Brown wins on ballot listing order

A Sacramento judge rejected activist Molly Munger's argument that Jerry Brown's tax measure should not be listed first on the November ballot. Munger's group, Our Children, Our Future, said it won't appeal. "We're moving on," said spokesman Nathan Ballard. "No matter where we end up on the ballot, the fact remains that our measure will reboot California's public schools by sending $10 billion a year into a separate trust fund for education that can’t be touched by the governor or the legislature. We look forward to a spirited campaign on the merits." The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association said it may yet appeal.

From the Sacramento Bee:

Dan Newman, a spokesman for the Brown tax initiative, responded in an e-mail, "The Court rightly rejected this frivolous lawsuit. Now it's time for the Munger-Jarvis coalition to cease its scorched-earth attack on the electoral process."

The order in which initiatives qualify generally determine where they appear on the ballot, and political experts believe that measures slated higher perform better. Secretary of State Debra Bowen said last month that Brown's measure was the ninth to qualify for November, while Munger's was 10th.

[Judge] Kenny said counties have some discretion in how they verify the signatures on petitions. He suggested that if he were to rule for Munger, he would in essence be telling counties exactly how they must run their qualification procedures.