The proposed Measure D tax increase that was on last November's ballot would have wasted half a BILLION tax dollars. One of the things we did to try to stop it was to file a lawsuit challenging the ballot language. The proponents of the tax increase sought to publish, at taxpayer expense, what we believed to be false and misleading arguments to trick voters into approving the tax increase. My friends Scott Wenz, Rob Raffealli, and I asked the court to change the language before it went to print to make it more truthful so that voters would have an honest opportunity to decide if the Ventura commuter rail, bike lanes, and bus subsidies warranted a huge tax increase.

 Unfortunately, our case was assigned to a very liberal judge, Denise DeBellefeuille. Depite the fact that we produced evidence that the ballot summary and the ballot argument were false and misleading, Judge DeBellefeuille ruled against us. Her surprising and disappointing ruling opened the door for a little-known law, Section 1021.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure to be used against us!

 Subsequently, left-wing environmental attorney Marc Chytilo sent us a letter demanding $25,333.01 for his fees and costs in protecting what we had alleged was a false and misleading ballot argument. Because we refused to pay it, he filed a motion with the court and increased his demand to $34,355.00! 

 Finally, after we spent $5,790.98 on our own lawyer and paid $1,610.89 in court costs, we reached an out-of-court agreement to pay Marc Chytilo $20,500 to avoid what was becoming an endless legal battle that could have cost us well over one-hundred thousand dollars!

 We have already paid Chytilo $10,000 but we need to come up with the final payment of $10,500 no later than May 13th or he will have the right to bring his motion back to the court and demand even more money.

 Please help us to raise this money by sending whatever amount you can, payable to "Fix101.org",  to 1180 Eugenia Place, Suite 220, Carpinteria, CA  93013-2000. Not only will your donation help to get us out of this legal mess, but it will enable us to continue fighting to widen U.S. Highway 101.

 We were successful recently in going to Sacramento and helping to secure 131.6 million dollars for removing the bottleneck from Mussell Shoals near La Conchita all the way up to Casitas Pass Road in Carpinteria. Construction will begin in 2011 and be completed in 2012.

 We are fighting to make sure that if Measure D is renewed in 2008 that it not contain any tax increase and that the funds be used to widen the remaining portion of 101 on the South Coast and to fix other major roads such as 246 and 154.

 We will continue to fight for you to make sure our roads are fixed and that your tax dollars are spent wisely and honestly. And we are counting on your support for this. Please send the largest check you can today.

 Thank you in advance for your help!

 Yours truly,

Gregory Gandrud 

Fix101.org
1180 Eugenia Place, Suite 220
Carpinteria, CA  93013-2000