Friday, March 18, 2016
Page 1
One Judicial Candidate Bows Out, Another Enters
By a MetNews Staff Writer
In last-minute scrambling, private practitioner Susan Reed Jerich decided not to file her nominating papers for Los Angeles Superior Court Seat No. 158, and Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Fred Mesropi, who had earlier dropped his campaign for another seat, entered the race.
Wednesday was the final day for filing for the office, under a five-day extension occasioned by the incumbent, Elden Fox, not turning in his nominating papers. Filing information was not available until Wednesday night.
Jerich, who took out nominating papers on Saturday, on Wednesday night said:
“After much deliberation, I have decided that now is not the appropriate time for me to participate in the judicial election cycle.”
Mesropi yesterday explained:
“On Sunday, when I had made my decision to not file for the seat, I was under the belief that at least one or up to three other DDA’s would file. I did not want to get involved in such a race. When I saw on Tuesday night that there were no new DDA’s in the race I decided to jump in. I waited until 11:30 yesterday morning to be doubly sure that no new DDA’s had filed before I pulled my papers.
“While my preference would be to not run against a colleague, it is apparent that having only 1 DDA in a race is unlikely for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, this is a reality that we have to become accustomed to.”
The deputy district attorney already in the race is David Berger, who has the ballot designation of “Violent Crimes Prosecutor.” Mesropi’s designation is “Child Molestation Prosecutor.”
The other contestants are Onica Valle Cole, described as a “Prosecutor”; Naser “Nas” Khoury, labeled a “Law Professor/Attorney”; and Kim L. Nguyen, defined as a “Deputy Attorney General.”
There are four races for open seats in the June 7 primary election, and three incumbents—James Kaddo, Ray Santana, and Kathryn Ann Solorzano—each has a single challenger.
Copyright 2016, Metropolitan News Company