Roses & raspberries

By: The Californian - | Thursday, July 12, 2007 7:42 PM PDT ∞

A rose -- the "Who Are You?" award -- to Regency Centers of Los Angeles for trying to force an attorney to reveal who is actually suing the developer and the city over a proposed new shopping center.

Cory Briggs, a San Diego attorney, has made something of a cottage industry of late suing governments and builders over developments ---- usually on behalf of some nebulous group whose members are not named in the lawsuits. In January, Briggs filed suit representing someone or something calling itself Murrietans for Smart Growth ---- of which he is the only person named on the corporation papers filed with the state. Whether there are any actual Murrietans involved or not ---- Briggs insists there are ---- is anyone's guess.

In December Briggs, representing "Blythe Citizens for Smart Growth" had sued that desert city over its approval of a Wal-Mart. Then in February he sued Riverside County on behalf of "Menifee Citizens for Smart Growth" over the county's approval of a shopping center in Menifee. The lawsuit was settled out of court in May, with the terms ---- much like the plaintiffs in that case, as well ---- undisclosed. While it may be legal, it's hardly just.

Regency's lawyer, David Hubbard, has decide to force the issue, however, and asked a judge to order Briggs to produce at least one "Murrietan for Smart Growth." We hope the judge sees the wisdom of that request. Everyone deserves to have a day in court, but they shouldn't be allowed to hide behind their attorney in order to extort money from a government.

A rose -- the "Never Far Apart" award -- to a career Navy man whose recently published book hopes to make it less painful for children ---- and even adults ---- when one of those parents has to go on deployment for the military. The author of "Never Far Apart" is a Murrieta resident and 21-year Navy SEAL who knows all about deployments.

Because of some personal issues and fears for the safety of family members overseas, the lieutenant doesn't use his full name on the self-published book and didn't want his name used by the newspaper, but he is very familiar with the issue of separation and hopes his book can help other families deal with it. "Lt. Gary" says parents can read the book to their younger children to help explain why Mom or Dad has suddenly left, and the older kids can read for themselves and hopefully understand better.

For Gary, the effort had even more meaning, because while he was on a deployment several years ago, the mother of his now 7-year-old son moved overseas with the boy. He now only sees Sean about one month a year. The military life is never easy on families, and the military isn't always the most understanding. Hopefully a book like this can help ease a little pain for both the kids and the parents.

A rose -- the "Instant Gratification" award -- to Assemblyman Gene Mullin, whose bill would authorize "instant runoff" voting for city and county offices. Also known as "ranked-choice," instant-runoff elections allows voters to skip the second half of the typically two-part process for some local offices.

In Southwest County, city councils and school boards are elected in one shot, but county supervisors' races often take two elections, as do key county officials such as sheriff and district attorney. Whenever there's more than two candidates of these nonpartisan offices, if one person doesn't get a majority of the votes, the top two finishers "run off" for the seat. That requires a second election, which is costly to the candidates and the taxpayers.

Instant runoff elections allow counties to skip the first step of that process, the primary election, and let voters make their choice all at once by ranking their choices in order of preference. If a voter's first choice isn't among the top two, his or her second ---- or third, or fourth ---- choice kicks in. San Francisco has used the process in three elections now with good results.

With so many elections and apathy carrying the day any more, any opportunity to reduce the number of times people are asked to go to the polls ---- and the amount of money required to get elected ---- should be pursued.

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