R.P.V. Voters Win Two Rounds In Court.

The best way to provide you with information about this morning's rulings by Judge David Yaffe is to post information created, in part, by Mr. Jeffrey Lewis, an attorney and the Petitioner in one of the two lawsuits concerning Measure P-The Marymount Plan's Initiative:

Today Judge Yaffe ruled on the lawsuits filed by Dr. Brophy and Mr. Lewis calling into question some of the language contained in two of the four ballot statement arguments. Dr. Brophy's lawsuit was rejected. The court found that the statements made in the ballot arguments against Measure P were within the bounds of permissible political speech. The court told Dr. Brophy's lawyers that if he disagreed with the arguments against Measure P, his remedy was to counter that speech with other arguments during the campaign The court denied all relief sought by Dr . Brophy.

Mr Lewis' lawsuit had a very different outcome. The court found in his lawsuit that there was clear and convincing evidence that the rebuttal to arguments against Measure P were false. The suggestion that Measure P guarantees that Marymount's project will meet all city codes and obtain all necessary permits was misleading.

Both rulings were critical to protecting the integrity of the election. The Court laid out the boundaries of fair political speech and found that Marymount supporters crossed that line. Mr. Lewis hopes the rest of the campaign will be free from similar false statements by supporters of Measure P. Mr. Lewis calls on Dr. Brophy to revise all his campaign literature to conform with today's rulings.
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I attended the hearings and was pleased to see Ms. Lois Karp, Chair of Concerned Citizens' Coalition/Marymount Expansion and Mr. George Zugsmith, a member of that group and we were the 'regular' citizens opposed to Measure P that used our Constitutional rights and watched the proceedings.

Ms. Melissa Pamer, a reporter for The Daily Breeze also was in the courtroom and her article should appear on the paper's Web site: www.dailybreeze.com later this afternoon or sometime this evening. It should appear in print from, tomorrow morning.

I talked to Ms. Ashley Ratcliff last night and she said she could not attend the hearing but she will provide another great article, most likely in tomorrow's Palos Verdes Peninsula News.

It is common knowledge that I removed my gloves quite a long time ago in dealing with my opposition to The Marymount Plan and then Measure P.

It must also be common knowledge that I continue to support The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project which is also supported by at least one representative of Marymount College by the fact that an authorized representative of Marymount College sign an affidavit of acceptance of the conditions set forth in The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project.

But you need to know too, that a lawyer representing Marymount's interests wrote a letter stating that should Measure P prevail on November 2, the College would not necessarily be bound by any conditions set forth in The Marymount College Facilities Expansion and if one takes things to the next level, it now appears that Judge Yaffe has also ruled that conditions within The Marymount Plan would supersede conditions set forth in The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project.

Dr. Brophy's lawsuit claimed that statements made within the Argument Against Measure P, specifically the portion of the argument under the "The initiative eliminates City oversight" heading is misleading and/or deceptive.

Judge Yaffe ruled that the language was NOT misleading NOR deceptive and that voters have the right to have their own opinion and use it to form judgements as to whether to support or oppose Measure P and The Marymount Plan.

Here is the text of the Argument Against Measure P that Dr. Brophy sued over and was found not misleading, not misrepresenting issues, and not deceptive:

"-The Initiative eliminates City oversight. The Initiative supersedes the Municipal Code making Marymount a land use island, preventing your locally elected leaders from addressing many issues that arise in the future. The City Council imposed conditions that allow the City to monitor the development and operation of the campus to avoid adverse impacts on the City's residents. The Initiative will eliminate these conditions. The Initiative largely exempts Marymount from the same rules that apply to all other landowners in Rancho Palos Verdes."
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Those words are strong and not found to be misleading or stating something that is not truthful.

In Mr. Lewis' lawsuit which the judge found for Mr. Lewis, a portion of the Rebuttal to Argument Against Measure P WAS FOUND to be misleading, and false.

The level of proof Judge Yaffe found was clear and convincing evidence that the following element of that particular argument is misleading and false:

"FACT - Measure P maintains the 793-student enrollment cap and guarantees that Marymount College meets all City codes and obtains City permits with strict construction time limits for every part of the plan.:

The following is what Judge Yaffe ruled to be true and not misleading:

"FACT - Measure P maintains the 793-student enrollment cap."

The rest of the element was thrown out by Judge Yaffe and Mr. Lewis and others will be monitoring advertising and information coming from Marymount's representatives and supporters to make sure they no longer contend that Measure P guarantees Marymount College would meed all City codes and have time limits on construction of every part of The Marymount Plan, should Measure P pass.

Now voters interested in learning the truth about Measure P, The Marymount Plan and The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project have more opportunities to learn information that would lead them to cast the vote they wish to cast during the Special Election on November 2.

President Thomas Jefferson was quoted during today's hearing, but I don't remember the exact quote.

What Judge Yaffe and others said was that Jefferson believed that voters should have the chance to discuss, debate, and decide based on a fair playing field, with false and misleading statement eliminated from the discussions, debates, and decision-making processes.

I agree with that and I have tried to eliminate any and all information that anyone can find misleading, on this blog.

I feel that when everyone is able to create their own opinions and share them with others based on truths over falsehoods and realistic concepts versus misconceptions, then a more informed electorate has the opportunity to make better choices in the community and elsewhere.

Mistakes have been made on all sides of the issues. Today's rulings have helped to clear up two mistakes or misjudgements.

I am not of any positive mind that Dr. Brophy's position and the positions of many of the supporters of Measure P will lead to keeping everything on the 'high road' and that being a 'good neighbor' is something Dr. Brophy demonstrated to me personally, he has no intention of being my 'good neighbor'.

Naturally, your opinion counts and I hope anyone and everyone considers availing himself or herself to making comments on this post, this blog, and in newspapers and other media.

I now am more convinced, with today's rulings that, once the majority of voters know the real truth about Measure P, The Marymount Plan, and The Marymount College Facilities Expansion, they will oppose Measure P and its Marymount Plan and support The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project.