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Ex-Prosecutor’s Ballot Designation As Deputy D.A. Draws Challenge
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Retired Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Georgia A. Huerta and the County of Los Angeles were served yesterday with a writ petition seeking to bar Huerta’s use of the ballot designation, “Deputy District Attorney” on the June 7 ballot.
The writ petition was filed Monday. Bringing the challenge is Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Melissa Hammond who is competing with Huerta and four others for Los Angeles Superior Court Office No. 118.
Representing Hammond is attorney Johnny White of the West Los Angeles firm of Wolf, Rifkin, Shapiro, Schulman & Rabkin, LLP.
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MELISSA HAMMOND Deputy District Attorney |
GEORGIA HUERTA Ex-Prosecutor |
Ballot Designation Worksheet
Attached to the petition is the “ballot designation worksheet” filled in and signed by Huerta, and filed with the Registrar-Recorder’s Office. It sets forth as the justification for the candidate’s chosen ballot designation:
“Employed with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office from 8/17/1987 - 3/26/2021 as a Deputy District Attorney. Pursuant to Election 13107(a)(3), I did not have a profession or occupation since 3/27/2021.”
The cited provision allows a designation comprised of “[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.”
Under that provision, the Registrar-Recorder’s Office permitted Huerta’s designation as one reflecting an occupation the candidate held within the past year. (It rejected the designation she initially sought of “Deputy District Attorney, County of Los Angeles,” which is allowed, under another portion of §13107 for current holders of that position, and bounced as an alternate designation those same words followed by “Retired.”)
Code of Regulations
Sec. 13107 is subject to implementing regulations promulgated by the Office of Secretary of State, with those regulations having the force of law. Code of Regulations §20714(d), cited by the petition, limits the use of past employment to a circumstance where “the candidate does not have a current principal profession, vocation or occupation at the time he or she files his or her nomination documents.”
The writ petition points to Code of Regulations §20714(b)(1) which says:
“If a candidate is licensed by the State of California to engage in a profession, vocation or occupation, the candidate is entitled to consider it one of his or her ‘principal’ professions, vocations or occupations if (i) the candidate has maintained his or her license current as of the date he or she filed his or nomination documents by complying with all applicable requirements of the respective licensure, including the payment of all applicable license fees and (ii) the status of the candidate’s license is active at the time he or she filed his or her nomination documents.”
White wrote:
“Ms. Huerta’s position should not be allowed to prevail. As an actively licensed attorney, she is deemed to be practicing law as one of her current principal professions under applicable regulations….Her efforts to evade the operation of the law must be rejected.”
Legislative Reform
The petition notes:
“Elections Code section 13107 was amended, effective January 1, 2018, to prevent abuses in ballot designations by both public and private attorneys. SB 235. as it was known before its passage, was authored in the first instance by attorney Jo-Ann Grace, co-owner of the Met News, a close observer of judicial elections in Los Angeles for decades. It was written in response to years of ballot designation shenanigans in Los Angeles Superior Court races specifically.”
It continues:
“The purpose of SB 235 was to curb the much-maligned practice of emotionally charged ballot designations such as ‘Hardcore Gang Prosecutor’ or ‘Child Molestation Prosecutor.’ It did this by dividing attorneys into two subgroups and requiring each subgroup to follow specific rules that promote neutral, dispassionate ballot designations.”
If the legislative scheme is evaded, it argues, “it would deliver a large, hitherto unimagined loophole within the legislation” which “could substantially nullify the recent reforms.”
Other Name
The petition mentions that Huerta is also known as Gloria Sullivan. In a footnote, it is commented:
“Upon information and belief. Ms. Huerta changed the name on her voter registration and the name on file with the California State Bar from Georgia Sullivan to Georgia Huerta in July 2021. ‘Huerta’ is her husband’s last name. Under Elections Code. § 13104. ‘[i]f a candidate changes Iris or her name within one year of any election, the new name shall not appear upon the ballot unless the change was made by either of the following: (a) Marriage, (b) Decree of any court of competent jurisdiction.’ As there is some evidence that Ms. Huerta used the name ‘Huerta’ for certain purposes more than a year before the election, petitioner does not bring a challenge under section 13104. However, her name change is arguably corroborative of an intention to mislead voters and flagged here for that reason.”
The writ action has been assigned to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant. Quick action on the petition is expected in light of a statutory provision granting a priority and leeway necessary for the printing of sample ballots and the voter pamphlet.
The other candidates for Office 118 are Deputy District Attorney Keith Koyano, Deputy County Counsel S. (Shawn) Thever, Administrative Law Presiding Judge Klint McKay, and attorney Carolyn “Jiyoung” Park.
Copyright 2022, Metropolitan News Company