The sponsor of a proposed ballot initiative that would establish
rent control at El Dorado Mobile Estates in Fillmore has asked the
California Secretary of State’s office to investigate allegations that
signature gatherers for a rival initiative misled some registered
voters into signing it.
David Roegner, 59, a longtime resident of the 302-unit mobile home
park for seniors at 250 E. Telegraph Road, said he mailed a formal
written complaint to the Secretary of State’s Election Fraud
Investigation Unit. He said several other park residents have also
filed such written complaints.
A number of Fillmore registered voters have also complained to city
officials about allegedly being misled into signing the rival
initiative sponsored by principal park owner Nancy Watkins. Watkins’
initiative would also institute rent control at El Dorado, but would
offer ownership of condo conversions, too.
Roegner’s initiative, in addition to establishing rent control at
the park, would also let El Dorado residents vote on whether they want
condo conversions there.
The complaints contend that the signature gatherers misled
registered voters into signing the rival initiative over Memorial Day
weekend by falsely claiming that Roegner’s initiative has already been
found unconstitutional.
“All the people who signed ours before were signing theirs, thinking
that ours was no good,” Roegner said. “That’s as underhanded as it
gets, I think.”
But former Fillmore Mayor and Councilman Roger Campbell, who oversaw
the gathering of the signatures for Watkins’ initiative, said he does
not believe the signature gatherers made any misleading statements.
City Councilwoman Gayle Washburn, however, said she personally
witnessed at least one signature gatherer make a false statement, and
noted that doing so is a misdemeanor under the state Elections Code.
Nicole Winger, a spokesperson for Secretary of State Debra Bowen,
said she is precluded from commenting on whether the office receives
complaints or opens investigations.
Washburn said she received numerous complaints from constituents
during the Memorial Day weekend. City Clerk Clay Westling said he, too,
has received a few complaints.
A number of residents also showed up at the City Council’s May 26 meeting to complain.
After receiving the calls, Washburn said she went to the Vons
supermarket in town, one of the locations where the signatures were
being gathered.
“And I observed voter fraud,” Washburn said. “What I heard was
flat-out lies” by at least one signature gatherer about Roegner’s
initiative already having been declared unconstitutional.
“At one point I intervened,” Washburn said. “I asked the woman” who
made the alleged false statement, ‘Well, how do you know that?’ I
didn’t tell her who I was. And she said, ‘Oh, it’s online.’ And I knew
that wasn’t right.”
Campbell, however, said initiative signers misunderstood what the
signature gatherers were telling them, even though he conceded he
wasn’t present when the alleged misleading statements were made.
After receiving word about the complaints that weekend, “I went down
there and clarified” that the signature gatherers had to restrict
themselves to the language of the Watkins initiative’s official summary
as approved by City Attorney Ted Schneider, Campbell said.
“They (the signature gatherers) swore to me that they weren’t saying
that” Roegner’s initiative had already been declared unconstitutional,
he said.
Campbell said the signature gatherers were referring to a lawsuit
filed by the owners of a Thousand Oaks mobile home park, Vallecito
Mobile Estates, against the city of Thousand Oaks over an ordinance
worded similarly to Roegner’s.
“They were talking about the Thousand Oaks case and people weren’t
really hearing everything that was being said,” Campbell said.
The county’s Elections Division, meanwhile, has started verifying
the signatures on both proposed initiatives, delivered to them by
Westling and another city employee. Campbell said he turned in 1,500
signatures, while Rogener’s initiative gathered 1,291 signatures.
County Assistant Registrar of Voters Tracy Saucedo said the allegations of misleading statements are not her concern.
“All we’re concerned about” is determining if the signatures are valid signatures from registered Fillmore voters, Saucedo said.
The Secretary of State’s Winger said any determination of fraud or decertification would have to be made by the courts.
Schneider said the initiatives must have the valid signatures of at
least 10 percent of Fillmore’s registered voters to be certified. Once
the measures have been certified by the county, they will go before the
council at its next regularly scheduled meeting.
The council can then adopt one of the initiatives, order that both
initiatives be placed on the ballot or order an initiative impact
report, Schneider said.
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