No on Measure A Committee says Ahmanson attorneys are supporting Measure A

No on Measure A Committee says Ahmanson attorneys are supporting Measure A

Several attorneys battling for Ahmanson Ranch, a 3,050-home development north of Calabasas in Ventura County, have financially supported the Coalition for Competent Leadership (CCL), a group that’s supporting Measure A.

Measure A—if approved by voters on next Tues., March 4—would eliminate the 5 percent utility user tax that the city of Calabasas collects on telephone, electric and gas bills.

Critics speculate that the Ahmanson lawyers supported the CCL in hopes to eliminate the utility user tax, so that the city of Calabasas would lack the necessary funds to continue its fight against Ahmanson Ranch.

These people don’t live in Calabasas or work in Calabasas, said "No on Measure A for Calabasas" assistant treasurer Ward C. Wardman. If you connect the dots, he said, it seems clear that these lawyers want the city of Calabasas out of the picture financially in the municipality’s fight against Ahmanson.

Charles W. Cohen, an attorney from Weston, Benshoof, Rochefort, Rubalcava and MacCuish (a law firm representing Ahmanson Ranch) contributed $1,000 to the CCL, but said he knows nothing about Measure A or anything pertaining to the upcoming Calabasas election.

"That (contribution) was for another campaign last year," Cohen said.

The CCL has been involved with many elections, according to Wardman, and they’ve supported several issues. But some of its resources are being spent to support Measure A, he said.

––Michael Picarella