How have the courts dealt with a bid to acquire control of the Camarillo Air Force Base from the federal government?

For a number of years, Ventura County officials have desired to acquire the air force base from the federal government and to operate it; much of the base is located within the City of Camarillo, and some interested local citizens have sought to prevent such use. In 1971, proponents of an initiative designed to prohibit county operation of the airport attempted to place the initiative on the countywide ballot by filing a petition with the Ventura County Clerk. Acting upon advice from the county counsel that the proposed measure was invalid, the clerk refused to follow the procedure for examination of signatures, as set forth in Election Code section 3707, prior to placing the measure on the ballot. The proponents were successful in obtaining a writ of mandate directing the county clerk to proceed as required by law; the issuance of the writ, which was appealed, was affirmed by this court in Gayle v. Hamm (1972) 25 Cal.App.3d 250, 101 Cal.Rptr. 628. It was there held that initiative petitions, emanating as they do from the People, may not be disposed of in this way, despite doubts as to their ultimate validity. It was pointed out that "the reserved initiative power in the electorate (Cal. [73 Cal.App.3d 1013] Const., art. IV, 1 and 25) (is) an instance of 'fundamental democracy' as opposed to 'representative government' . . . ." (Gayle, supra, 25 Cal.App.3d 250, 257, 101 Cal.Rptr. 628, 634.)