God expects judges on the earth to decide court cases just as He would make the decisions. When judges show partiality or bias in a matter, then these jurists become a mockery to be cursed by the people. (See Isaiah 10:1-3, Ps 82:2, Ecl 3:16).
The 3rd District Court of Appeal is held in disdain by more than 7- thousand Yuba County voters that opposed Measure K.
In November 2018, Yuba County Supervisors placed Measure K on the ballot to increase sales taxes. They both described and promoted K as funds needed for public safety. Depicting K as a special tax necessitated a 2/3rds voter approval. However, the ballot ordinance was deceptively drafted saying that for approval K only needed a simple majority.
Just 53% (7,964) of voters agreed to raise taxes on themselves. Supervisors and bureaucrats celebrated their ruse all the way to the bank. Yuba County government now takes $6-7 million more from economically-stressed residents annually.
However, after the vote, local opponents and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association filed suit in Yuba County Superior Court. The County’s attorneys argued that they could bait and switch - promote the tax for public safety and yet use the funds for any purpose.
September 9, 2019, Yuba County Judge Stephen Berrier invalidated the Measure K win and the resulting tax saying County officials needed a 2/3rds approval. This ruling complied with law made by the voters when passing both Prop 13 and 218.
County officials then sought relief with the 3rd District Court of Appeal. Three appellate justices overruled Judge Berrier’s decision July 22, 2021. Their decision undermined current law by re-defining special taxes versus general taxes in the above noted propositions.
(Since 1978, politicians and bureaucrats have sought to overthrow the will of the people regarding how new taxes are passed or assessed. They have used legislation, propositions and court cases to take more money. A recent example is the slim passage of Proposition 19. It removed property tax protections when one generation gifts their assets to their children or grandchildren. Today, these properties are re-assessed with egregious tax increases -- the latest government scam. Local Assemblyman James Gallagher endorsed Prop 19.)
The three appellate judges ignored the people’s will in the law to instead garner government’s favor. Vance Raye authored the decision to overturn Berrier’s decision. Louis Mauro and Jonathan Renner concurred.
However, just ten months after the Measure K reversal presiding Justice Raye left office in May 2022. He was ordered by the Commission for Judicial Performance to retire or be removed. Basically, the Commission found Raye lazy, incompetent and guilty of misconduct.
“Raye entered into a stipulation agreement with Director-Chief Counsel Gregory Dresser to resolve the pending preliminary investigation by agreeing to public admonishment, to retire, and not to serve in a judicial capacity, subordinate judicial officer, or judge pro tem with any court in the State of California, or accept a reference of work from any California state court, at any time after June 1, 2022.”
Both Raye and Justice Louis Mauro were also accused in 1991 by family court watchdogs and whistleblowers of creating and concealing a RICO racketeering enterprise operating in the Sacramento County family law court system.
Attorneys were recruited to act as Pro-Tem judges in family court to relieve the judges of the family court case load. It was alleged that “in exchange for operating the settlement conference program - which results in coerced divorce case settlements and significantly reduces the caseload and administrative duties of full-time judges - the attorneys receive kickbacks in the form of "rubber-stamped" court orders and other preferential treatment when representing clients in court.”
Today, as an outcome of the unjust Measure K reversal, Sutter County added Measure A (raise sales taxes by 1%) to the November 8, 2022 ballot. The Sutter campaign uses the same illegal “bait and switch” maneuvers as Yuba County, the deception now endorsed by the appeal ruling.
Sutter County is using hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to wage a media campaign to deceive voters to pay more taxes. The bait is public safety. However, millions of dollars will then be taken annually for a bigger government.
The Supervisors and their hired barkers are lying to you. Vote No on Measure A.
(Lou Binninger can be heard on No Hostages Radio podcast, live on KMYC 1410AM 10-1 Saturdays, read at Live with Lou on Facebook and at Nohostagesradio.com)
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