Judge Fox Drops From Race, Filing Deadline Extended

Monday, March 14, 2016

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Judge Fox Drops From Race, Filing Deadline Extended

By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer

—Staff Photograph

Judge Elden Fox, Deputy District Attorney David Berger, and Berger campaign consultant David Gould conferring at Friday’s filing deadline.

Would-be candidates for Los Angeles Superior Court judge gained an extended filing deadline Friday, as Judge Elden Fox did not return his nominating papers.

Fox, who had not returned MetNews phone calls about his intentions, entered the voter information section of the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office just before Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline, accompanied by Deputy District Attorney David Berger. Fox, Berger, and Deputy Attorney General Kim Nguyen had filed declarations of intent to run for the seat.

Shortly after Fox and Berger arrived, they and Berger’s campaign consultant, David Gould, went to a non-public area of the office to talk to an elections official. After they emerged, elections personnel confirmed that Berger had returned his papers to run for Fox’s seat, and that Fox had not.

Nguyen, meanwhile, returned her papers for that seat. She also could have run in Office No. 11, an open seat for which she had also filed a DOI.

Extended Nominating Period

Because Fox, as the incumbent, filed a DOI but did not end up running, there is an extended nominating period, which ends Wednesday. Anyone who meets the legal qualifications to be a superior court judge can run, except for Fox and anyone who already is running for another office.

There was speculation that several candidates who had filed DOIs but not returned nominating papers in light of the large number of candidates for a small number of open seats, or who had planned to run but never filed DOIs, might enter the race.

In other news, the nominating period for seats in which the incumbent was unopposed or did not file a DOI came to an end, with good news for a sitting judge. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel was virtually assured of a new six-year term , as none of the three other who candidates had filed declarations of intent returned nominating papers.

Deputy District Attorneys Debra Archuleta and Steven Schreiner both filed for the seat being vacated by Judge Michelle Rosenblatt. Naser “Nas” Khoury, a sole practitioner, after spending most of the afternoon waiting to see what other potential candidates would do, said he would file for Fox’s seat.

Revel Unopposed

With Revel unopposed—her name will only appear on the June 7 primary ballot if someone files as a write-in candidate—there will be seven contested races, for the four open seats, plus challenges to Judges Ray Santana, Kathryn Ann Solórzano, and James Kaddo.

The final list of candidates for the six contested seats in which filing has ended, with ballot designations in parentheses, is:

•Office No. 11—Archuleta (Violent Crime Prosecutor), Paul Kim (Gang Murder Prosecutor), Jonathan Alexan Malek (Civil Litigator), and Schreiner (Gang Murder Prosecutor), for the Rosenblatt seat.

•Office No. 42—E. Matthew Aceves (Child Molestation Prosecutor), Alicia Molina (Domestic Violence Attorney), Michael P. Ribons (Attorney/Arbitrator), and Cyndy Zuzga (Superior Court Commissioner) for the seat being vacated by Judge Alan Rosenfield.

•Office No. 60—Kaddo (Judge of the Superior Court) and Stepan W. Baghdassarian (Attorney at Law).

•Office No. 84—Javier Perez (Supervising Gang Prosecutor), Susan Jung Townsend (Criminal Fraud Prosecutor), Aaron Weissman (Small Business Attorney), and Hubert S. Yun (Gang Murder Prosecutor) for the seat being vacated by Judge Kathleen Diesman.

•Office No. 120—Eric O. Ibisi (Attorney at Law) and Santana (Judge of the Superior Court).

•Office No. 165—Solórzano and Tami L. Warren (Court Appointed Counsel).