Reform Coalition Challenges City’s Ballot Measures

The November election presents a particularly demanding ballot this year for Long Beach voters wanting to make clear and informed decisions from a long list of city, county and state ballot initiatives. One of the challenges has been tapping into reliable sources for discerning the true impact of seeing these referendums pass.

The Long Beach Reform Coalition has opposed all three of the City of Long Beach’s November ballot measures – JB, LB and HC. The coalition’s website – https://lbreformcoalition.org – offers a ballot guide with explanations of its opposition and its recommendations on other ballot decisions.

Ian Patton, executive director of the coalition, has been particularly concerned about the city election guide mailer sent to most Long Beach residents that advocates for passage of all three of the measures without presenting what he calls fair and balanced voter information.

As part of an email exchange last week with Long Beach City Attorney Dawn McIntosh, Patton cited the 1976 Stanson vs. Mott ruling by the California Supreme Court, which ruled that a “public agency may not expend public funds to promote a partisan position in an election campaign.”

The city attorney’s “impartial analysis” was not impartial in that mailer and it did not present the actual fair and balanced ‘pros and cons’ of the three ballot measures – only the ‘pros,’ Patton said.

“There is no consideration of the negative potential consequences of a charter amendment affecting the hiring for most of the approximately 6,000 City of Long Beach positions (a $1.5 billion payroll!),” Patton wrote in the Oct. 23 email, in reference to Measure JB.

McIntosh responded to the statement in an email that the city attorney’s impartial analysis was lawfully prepared and never the subject of legal challenge. It was written with guidance from the city attorney’s office as well as state law governing the “providing of neutral information to the public.”

What Are the Three Measures?

Measure JB would amend the City Charter to combine the city’s Civil Service and Human Resources Departments into one unified department to manage all employee recruitment, hiring and certifications and establish an independent Civil Service Employee Rights and Appeals Commission to resolve complaints regarding Civil Service rules, to adjudicate classified employee disciplinary appeals and other guidelines on hiring preferences, according to the city.

Measure HC would reduce Harbor and Public Utilities Commissioner terms from six years to four years, transfer authority over Harbor Department employment and personnel matters from the Board of Harbor Commissioners to the department’s chief executive officer, excepting a board-appointed chief operating officer, executive officer to the board, and board staff, and increasing penalties for violations of Harbor Department rules from $500 to $1,000 and changes the Harbor budget approval date.

Measure LB states that two natural gas fueled power plants operating in Long Beach would restore the city’s existing 5% gas utility taxes that had been eliminated by an exemption. That would pay for maintaining general city services including 911 responses, pothole/street repairs, improving storm drains, after school programs, senior services and other benefits to the city and its residents.

Patton says that while the city election guide – and the wording of these measures that voters see on the ballot – sound positive and constructive for the city’s future, there’s really a lot more that needs to be revealed about them.

Measure JB would effectively eliminate a safeguard that has worked well for the city for many years through its independent Civil Service Commission that was composed of appointed residents rather than politicians, according to the Long Beach Reform Coalition. The check-and-balance procedure to ensure that only the most qualified are hired according to testing and Civil Service procedures would be eliminated. In its place, the city’s non-independent Human Resource Department would control all hiring, putting these decisions under the official authority of the city manager and the de facto authority of the mayor.

Measure HC would disempower the independent Long Beach Harbor Commission and, as JB centralizes all hiring power in the hands of the city manager, HC would centralize all hiring power in the hands of the port director, who similarly complies with the decisions of the mayor, says the Long Beach Reform Coalition. With the influence the current mayor has over the City Council to gain majority votes, the mayor effectively has the power to dismiss the city manager or the port director at any time.

Patton and the Long Beach Reform Coalition are also concerned that Measure LB may have been put in place to generate an additional $15 million per year to the city rather than what it describes its motives are in the city election guide. It would lift a long-standing exemption from the city utility user by two gas-fueled power plants, the facilities owned respectively by the Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power (the Haynes Plant on 2nd St.) and AES, which is next to the San Gabriel River just north of 2nd Street and east of Studebaker Road.

Long Beach Reform Coalition believes the council should have asked for further review by outside legal experts. It would still have to get through review by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which would cost the city millions in legal fees. That would need to happen before Long Beach voters should be asked to decide on it, the organization said.

Is it a Moving Shell Game?

Patton says that these ballot measures that are being pushed by Mayor Rex Richardson, are very similar to what former Mayor Robert Garcia and several other city officials have been doing for years, such as Garcia pushing Measure A in the 2016 election.

He said that a good example of it goes back to 2000 when Measure J was passed by Long Beach voters despite the city’s attempts to derail it through a compromise ballot measure and with political mailings that were eventually banned by a court order. Norm Ryan, an investment banker, had led the drive for Measure J and said that it showed that the city had to reform the way it does business.

Just like the city last year approving a five-year, $933-million infrastructure and public safety improvement plan – with more than $210 million of it going toward preparation for the 2028 Olympic events in this city – Patton is very concerned that these three ballot measures are not being presented in an honest and clear way explaining how that money is really being spent; and how the process will actually work at the command of the mayor. There are other major issues – such as the impact of homelessness on Long Beach and the health-damaging impact of the Port of Long Beach and the diesel trucks that transport goods – that are not being addressed in these ballot measures.

It might look good on paper and on the ballot, but it’s not really dealing with the major issues that the city is responsible for, he says.

A clear example of this for the coalition and its allies has been the city manager’s ability to use emergency powers to spend up to $100,000. That’s how the good-looking color city election guide was able to be produced, printed and mailed out to residents. Why would this be considered an emergency, Patton asked.

“They send it to high-propensity voters,” Patton said, “as long as it fits within their budget.”

Do these efforts by the city take us back to what Long Beach Reform Coalition describes as ‘a 19th century style political spoils system’? It can be a way to reward political supporters, special interest groups and even a personal relative with a high-paying unaccountable city job, the organization says.

Facebook Group a Forum for Sharing Concerns

Patton has been sad to see the Long Beach Report go away with the passing of investigative journalist and editor Bill Pearl in 2022. Pearl was well known for attending City Council meetings and keeping LBReport.com active with commentaries and investigations into what the city is actually doing – and which could have been covered up by elected officials and staff.

His concerns about having access to accurate and complete media coverage – and accountability by the city – is shared with other members of the Facebook group, Long Beach Politics, that he administers.

The Facebook group has more than 2,300 members who tend to stay active in postings and comments on the upcoming election, the 2028 Olympics, legal action being taken by residents who live near the Long Beach Airport and other related topics.

Jon LeSage is a resident of Long Beach and a veteran business media reporter and editor. You can reach him at jtlesage1@yahoo.com.