Talk about misinformation. The discredited Bay Area Housing Finance Authority yesterday admitted that they’d misrepresented in ballot language the annual cost to taxpayers of the mammoth bond by (hold on) more than $240 million (you read that right) per year. A press release from the opposition group explains how the fiasco went down, and what other false claims are being investigated.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jason Bezis, Esq. 925-708-7073 Jason@BezisLaw.com or David Schonbrunn 415-370-7250 David@Schonbrunn.org
AGENCY CORRECTS QUARTER BILLION DOLLAR ERROR ON HOUSING BOND
Lafayette, CA, August 8, 2024 — A group of residents opposed to a $20 billion regional housing bond measure filed a court challenge today to Regional Measure 4’s (RM4) 75- word ballot question.
The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA), a recently created regional agency, placed RM4 on the November 5 ballot. The unprecedented size of the bond measure has already drawn opposition.
The 20BillionReasons.com group helped pull together ballot arguments rebutting the claims for the measure. The lawsuit asserts that the ballot question is slanted to prejudice voters to vote in favor of the measure.
BAHFA conducted multiple polls to test various phrases in relation to the measure, and picked the most popular ones. The lawsuit asserts that the ballot question contains a series of phrases that are not found in the language of the measure. The legal standard is that the ballot question must be an accurate synopsis.
Opponents’ Attorney Jason Bezis sent BAHFA a letter last Friday demanding a series of nine language changes to remove prejudicial language. Opponents assert that the true annual cost of the measure is nearly 36% higher than the amount shown in the ballot question.
The very name of the measure is deceptive: Bay Area Affordable Plan. This measure’s taxes will make the Bay Area even less affordable. In response, BAHFA held a special meeting of its Executive Committee this morning.
The lawsuit has already had success: The Committee adopted General Counsel Kathleen Kane’s recommendation “to correct the Ballot Question for Regional Measure 4 by deleting “$670,000,000” from the Ballot Question and replacing it with “$910,976,423”.” No other changes to the ballot question were adopted today.
General Counsel Kane described this as a “mathematical error.” Plaintiff Marc Joffe retorted: “How can the public trust an agency that can’t do basic arithmetic with nearly $50 billion of its taxes? Ridiculous.”
By law, Regional Measure 4 is coordinated by the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, so the Santa Clara County Superior Court is where this challenge was filed. The final language of the RM4 ballot question will now be determined by the court. See www.NoOnRM4.com for further information.