Monday, March 26, 2018
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Registrar Recorder Approves Use of ‘Mother’ as Ballot Designation
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Office of Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder has permitted the identification of unemployed lawyer Onica Valle Cole on the June 5 ballot as “Attorney/Mother.”
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant granted an alternative writ which Cole sought on an ex parte basis ordering Registrar Recorder Dean Logan to accept her preferred designation of “Consumer Protection Prosecutor.” Chalfant set today as the deadline for opposition and Wednesday as the hearing date.
Ballot designation matters are heard on an expedited basis.
Chalfant denied an alternative writ in response to Cole’s challenge to opponent Maria Lucy Armendariz being described as “Judge of the State Bar Court, State Bar of California.” She wanted Armendariz to be labeled a “Hearing Judge, San Francisco.”
Initial Acceptance
Ballot designations are declared by candidates when their nomination papers are filed. Cole filed hers shortly before the Registrar-Recorder’s Office’s 5 p.m. closing time on March 9, the last day for submitting the papers, and it was not until later that evening that the office accepted her desired designation as “Consumer Protection Prosecutor.”
By letter of March 13, sent by email, fax, and U.S. certified mail, Registrar-Recorder Elections Deputy Francis Guijaro advised that Cole’s first-choice designation and the two alternatives were being bounced, citing a provision in Elections Code §13107, added by legislation effective Jan. 1, which provides:
“A candidate for superior court judge who is an active member of the State Bar and practices law as one of his or her principal professions shall use one of the following ballot designations as his or her ballot designation: ‘Attorney,’ ‘Attorney at Law,’ ‘Lawyer,’ or ‘Counselor at Law.’ The designations ‘Attorney’ and ‘Lawyer’ may be used in combination with one other current principal profession, vocation, or occupation of the candidate, or the principal profession, vocation, or occupation of the candidate during the calendar year immediately preceding the filing of nomination documents.”
Additional Alternative Solicited
Guijaro’s communique advised:
“Failure to provide an alternate designation which conforms to the requirements of the law (within three days of your receipt of this letter), will result in no designation appearing under your name on the ballot.”
Cole provided the new alternative of “Attorney/Mother.” She said Friday that “close to 15 alternatives” were “discussed in person and submitted.”
The candidate is nonetheless pursuing her effort to secure an order to Logan to identify her on the ballot as “Consumer Protection Prosecutor” or “Deputy City Attorney III, City of L.A.”.
Those designations, she is arguing, are permissible under the longstanding provision of §13107, as well as the predecessor statute, permitting “[n]o more than three words designating either the current principal professions, vocations, or occupations of the candidate, or the principal professions, vocations, or occupations of the candidate during the calendar year immediately preceding the filing of nomination documents.”
The candidate is claiming the right to use a description of her occupation last year while employed by the City Attorney’s Office, which fired her Jan. 3.
An obstacle she faces is that a regulation provides that past occupations may be used only if there is no present profession, occupation, or vocation, and specifies that an active member of the bar has the profession of an attorney.
In the race for Los Angeles Superior Court Office No. 126, the Registrar-Recorder’s Office has limited the ballot designation of Shlomo Frieman to “Attorney.” Frieman, who has thus far not mounted a campaign, previously had the designation of “Attorney/Volunteer Adjudicator.”
Aside from the permissible use of the term “Community Volunteer”—which may not be used in connection with any other description—volunteer work may not be listed; it is denominated by 2 CCR §20716(b) an “avocation,” and not a “principal profession, vocation or occupation.”
One of the other aspirants for the office, Deputy District Attorney Ken Fuller, commented Friday:
“I have no knowledge as to the actual underlying reasons for the change and don’t want to speculate. I am unaware of any complaints to the registrar on the issue.”
The other contender, Senior Deputy County Counsel Rene Gilbertson, said March 14 that “it is difficult to make the case that a volunteer position is a principal occupation,” adding:
“Therefore, I contacted the registrar’s office about it.”
Deputy District Attorney Troy Davis’s challenge to criminal defense attorney David D. Diamond’s designation as “Police Commissioner/Attorney” is slated to be heard Thursday by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mary H. Strobel. Davis is contending that Diamond’s unpaid and part-time work as a commissioner does not meet the definition of an “occupation.”
Opposition is due today and a reply on Wednesday.
Copyright 2018, Metropolitan News Company