by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–Anti arena groups, Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork (STOP) and Voters for a Fair Arena Deal and pro arena groups Sacramento Sierra Building and Construction Trade Council, The Greater Sacramento Urban League, and the Sacramento Aea Congregations Together, along with the city of Sacramento are ready for a legal show down over a proposed ballot measure over the subsidy to help finance a new Kings arena at the downtown plaza which would ask the question on the ballot if public funds should be used to build the new Kings arena.

STOP has argued that petitions gathered are legal and binding and that STOP who helped get the petitions signed say that they have the legal amount of signatures to get the initiative on the ballot. The Sacramento city clerk’s office has rejected the ballots because the legal wording was flawed.

The anti arena groups say they are not opposed to the building of the arena but the subsidy cost of $258 million far exceeds what the public should pay hence asking the finance question on the upcoming June election ballot. Both STOP and the Voters for a Fair Arena Deal have filed a lawsuit opposing the county clerk’s decision to null and void the ballots the case was filed on January 29th.

A court decision is expected to be made this week by Judge Timothy Frawley, the group known as The4000 a group which is financially supported by the Kings. The4000 in this legal fight say that it’s not just the legal wording in the petitions that are flawed.

The4000 point out that Seattle hedge fund manager Chris Hansen who tried to move the Kings from Sacramento to Seattle and lost that effort when the NBA Board of Commissioners elected to keep the Kings in Sacramento say that Hansen who secretly donated $100,000 to STOP’s effort to get the petition drive going and the money was funneled through an L.A. law firm who supported STOP.

The4000 argued that Hansen did not legally disclose himself as the financial supporter of the petitions and that he was later fined $50,000 for failing to do so. Hansen’s alleged motives were to finance STOP and step back into the shadows as to not offend the NBA Board of Governors so he could have another shot at either buying or establishing an NBA team in Seattle. Although the NBA has not come out and said as much Hansen more than likely has hurt his chances of getting an NBA team by financing the ballot measure.

STOP has said that they did not know that Hansen had donated the $100,000 for the campaign but The4000 have made it clear that Hansen had come to them asking them to destroy the petition signatures so he could clear his name. STOP says they have enough signatures to get the initiative on the ballot for June.

Stay tuned we’ll have Judge Frawley’s decision as soon as that story breaks this week.

Ken Gimblin is covering the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors new arena developments for Sportstalk radio