiving a letter from an attorney challenging the process.

Attorney Dana W. Reed, who represents resident Florentino Garza, questioned the formula city officials used to determine how many signatures were needed to put the measure on the ballot.

The city charter states an ordinance's author must gather enough signatures to equal 30 percent of voters "at the last preceding city election at which a mayor was elected."

The initiative petition qualified last month with 2,216 signatures, which was at least 30 percent of the number of voters who cast ballots in the 2001 mayoral race.

But Reed contended the city should have used February's mayoral runoff as its base for determining how many signatures were needed. Doing so would have required Turner to gather 4,771 signatures, according to Reed.