Imperial Valley press., 1937-01-17


A special election was called by
the board Saturday for Feb. g. in
volving the offices of directors from
the Brawley and E1 Centro- Impe-
rial divisions, and of aSseSsor-col-
lector and, treasurer. The regular
general election will pace directors
from the Calexico-El Centre, the
Holtville and the Calipatria divis-
ions on the ballot. There are no
other elective offices.
The special election was called
after presentation to the board of
petitions bearing 1881 approved sig
natures. In addition to these, petit
tions with $50 names we're received
too late to be checked and filed A
total Of 2,250 names had been signed
to petitions requesting the special
election.
Mark Rose, Holtville, was the only
director to oppose a sweeping, dis
trictWide vote to clear up two years
of uncertainty surrounding district
offices. His vote of mo" on q res
olution to call the special election
was based, he said, on the belief that
the election is merely an attempt of
majority members of the board to
gain full control of the district, es-
pecially the offices of assessor
lector and treasurer. The offices he
said. would be used for political
purposes, something, Rose declared,
(which has never been done be-
fore"
Aten Favors Vote
Ira ,Aten. Ell Centro-Imperial di-
rector, whose office Is one of the two
directorships affected in the vote
of confidence" favored the special
election for all offices not included
on the general election ballot.
II think that the sporting thing
to do,' he said, lis to call the cleo
tion on all of the officers involved
in the election two years ago." (The
election referred to was declared in
valid because it was held under the
unconstitutional property qualifica-
ton act.)
To politicians the decision to place
all offices on the ballot was shock.
1t had been thought that only the
offices of asSessor-collector and
treasurer would be voted upon in
the special election. and that the
offices of director from three divis-
ions would be voted upon in the
general election. This would have
left Aten and Charles Morrow,
BraWley. in office for another two
years without the necessity for ap-
proval by the voters. Both Aten
and Morrow, however. favored plac-
ing their own offices on the ballot,
as well as the others.
The combined general special
election is expected to write finis to
the most junbled election tangles
in Imperial county history. trace
able to the property qualification
act under which the district elec-
tion of two years ago was held.
When the state supreme court held
the act unconstitutional, it auto
matically wiped the results of the
election off the records, making it
as if there had been no election.
Morrow Appointed
Morrow. who had been favored in
Brawley division voting. was ap-
pointed by the county board of su-
pervisors to succeed AL j. Kalin, re-
signed director. to fill out the unex-
pired term for which Kalin would
have held over. At the same time
Aten resigned and was appointed by
the county board to fill out his own
unexpired term. The appointment
would normally have carried them
through four years in office.
Difficulty arose when incumbents
in the assessor collectors office and
the treasurer's office, believing they
would not be reappointed. refused to
resign. Therefore they remained in
office merely as hold-over officers,
not as appomtees. The state su-
preme court ruled this week, how
ever, that they would in the normal
course OF events. hold over In office
until the next general election at |
which their offices would normally |
be placed on the ballot. Thus they |
would still have two years in office.
if it were not for the special cleo
tion petitions, under which the dis
trict board must, legally, call the