Kerns, Healy discuss casino vote

<p>A Petaluma City Council member is trying to get the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to place an advisory measure regarding casinos on the June 2010 ballot.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>The council member, attorney Mike Healy, spoke about the matter this week with Supervisor Mike Kerns, who suggested that it first be considered at a Feb. 11 meeting in Petaluma of Sonoma County mayors and council members from nine cities.</p><p>“I suggested this because I think that before the supervisors discuss it again, we need to find out if cities support putting a measure on the ballot,” Kerns said. </p><p>“I'm perfectly willing to accommodate his request,” Healy said.</p><p>If a vote is taken on a resolution that supports the Board of Supervisors putting an advisory measure on the June 2010 ballot, each city would have one vote, cast by a representative appointed by its city council, and a simple majority would be required for passage.</p><p>The measure would ask voters if they approve building casinos — including proposed casinos in Rohnert Park and Cloverdale, as well as a possible casino just south of Petaluma — anywhere in Sonoma County. Healy has been consulting Bruce Goldstein, the assistant county counsel, on the wording of the measure, which would need to be submitted by early March to be included in the June 2010 ballot.</p><p>The expense of putting the measure on the ballot would be between $63,000 and $126,000, Healy said.</p><p>“We expect that it would be in the lower end of that range, because it wouldn't take up as many ballot pages as it could,” he added.</p><p>Kerns asked Healy if the Stop the Casino 101 Coalition — a group, including Healy, that opposes the Rohnert Park casino and resort complex — if it would be able to pay $30,000 of the expense.</p><p>“We'll try to do it,” Healy said.</p><p>Before the 2008 election, the Stop the 101 Casino coalition, at the urging of Healy, asked the final six candidates for Board of Supervisors seats to take a pledge that if elected, they would support putting a casino advisory measure on a future ballot. Shirlee Zane, who was elected in the 3rd District, signed the pledge. Valerie Brown, who was reelected in the 1st District, and Efren Carrillo, who was newly elected in the 5th District, did not sign the pledge, although Carrillo later said he supported putting an advisory measure on a ballot.</p><p>Last year, Healy tried to get an advisory measure placed on an upcoming ballot, but only Carrillo and Zane supported it. </p><p>Kerns, who previously did not support putting such a measure on a ballot, now does, and if Carrillo and Zane still do, the necessary three votes are available.</p><p>“That could be the case. I'm still working on this,” Healy said.</p><p>Previously, opponents of an advisory measure have argued that: it is too expensive; the Board of Supervisors have already passed a resolution opposing casinos in the county; the board is on record as opposing establishing a casino in Rohnert Park; and the measure wouldn't have any legal, binding impact.</p><p>Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said that he will take public sentiment into account before negotiating compact agreements with Native-American tribes, however.</p><p>“I think that an advisory vote against casinos would carry some weight with the governor's office,” Kerns said. </p><p>Meanwhile, oral arguments regarding a pending appeal that attempts to prevent the casino from being built in Rohnert Park are expected to begin within the next several months.</p><p>The appellants' reply brief recently was filed by Novato attorney Elliot Bien, and is the final document of the briefing process. The next step will be oral arguments in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.</p><p>Stop the 101 Casino Coalition and some of its individual members, including Healy, are plaintiffs in the suit, which challenges the U.S. Department of the Interior's decision to take 254 acres of land into trust for the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, which are partnering with Station Casinos to try to build the casino.</p><p>In April, Judge Susan Ilston of the 9th District Court in San Francisco threw out the lawsuit. She agreed with the defendants and the FIGR that because the plaintiffs have not alleged they have suffered any injury, they have no standing in the case.</p><p>“It was dismissed because she thought that the plaintiffs didn't have sufficient standing to bring the case to court. Our brief and reply brief focus on how the plaintiffs will suffer harm if the land is taken into federal trust, and therefore we do have standing, based on federal case law,” Healy said.</p><p>Healy is optimistic that the appeal will be successful.</p><p>“I have a very strong belief that it will. People on my side feel very good about this case,” he said.</p><p>(Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com)</p>