Sacramento Bee

Yolo's registrar takes on governor
She says only a judge could make her hold a $300,000 special election in November.
By Gary Delsohn
Sacramento Bee Capitol Bureau
Thursday, May 12, 2005

County officials around the state are griping about the costs of staging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's special election, but none has gone as far as Freddie Oakley, Yolo County's registrar.
Convinced a November statewide election would waste scarce county money, she's threatening not to hold it unless ordered by a judge.

"Maybe I should just go to jail," Oakley said Wednesday. "Martha Stewart came out 30 pounds lighter and looking 10 years younger. It's not the worst thing."

A special election, she said, would cost Yolo County $300,000 at a time it is already running a budget deficit. Statewide, the estimated costs are about $70 million.

"We're very concerned about the costs," Oakley said. "We furloughed employees last year. We're looking at laying off employees this year. Last year, every single one of my employees had to take two weeks' unpaid vacation - at Christmas. It was grim. Those are the folks we're asking to pay for the election, when you come right down to it."

Oakley said she she's eager to stand up to Schwarzenegger and refuse to hold the election, but she concedes she'd probably obey a judge's order - if it came to that.

"I can see myself defying this governor," she said. "I would stand nose to nose with him and tell him what a terrible idea this is. It's a waste of state money if the state pays for it, but I'll run his election if the state does pay.

"I'll defy this governor," she added, "but I don't know if I could defy a Superior Court judge."

If she does go to jail, Yolo County Supervisor Mariko Yamada, a Democrat, said she'll join her.

Yamada wrote an April 26 resolution passed by the board and sent to Schwarzenegger asking him not to call the special election in November, since a regular statewide election is set for next June.

"I told Freddie we might go together," Yamada said. "Why not? I haven't been arrested for a good cause in quite a while. I think this is something I would be willing to go to jail for a while over."

Yamada's resolution said Yolo's $300,000 share "would serve more than 100 more clients in the Yolo County Healthcare for Indigents program, provide 25,000 hours of in-home care or pave 158,400 feet of county roads."

Section 13001 of the state's Elections Code says all expenses for elections, with rare exceptions, are to be paid from county funds. But elections officials said Gov. Pete Wilson included a payback to the counties in 1993 when he and legislative leaders called the last statewide special election before the 2003 recall that brought Schwarzenegger to office.

"It would be potentially a huge hit in Los Angeles, maybe $10 million or so," said Conny McCormack, the registrar there and president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials. "We certainly didn't budget for that."

McCormack said she was encouraged after meeting with new Secretary of State Bruce McPherson soon after Schwarzenegger appointed him to replace Kevin Shelley, who resigned.

"Bruce told us he thought the counties should be reimbursed for their costs," she said. "I'm sure it was a sincere statement and I'll ask him to follow up on it."

McPherson said Wednesday he will recommend to Schwarzenegger the state reimburse counties for their costs. About 61 jurisdictions around the state, such as water and school districts, are scheduled to hold elections Nov. 8, and he thinks it's reasonable for the state to pay the extra costs.

"That is his call," McPherson said of Schwarzenegger, "and I'll have to wait to see what he says."

H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger's Finance Department, acknowledged that special election costs are not in the revised budget the Republican governor will release Friday.

But he said, "No special election has been called, so it's premature."

Schwarzenegger has been threatening since January to call a November special election so he could place several government overhaul measures before voters. If he decides to hold it Nov. 8, which is the date he has most often mentioned, he must declare the election by June 13. If it's a week or two later, which administration officials have said is possible, it would mean it could not be held in conjunction with already scheduled local elections, raising costs even more, according to county registrars.

"That's something no one is talking about," McCormack said. "If he has it a week or two later, it's very hard for us to turn things around that quick. I don't think anyone's talked to the governor to explain what's involved."

Spending the money, Schwarzenegger has maintained, is justified because his proposals could ultimately save taxpayers billions. When he was asked about the costs at a January press conference, he was pushing a pension "reform" and a new spending control measure. He has since dropped the pension proposal and said he may try that next year.

"Don't think little, don't think little," Schwarzenegger scolded one journalist who questioned the cost at the Sacramento Press Club. "I'm thinking big. ... I'm in business. I can tell you, sometimes you have to put up a certain amount of money to make more money back."

Oakley is one of about two dozen registrars around the state elected by voters, and she's always been quick to speak her mind. Neither a Democrat nor a Republican - "I'm a 'decline to state,' " she said - Oakley was twice appointed to political jobs by Wilson, Schwarzenegger's political mentor.

She can't imagine herself going to jail, she said, but she has discussed the option with her husband and two daughters, who are young adults.

"I've seriously considered it," she said. "My husband is a professor of law at UC Davis, and I think he can use the rest, too. He wouldn't mind if I were in jail, probably. My kids made me promise I wouldn't do it, but I don't know."