Page 1
Judicial Candidate to Challenge Ballot Designation of Rival
Private Practitioner Henderson Claims to Be ‘Deputy Public Defender’; Deputy District Attorney Abourched to Seek Writ Compelling Registrar-Recorder’s Office to Require Alternate Job Description
By a MetNews Staff Writer
|
|
|
LA SHAE HENDERSON |
Deputy District Attorney Sam Abourched, a candidate for Los Angeles Superior Court Office No. 97, an open seat, is planning to file a writ petition this morning challenging the ballot designation of a rival in the race, La Shae Henderson.
The website of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s Office reflects the acceptance by that office of Henerson’s designation as a deputy public defender. Below is a screen shot:
However, Henderson is no longer employed by the Public Defender’s Office. Her campaign website says:
“La Shae Henderson resigned from the Public Defender’s Office this year and is currently in private practice.”
She is listed with the State Bar as being a criminal defense lawyer in Diamond Bar.
Elections Code §13107
Elections Code §13107(c) 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.”
Although Henderson was a deputy public defender in 2022, California Code of Regulations §20714(d) says that “[i]f the candidate is engaged in a profession, vocation or occupation at the time he or she files his or her nomination documents, the candidate’s proposed ballot designation is entitled to consist of the candidate’s current principal professions, vocations and occupations.”
It adds that a past position may be listed only if “the candidate does not have a current principal profession, vocation or occupation at the time he or she files his or her nomination documents.”
Abourched Comments
Abourched said yesterday that he will file the writ petition “not out of pettiness or political expediency,” explaining:
“I believe we have a responsibility to be truthful with voters, and it is offensive that Ms. Henderson is indicating she intends to run a deceptive campaign.”
He continued:
“The only reason Ms. Henderson has used a previous job as her ballot designation is a blatant attempt to mislead the voters. I can’t imagine that she wants her very first act as an official candidate to be a falsehood.”
The prosecutor added:
“I urge Ms. Henderson to be honest with voters and adjust her ballot designation accordingly.”
Deputy District Attorney Sharon Ransom, also seeking Office No. 97, remarked:
“Accurate ballot designations are important. Hopefully Ms. Henderson, and all other candidates, will use the most accurate designation that they are legally entitled to so voters have a true understanding of the candidate’s current position.”
Registrar-Recorder’s Office
The Registrar-Recorder’s Office was on notice that Henderson is no longer a deputy public defender. On her ballot designation worksheet, submitted to that office, she filled in the blank asking for the justification for description of her profession, vocation or occupation by saying:
“An attorney in Los Angeles County.
“Deputy Public Defender 4/2005—
“Private Practice 1/2003.”
That office also accepted the designation, “Deputy Public Defender” from two other candidates: Ericka J. Wiley, who is seeking election to Office No. 48, and Kimberly Repecka, who is challenging the reelection bid by Judge Emily Spear in a contest for Office No. 124.
The Registrar-Recorder’s Office failed to adhere to Elections Code §13107(b)(3)(B) which provides: “If the candidate is an…employee of a county, the name of the county shall appear preceded by the words ‘County of.’ ”
Geographical Entity Specified
Legislation amending §13107 in various ways, including insertion of a requirement that geographical entities employing govermnent lawyers be specified, stemmed from a Sept. 23, 2014 METNEWS editorial which explained:
“The reason for including the geographical entity is to prevent confusion. For example, in the primary, Deputy City Attorney Songhai ‘Sunny’ Armstead was listed as a ‘Supervising Criminal Prosecutor’ and Deputy District Attorney Teresa P. Magno as a ‘Gang Murder Prosecutor.’ Magno won, but it is troubling that voters might well have assumed that Armstead supervises Magno; there was no hint that Armstead only handles misdemeanors, in a different office.
“In the primary, as now, [Thomas] Griego ran as ‘Criminal Gang Prosecutor.’ Steven Schreiner, who came in third, was listed as ‘Gang Homicide Prosecutor.’ Had Griego been identified as ‘Los Angeles Deputy City Attorney’ and Schreiner been termed ‘Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney,’ voters might well have given appropriate weight to the fact that Schreiner prosecutes felonies while Griego deals only with minor offenses.
“Though it has never happened, to our knowledge, there is the prospect of a judge in, say, Lassen County considering moving to Los Angeles County. He or she could be listed on our ballot as ‘Superior Court Judge,’ implying incumbency here, without having yet moved here and being oblivious to local rules, customs, and the landscape.”
Prototype Bill
That requirement was contained in a prototype bill drafted by METNEWS Co-Publisher Jo-Ann W. Grace who chaired the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s delegation to the Conference of California Bar Associations which unanimously approved the proposed legislation, and incorporated it into Senate Bill 235. The May 9, 2017 analysis in the Senate Judiciary Committee said:
“This bill would provide that a candidate for judicial office who is an attorney employed by a city, county, district, state or by the United States, the designation shall appear as words designating the actual job title, as defined by statute, charter, or other governing instrument.”
Although the ballot designations for Wiley and Repecka that were accepted by the Registrar-Recorder’s Office do not include the statutorily mandated words “County of Los Angeles,” the six deputy district attorneys who have filed nominating papers—Abourched, Victor Avila, Christmas Brookens, Leslie Gutierrez, Georgia Huerta, and Steven Yee Mac—are listed as “Deputy District Attorney, County of Los Angeles.”
Copyright 2023, Metropolitan News Company