An update on the local initiative effort in Chelan:
Last summer, 15 percent of Chelan’s registered voters signed two petitions that would have placed two local initiatives on the November or February ballots. The City of Chelan certified the petitions, and local initiative law requires that they promptly go to the earliest possible ballot. In other words, after doing the hard work of supporting an initiative, the people of Chelan should have had the opportunity to vote on whether collective bargaining should be transparent and whether public employees have a right to choose whether they financially support a union.
Instead, the city council, declared these initiatives invalid and refused to send the measures to the ballot. Judge, jury, and executioner. In response to this flagrant abuse of the law, concerned Chelan taxpayers filed suit in an effort to compel the Council to honor the law. Freedom Foundation’s legal team represents these plaintiffs, and last week, the City took its disregard for the voters’ wishes to a whole new level.
It’s bad enough the City ignored the law and refused to allow citizens to exercise their rights, but now the City and its attorney are actively dragging these plaintiffs – including a former mayor, former council member and two prominent area residents – through pointless and harassing depositions—wasting everyone’s time and the taxpayers’ money.
Chelan’s city attorney peppered the plaintiffs with dozens of questions, most of which were entirely irrelevant to the legal issues in the case. Instead, the city attorney attempted to advance the City Council’s (false) narrative that outside organizations thrust these initiatives upon the City, that there is no need for transparency and worker freedom, and that these initiatives are patently illegal.
The city council did not simply break the law, it ignored the will of 15 percent of its voting constituency. These actions display an arrogance and condescension that can only be fully appreciated when considering the comments of one Councilperson who remarked that the people of Chelan probably did not know what they were signing… Add to that arrogance the high cost of protracted litigation and needless depositions—all of which get billed to the taxpayers—and the insult is complete.
No amount of spin can alter the facts. The Council broke the law and insulted the people it purports to represent.
Instead of spending a fortune to defend its illegal actions in court, harassing respected community leaders, and passing the bill on to the people of Chelan, perhaps the City should simply follow its own law.
The taxpayers of Chelan deserve better.