Costa Mesa’s charter – currently called Measure V – will be decided today in a citywide vote that saw huge spending by special interests and the unprecedented wielding of the bully pulpit by proponents on the city council. But, for the years of fighting over outsourcing, little may be settled by the vote.
The Jim Righeimer-led city council has already said that should Measure V be defeated, they’ll come back again and correct items the ‘no’ campaign has targeted. To Righeimer and the ideologically aligned majority on the City Council, the city’s potential charter is more than just a ballot measure, it’s a chance to free themselves from Sacramento controls.
The special interests who have poured ten times more money into the race than the charter’s supporters say that the charter would free the city from Sacramento’s protections, leaving the city open to failures such as Stockton and Bell. To help drive that message, opponents have raised more than half a million dollars, spending on mailers and ads.
Read the full story at the Voice of the OC.