DEAR EDITOR:
Let me see if I understand our leaders’ proposed fix for VTA’s
insolvency. They will sue for a decree of court that they can use
future sales taxes as collateral for issuing bonds now, then use
the funds obtained to keep VTA running. Isn’t that like robbing
Peter to pay Paul?
DEAR EDITOR:
Let me see if I understand our leaders’ proposed fix for VTA’s insolvency. They will sue for a decree of court that they can use future sales taxes as collateral for issuing bonds now, then use the funds obtained to keep VTA running. Isn’t that like robbing Peter to pay Paul?
Who will VTA sue? It’s Board? The taxpayers?
OK. Regardless of who they name as defendants, can they plead a winning case? A superior court judge sitting in equity, asked to make a declaratory judgment or decree, must exercise equitable jurisdiction to grant the relief requested. His or her honor must find that good grounds exist as a condition to granting the decree. A long line of cases from the state supreme court and the courts of appeal hold that to seek equity one must do equity, and the petitioner cannot be guilty of illegal conduct. As the rule is summarized, one must have clean hands. Does VTA?
Can VTA truthfully allege, “At all times herein mentioned, VTA has been obeying the laws of the State of California?” What about VTA’s continuous violation of the farebox recovery limits in the Public Utilities Code? VTA’s leadership has cast a blind eye on their own unlawful operations, i.e., excessive taxpayers subsidies greater than 85 percent of VTA’s operating costs (closer to 99 percent taxpayers subsidies using generally accepted accounting principles). Since the very first volume of the Official Reports of the State’s Supreme Court, equitable relief has been denied whenever someone asks the courts to assist them accomplish a transaction that is either forbidden by law, illegal or contrary to public policy (Weber v. San Francisco (1851), 1 Cal. 455). This rule has remained unchanged throughout our statehood, and VTA’s leaders ought to wake up and smell the coffee. Courts sitting in equity cannot fix VTA’s socialist transit mess. VTA’s band-aids won’t cure the malignant tumor.
Caveat Viator!
Joe Thompson, Gilroy
Submitted Monday, June 9 to ed****@****ic.com
