New Brunswick still fighting Change of Government Petition

by: Jason Springer

Tue Sep 16, 2008 at 08:56:31 PM EDT

Nearly two weeks ago, Superior Court Judge Heidi W. Currier ruled in favor of ward residents seeking a petition on the November 4th ballot that would designate a new zoning system for ward residents.

The ruling wasn't the end of the story because today the city asked the Judge to reconsider:

The petition asks residents two questions: if the council should be divided into six wards represented by one council member per ward and three at-large council members, and if the five member at-large council should be increased to a nine member at-large council.
Because two questions were on the petition, Willis Currier ruled that EON must write an interpretative statement for the ballot so people would understand what they were voting on.
The city also feels the judge should have required EON to submit an ordinance with the petition, because that's what state law requires.

The Mayor talked about a lack of clarity as the need for another lock:

"The court recognized the lack of clarity and ambiguity of the questions when they were posed with each other," he said. "The court said we can clear that up with the interpretive statement. But that misses the point. The point isn't if you can clear it up on Election Day. There must be clear intent when they signed the petition."

He also talked about the "dozens" of complaints he says the city received, but organizers slammed the tactics of the city:

Charles Kratovil, EON's co-campaign manager, said today the city "strong armed" these residents into saying they didn't know what they were signing.
"They had six weeks to find people who said they didn't understand what they signed, and they got 10 people to step forward," he said. "They're doing this because they have no shot in November. They're backtracking. They're between a rock and a hard place."

Scott W. has written more about this before. They better do something soon because the ballots are supposed to be printed Monday.

Jason Springer :: New Brunswick still fighting Change of Government Petition