From the San Jose Mercury News:
Backers of a proposed San Jose measure that would guarantee libraries a share of revenues suffered another blow Wednesday when a committee led by Mayor Chuck Reed blocked their request for a City Council vote to put it on the November ballot.
Council members Kansen Chu, Ash Kalra and Xavier Campos called for Reed’s agenda-setting Rules and Open Government Committee to schedule a Tuesday vote on placing the measure on the ballot.
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Holding yellow “Right the Wrong” signs, supporters argued the city should put it on the ballot because the city clerk hampered their petition-gathering effort by misleading them about the number of required signatures.
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Backers said the city clerk told them initially they needed 19,161 signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. But in June, City Clerk Dennis Hawkins told them that upon further review with the city attorney, they found that it would need three times as many signatures, or 57,483, because the measure would amend the city charter.
“This error killed our fundraising,” Allen said. “People see this as a dead issue.”
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