Briefly in the news

-- Paul Clinton

A group fighting to keep the Great Park initiative off Orange County’s

March 5 ballot has filed a last-ditch appeal with the California Supreme

Court.

Citizens for Jobs and the Economy, a group pushing for an airport at

the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, sued to stop the initiative

earlier this year.

On Nov. 21, a three-judge San Diego appellate panel overturned a

county Superior Court judge’s ruling that the initiative’s ballot title

and summary were misleading.

The group appealed to the state Supreme Court on Monday, asking for an

answer by Dec. 27. The county registrar of voters can pull the initiative

off the ballot until that date.

In its appeal, the group asked for the panel’s ruling to be set aside

while the issue is decided.

The appeals panel didn’t address the merits of whether the Great Park

initiative’s title and summary were misleading. It overturned the lower

judge’s decision on grounds that groups opposing initiatives don’t have a

legal right to challenge them.