Editor’s note: This letter is published behind a “paywall” in The Union this morning. You can read it here for free:
Board of Directors
Nevada County Consolidate Fire District
11329 McCourtney Road,
Grass Valley, CA 95949
Via U.S. Certified Mail
Re: Ballot Measure
Dear Sirs,
This letter is in response to your recent Ballot Measure to increase funding for your District. While I recognize your perceived need for more money, I do not recognize your methods to obtain those monies. I must state that this was an invalid method in which you proceeded to attain a vote of those to be polled. This was not a legitimate Ballot Measure!
The Ballot Measure, as instituted, would levy an additional annual fee on each property owner in the District… No problem here!
BUT, You purposely did not allow the property owners to participate in this process! BIG PROBLEM HERE.
The property owners have the right to vote on that Ballot Measure. NO QUESTION HERE!………. (Remember that Old saying; “No Taxation without Representation”?)
You erroneously put forth this Ballot Measure not to the property owners, but instead to registered voters only! These registered voters are not the same people who would be responsible to pay this additional fee. Therefore, this Ballot Measure is invalid.
The very nature of this Nation is the right to vote on fees and issues that affect each and every one of us as citizens of these United States. Your Board, for whatever reason, has elected to bypass these basic principles. In doing so, your Ballot Measure is illegal and the property owners are not obligated to pay these fraudulent fees and may legally deny any collection effort by Consolidate Fire District
In view of your action, I demand that the Nevada County Consolidated Fire District declare the Ballot Measure “Null and Void” and re-submit this measure to the correct voters within your District for a proper and legal vote. Those would be the legal owners of each parcel as it appears on the County Assessor tax rolls within your District.
NCCFD Board Ltr
March 25, 2012
Redistributing the ballots and polling the correct voters would not be a burdensome task as you already have on files the correct names and addresses of each property/parcel owner. You currently send them a bill for existing fees.
Please advise when this re-balloting can be accomplished.
Sincerely,
Charles H. Shea
A Concerned Citizen
Filed under: Uncategorized
Hi Jeff:
I don’t quite get Charles Shea’s point. Property qualifications for voting mostly went out in the 19th century.
I know that there are some exceptions, but these are cited in the California statutes not in “old sayings.” What is the statute on this type of vote indicate? If Shea’s point is valid, he needs to cite this.
Tony
Having just read some comments and supposed supplementary evidence supporting their inane stances on a local right wing blog, I haven’t stabilized my brain yet from trying to decipher the undecipherable. So, could someone help me out. Is Mr Shea’s position this: That he is an out-of-towner who owns property containing flammable structures within the Nevada Co. Consolidated Fire District and therefore was unable to vote on the $50.00 assessment, while registered voters, whom may not own property but just be renters, were able to vote. Therefore, he feels the vote was not just unfair, but illegal.
If I am correct in interpreting his position, then I would simply say to him–irrespective of how I or anyone else voted on this question–that this is quite common in the U.S. Many people have second homes or investment property in areas other than where they are registered to vote. Once, I did and I naturally had to pay taxes and incur other expenses w/o a voice in establishing those expenses. This is just how it works and is a factor one must consider when deciding to own real property in various locations other than where one votes.
It seems to me, by quoting the esteemed line, “No Taxation Without Representation,” Mr. Shea, like so many others, tries to ground his argument with the legitimacy of the Founding Fathers, the revolutionary spirit and resulting Constitution that has already been rendered unrecognizable by the self-serving machinations of those who find it inconvenient. The list is long, from Taney to Scalia–who now not only insists corporations are people, but that brocoli is too–and of course, the NRA, local bloggers of the right who think the world is flat; you get my drift.
Chuck Shea lives in Nevada County, and after reading exactly what he was saying, and as someone who actually voted for the property tax increase (even though my home cannot, and will not burn) I would agree with what he’s saying.
This is not a right or left view, its a view on the proper “procedural” ways to conduct an election, and it appears that this election was not done in that manner.