Group Files Petition To Change Stadium Ballot Citizens Organization Wants Wording To Mention The Kingdome Would Be Demolished
A citizens watchdog group has filed a petition to change the wording of the ballot measure that asks voters to approve or reject funding for a new $425 million football stadium and exhibition hall.
The ballot also should mention that Seattle’s Kingdome would be demolished to make room for the stadium, the group, Citizens for Leaders with Ethics and Accountability Now, contends.
Its petition - filed Friday in Thurston County Superior Court - claims that the ballot title for Referendum 48 does not accurately describe its contents.
When Washington voters go to the polls June 17, they will be asked: “Shall a public stadium authority be authorized to build and operate a professional football stadium and exhibition hall financed by tax revenues and private contributions?”
The ballot title was drafted by the state attorney general’s office and released by Secretary of State Ralph Munro.
The stadium plan was approved by the Legislature and Gov. Gary Locke at the conclusion of this year’s 105-day legislative session. It calls for $300 million in public spending for the $425 million project, which would involve razing the Kingdome where the Seattle Seahawks currently play.
Prospective Seahawks owner Paul Allen would pay $100 million of the cost, and a sales-tax deferral on construction of the complex would cover about $25 million. Allen also is paying the $3.4 million cost of the special election.
Allen, a billionaire who co-founded Microsoft Corp., has said he will not exercise his $20 million option to buy the National Football League team from owner Ken Behring without a new outdoor stadium.
“The voters have a right to know that if they approve the stadium bill, it will mean tearing down the Kingdome …” CLEAN chairman Shawn Newman said in a statement released Friday. “It’s Paul Allen’s team and our debt.”
The Kingdome still has $130 million in debt.
The group’s petition will go before a Thurston County Superior Court judge.
State elections officials have said they anticipated court challenges to the ballot title but believe they will not hold up in court.
CLEAN proposes a ballot title that would read: “Shall voters approve issuing $300 million in taxpayer bonds to build a professional football stadium and exhibition center which includes demolishing the Kingdome?”
The funding plan includes an extension of the hotel-motel tax collected in King County, new scratch-ticket lottery games and parking and admissions taxes at the new stadium.
Under the plan, some of the excess revenue would go to education and technology grants.
CLEAN’s complaint also alleges that Referendum 48 fails to mention the education and technology grants.
“The body of the bill … would appear to violate the Washington Constitution, Article 2, Section 19, which provides that no bill shall embrace more than one subject and that shall be expressed in the title,” the group’s statement says.