Protest puts proposed ballot question in question

LAKEWOOD – A citizen-initiated ordinance filed for November’s election is in limbo after a protest was filed with the City Clerk’s Office, and it’s fate rests on a decision that will be made after an Aug. 21 hearing.

The proposal, if adopted by City Council or voters, would require police to immediately impound the vehicle of every unlicensed driver they stop in the city.

The initiative also would require owners of vehicles impounded under the ordinance to post a $2,500 bond that would be surrendered to the city if police catch another unlicensed driver at the wheel of the vehicle within a year. It also would impose a $200 impoundment fee.

Council can adopt the ordinance or send it to voters. The 11-member City Council was expected to send the issue to the ballot box during Monday night’s meeting, but the protest brings the process to a halt.

The protest questions the validity of a number of signatures on the petitions filed to put the issue before City Council as well as the form of the petitions, said City Attorney Tim Cox.

The Aug. 21 hearing will be conducted in City Council Chambers at 9 a.m. After the hearing, City Clerk Margy Greer will decide whether the protest merits revocation of the petitions.

If not, City Council’s decision to adopt the ordinance or send it to the Nov. 3 election is expected to come at an Aug. 31 special meeting.

Similar petitions targeting unlicensed drivers in Denver and Aurora also are awaiting hearings on their validity, said Daniel Hayes, a north Jeffco resident who organized the petition drives in the three cities.

“Getting unlicensed drivers off the road is a big deal because if one hits you, you have to have enough insurance to cover any injuries to your car, because they’re not going to have any,” Hayes said.

Hayes enlisted two Lakewood residents to be the “Petitioner’s Committee” in order to get the issue on the city’s ballot.

In Denver, the address one of the petition committee members provided is under challenge and the form of the Aurora petitions are under challenge because the mandatory warning to petition signers does not appear on each page.

Those who oppose the issues behind ballot petitions say the proposal would stretch already thin police resources and take a measure of discretion from officers. It also has been criticized as cost-heavy.

Critics also accuse Hayes of pursuing the issue as a way of pressing an anti-immigration agenda, saying the ballot initiatives target people who are in this country illegally.

Hayes concedes that watching the way what he calls “unlicensed illegals” are handled by traffic judges prompted his crusade, but said the proposed ballot questions target all unlicensed – and therefore uninsured – drivers.

“They’re not the victim, we are,” Hayes said. “The person riding a motorcycle that doesn’t have an ‘M’ (the motorcycle endorsement) on their license, the truck driver that somebody hired without checking to see if they had a commercial drivers license, these are not the victims. It’s (targeting) all unlicensed drivers.”

The initiative submitted in Lakewood makes provisions for people who simply forgot or can’t find their valid license. It also protects rental car agencies from being forced to pony up for a “vehicle bond”.

 The bonds, Hayes said, are available on Denver’s “Bail Bond Row” near the new Justice Center complex downtown. The cost is about $375 to $400 for a year’s coverage.

Securing the more than 4,000 signatures needed to get the issue on Lakewood’s ballot proved easier than in Denver or Aurora, Hayes said.

“In Lakewood, we came up with almost a thousand more signatures than we needed. I think that’s because in Lakewood, people who say they are Lakewood voters are Lakewood voters,” Hayes said, referring to a number of signatures that were disqualified in Denver and Aurora.

“We got a lot higher percentage of successful signatures in Lakewood than we usually get,” he said.