City Council OKs lawsuit against LAFCO over La Jolla secession signatures

La Jolla Photo by Chris Stone Times of San Diego The San Diego City Council Monday authorized moving forward with litigation against the San Diego County Local Agency Formation Commission over its verification of signatures collected in a bid to have La Jolla secede from the city of San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria disclosed the council had authorized the City Attorney s Office to pursue legal action over LAFCO s objectionable handling of the signature-verification process regarding a petition brought by the Association for the City of La Jolla The pro-cityhood group s efforts were previously ruled insufficient by the San Diego County Registrar of Voters which mentioned a few of the collected signatures were invalid LAFCO later allowed ACLJ extra time to correct the invalid signatures or gather new valid ones and following another signature drive declared that a sufficient number of valid signatures had been collected The decision drew a strong response from Gloria who in a comment late last month called it outrageous and reported LAFCO permitted names that did not match addresses or other registered voter facts From the outset I ve made it clear that the city of San Diego has serious concerns about LAFCO s exceptionally broad and questionable interpretations that led them to overturn the county registrar of voters official determination that the La Jolla secession petition was insufficient Gloria stated in a Monday afternoon announcement that the city would seek litigation The decision by LAFCO to overrule the registrar undermines constituents confidence in the integrity of this signature-verification process and sets a troubling precedent This litigation aims to provide San Diegans with the transparency they deserve hold LAFCO accountable for its arbitrary and capricious decisions and affirm the registrar s original certification of insufficiency he added