Rail museum recall vote nullified

By Anne Krueger
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

July 25, 2002

The future of the San Diego Railroad Museum remains unclear after a San Diego Superior Court judge threw out the results of an election seeking to recall the organization's board.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Thomas Hendrix said in his ruling, which attorneys received this week, that the March election was "inherently flawed" and refused to certify its results.

However, Hendrix gave no direction on what steps to take now. Attorneys for the board and a group of disgruntled museum members who filed the lawsuit have been placed under a gag order and said they could not comment.

The railroad museum runs tourist train rides out of Campo. It also operates a 35-minute train ride in the South Bay, a depot and train display in La Mesa and a railroad library and business offices at the Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego.

The group, with about 650 members, has been beset with controversy since its 25-member board agreed two years ago to an alliance with Carrizo Gorge Railway to handle ticketing and reservations for its train rides. A group of members has accused the museum's board and staff members of corruption and financial mismanagement. Those allegations are being investigated by the state Attorney General's Office.

The March recall election ended in a 155-155 tie, with several dozen other ballots in dispute.

In his ruling, Hendrix said the election was invalid because the rules had not been clearly decided beforehand. The disgruntled members thought ballots would be mailed first-class, but they were delivered by bulk mail, meaning some members may not have gotten their ballots in time to return them by the deadline, Hendrix said.

The two sides also hadn't agreed whether the ballots could be returned by fax or hand-delivered instead of being mailed and hadn't clearly decided which members were eligible to cast ballots, Hendrix ruled.

Hendrix said the disputed ballots could have a significant impact on the election results and wrote that he "cannot say with certainty that the recall election as administered reflects the true wishes of the members."

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Anne Krueger: (619) 593-4962; anne.krueger@uniontrib.com

My wife and I have visited the Campo location earlier this month and taken one of their Train rides. While we heard inklings about the discords, all people related to the operation that we saw and met were obviously committed to taking care of the trains and facilities and to giving the visitors a great railroading experience, even throwing in a quick tour of their steamer in the repair shop. From our point of view, they surely succeeded. We'd like to thank everybody out there hwo helped our having a great time, and would like to encourage all of them to constructively sort out the differences of opinion. You have a gem well worth preserving.

Cheers, Jochen
jochen(at)metronet.com