Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Monday, December 9, 2019

 

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Candidate Won’t Budge From ‘Retired Army General’ Designation

Others Bill Themselves as ‘Immigration Advocate,’ ‘Community Educator,’ ‘Legal Commentator’

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

The period for filing nominating papers for Los Angeles Superior Court seats ended Friday, with questions looming as to the propriety of some of the ballot designations—in particular, that of Glendale attorney Mark MacCarley who has billed himself, “Retired Army General.”

He declined to alter the designation notwithstanding that he left his military post in 2015 and has been practicing law since. Code of Regulations §20716(h)(4) provides:

“A candidate may not use the word ‘retired’ in his or her ballot designation if that candidate possesses another more recent, intervening principal profession, vocation, or occupation.”

MacCarley is one of three candidates for Office No. 129.

In other races:

Immmigration attorney Robert F. Jacobs, who is seeking Office No. 72, late Thursday filed nominating papers with the designation, “Attorney/Immigration Advocate.” Elections Code §13107 allows a practicing lawyer to use “Attorney” or “Lawyer” along with “one other current principal profession, vocation, or occupation of the candidate”—but Code of Regulations §20716(b)(3) elaborates that a “status” does not qualify under any of those three categories, explaining:

“A status is generic in nature and generally fails to identify with any particular specificity the manner by which the candidate earns his or her livelihood or spends the substantial majority of his or her time. Examples of a status include, but are not limited to, veteran, proponent, reformer, scholar, founder, philosopher, philanthropist, activist, patriot, taxpayer, concerned citizen, husband, wife, and the like.”

His opponents are Deputy District Attorney Steve Morgan and Associate Law Professor Myanna Dellinger.

“Steve Morgan is on orders with the Army and will not be available until Sunday,” a campaign spokesperson said Friday. “We spoke about this last night and he is examining his options with regards to this issue.”

Civil rights activist Caree Annette Harper has changed her designation from “Attorney at Law” to “Attorney/Community Educator.”

Her campaign website lists no teaching position.

One of her two opponents for Office No. 162, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Scott Wang, would not indicate Friday whether he will challenge her designation in a writ proceeding, saying, only:

“I am considering all of my options at this point.”

Her other rival, criminal defense attorney David D. Diamond, responding to an inquiry said:

“I was unaware of her change. If you can tell me what A community educator is...I may have a better answer for you.”

Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Adan Montalban said Friday that he doubts he will challenge the designation of his opponent for Office No. 145, lawyer Troy Slaten, who has termed himself an “Attorney/Legal Commentator.” Slaten has declined to indicate how frequently he has appeared on the air over the past year doing commentary, leading to uncertainty as to whether the designation meets the requirement under §13107 of being a “principal” occupation.

Montalban said, “I want to focus on my race,” and questioned how much the designation of “Legal Commentator” would help Slaten.

Klint James McKay has not altered his designation to conform to a statutory requirement. His designation is “Administrative Law Judge”; §13107(b)(3)(D) provides:

“If the candidate performs quasi-judicial functions for a governmental agency, the full name of the agency shall be included.

McKay, who is seeking Office No. 80, works for the California Department of Social Services.

Nick C. Rini, also a candidate for Office No. 80, changed his designation from “Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney” to “Deputy District Attorney, County of Los Angeles” to conform to the format dictated by §13107.

Attorne y Onica Cole took out nominating papers for two seats. In the last hour, she filed papers for Office No. 150.

She will oppose attorney/mediator Tom Parsekian and Deputy District Attorney Manuel Alejandro Almada.

 

 

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