Latest on June 6 primary election

Here’s the latest on activities regarding the upcoming June 6 primary election ballot:

Leaders of the grassroots Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Redevelopment are planning to spend from $15,000 to $20,000 on mailers and other campaign materials for Measure B, the Right-to-Vote on Land-Use Amendments initiative on the June 6 ballot. The initiative requires a public vote on major changes to the city’s planning documents.

YLRRR hopes to have some mailers ready when absentee ballots start arriving in voters’ mailboxes May 8. But board member Ed Rakochy said the group has only about $3,000 banked for the spirited battle they’re expecting with deep-pocket builders and developers.

Rakochy declared YLRRR would take the powerful Building Industry Association lobby “head on.” He told about 100 attendees at a March 30 public meeting, “We can do it.”

City Council members wisely backed off signing the arguments against the initiative that will be mailed with sample ballots beginning April 27. Then-Mayor Keri Wilson asked Ken Ryan and Jim Winder to write the arguments and rebuttal back on Nov. 15.

However, former Placentia Police Chief Manuel Ortega, Planning Commissioner Carl Boznanski and Main Street insurance agent Dale Madsen submitted the arguments. YLRRR leaders Jim Horton and Jeff Winter wrote arguments supporting the initiative.

Ortega, Madsen, Ryan campaign treasurer Randy Youngblood and businesswomen Kelli Sprinkel and Cindi Williams submitted a rebuttal opposing the measure, while Horton, Winter and Lizbeth and Michael DeSanctis penned a rebuttal favoring the initiative.

Obviously, council-signed arguments against the initiative might result in more votes favoring the measure, just as the council’s developer-funded letter to residents opposing the Town Center zoning referendum brought out more residents to sign the petitions.

So far, the city has paid three sets of attorneys a total of $132,104 for legal work in the recent court challenge of the Right-to-Vote initiative. The city clerk’s attorneys collected $30,640 and the city’s attorneys $49,964 for labor and expenses billed through Feb. 28.

More billings from these two attorney groups are expected on statements for March, according to city finance director Susan Hartman. The city also paid $51,500 for the attorneys hired by “real parties of interest” Jim Horton, Dennis Wilson and Jeff Winter.

Council members who promised to end the lawsuits and legal squabbling during their 2000 and 2002 campaigns authorized these expenditures.

A FINAL NOTE--Students at El Dorado, Esperanza and Valencia high schools will take nearly 2,500 Advanced Placement examinations during a grueling two-week period that begins May 1. Students with high scores (3 or better out of a maximum 5) can earn college credits.

El Dorado students will take 376 tests, Esperanza students 1,173 and Valencia students 889, according to assistant principals Jennifer Graves, Libby Moore and Jim Bell, who administer the college-level testing program at the three schools.

In addition, Valencia students will take 246 International Baccalaureate exams. The Tiger campus has 28 full-diploma candidates for its first IB graduating class in June.

The schools offered 51 AP classes this year: 14 at El Dorado, 17 at Esperanza and 20 at Valencia.