Taxpayers hear Conaway critic, November 16, 2004

By Elisabeth Sherwin/Enterprise staff writer

WOODLAND - Ted Costa, the architect of a hit piece urging Yolo County residents not to let the county buy Conaway Ranch, is coming to town.

On Monday, Costa said he would be the guest speaker at the Yolo County Taxpayers Association's public meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Woodland Public Library conference room. The library is at 250 First St.

"I believe the ground belongs to those who work on it," said Costa, who leads the nonprofit lobbying organization People's Advocate in Sacramento. "I'm very much against this condemnation (for purchase by eminent domain)."

People's Advocate was founded by the late Paul Gann, leader of the tax revolt in California in the 1970s. In 1974, it organized citizens groups in fighting higher taxation by using the powers reserved for the people - the initiative, the referendum and the recall.

Costa became Gann's assistant in 1982 and, after his death, continued as the chief executive officer. John Hoover of the Yolo County Taxpayers Association said his group wants to hear what Costa has to say.

"We want to know more about it," Hoover said. "We've heard the supervisors' side."

The Yolo County Board of Supervisors organized a Conaway Ranch Joint Powers Authority to buy the 17,300-acre ranch east of Davis and Woodland. The county plus the cities of Davis, Woodland, West Sacramento and Winters are part of the JPA, as is UC Davis and the water conservation district.

When the ranch owners decided to sell the property through a bid process over the summer, the county was at a disadvantage and began the eminent domain process. The county could acquire the property through eminent domain or a negotiated acquisition.

The JPA is exploring short-term and long-term management of the property should it be acquired.

While some farmers raised questions about the purchase, and Supervisor-elect Duane Chamblerlain initially objected to the county's attempted purchase by eminent domain, there was no serious, well-funded opposition until Costa became involved.

Two mailers were sent to county residents this fall describing the Conaway Ranch purchase - which is still in the works - as a back-room deal, bad for taxpayers, farmers and the environment.

"And there will be more (fliers)," Costa said Monday.

Costa said he has received about 300 positive responses from his mailings.

"That's a nice little base," he said. "We're in the early stages of building up support."

When Supervisor Mike McGowan saw the first of the fliers in late October, he was outraged.

"It's hard for me not to get angry," he said at a Board of Supervisors' meeting. "I've been in politics a long time (and) I've never seen so many distortions and outright lies as there are in this mail piece."

McGowan painted a picture of greedy out-of-county developers beating up on county environmentalists/politicians who are trying to do the right thing.

"I don't appreciate out-of-towners with a hidden agenda and a fat bankroll deliberately spreading lies like this," added Supervisor Helen Thomson of Davis.

Costa responded to McGowan and Thomson.

"The countywide mailer was paid for by People's Advocate Inc., a California 501(c)4 nonprofit. I personally approved the mailer," he said.

"People's Advocate is going to take this issue on," he said. "I am personally willing to go to Washington and talk to (the) speaker himself to stop any funding.

"Mr. McGowan fails to understand that our Constitution is a document that protects the people's liberty. When I look over the 56 people who founded this country, I can't think of one who would approve of Mr. McGowan's actions to take private property simply because it's there for the taking," Costa added.

The Yolo County Taxpayers Association tried to broker a meeting between People's Advocate and the supervisors to no avail, Costa said.

"The supes won't show," he said.

The 17,300-acre Conaway Ranch is controlled by a bankrupt firm out of Houston - National Energy and Gas Transmission or NEGT, a spin-off of PG&E Properties. McGowan said PG&E Properties originally bought the ranch to build up to 40,000 homes on 2,500 acres.

NEGT is selling the property and its valuable water rights and rejected the county's offer of $50 million and its request to negotiate. NEGT preferred instead a blind bidding process.

Yolo County cannot participate in a secret bidding process under California law. It was at that point that the board began efforts to purchase the property through eminent domain. A Superior Court jury could set the price of the ranch as early as this summer.

Costa says the board's attempt to buy the ranch amounts to one of the largest land grabs in Yolo County history, one that will have to be paid for by taxpayers.

McGowan says the cost will not be borne by the county's General Fund.

But he adds that if the county doesn't buy the property, it will be developed by outside developers and the water will be sold to Southern California and Las Vegas purchasers.

Costa says only a tiny fraction of the Conaway acreage - 200 acres - can be developed because the majority of the land is in the flood plain.

He charges that no government entity has ever run a large-scale farming operation successfully and doubts that Yolo County will be the first.

Costa added that People's Advocate has hired Marko Mlikotin, formerly of Rep. Doug Ose's staff, to act as a consultant in his campaign against the Conaway purchase.

Costa said both he and Mlikotin expect to be at the taxpayers' meeting on Wednesday, despite a recent death in Costa's family.

JPA meetings also are open to the public. The next meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 26, in the atrium training room at the County Administration Building, 625 Court St. in Woodland.

- Reach Elisabeth Sherwin at gizmo@dcn.org

Tuesday, November 16, 2004