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No New Open Seats Emerge in L.A. Superior Court Elections
By a MetNews Staff Writer
All Los Angeles Superior Court judges who filed declarations of intent to stand for election in the March 5 primary filed their nominating papers by Friday’s deadline, and the final count of open seats to be filled by voters is seven, with two other contests to be voted upon in which an incumbent has drawn a challenger.
There had been eight open seats but Deputy District Attorney Victor Avila emerged without opposition in seeking Office No. 93. Although there is a theoretical prospect of a write-in candidacy emerging, Avila has been, as a practical matter, elected.
Apparent Non-Candidate
As of press time Friday, San Bernardino criminal defense attorney Eric Jeffrey Youngquist, who had filed a declaration of intent to run for Office No. 135, had neither taken out nor filed nominating papers, according to the Registrar-Recorder’s Office website, but a delay in posting filings is possible. Youngquist has admitted that the Wilshire Boulevard address in Santa Monica he lists as the wheabouts of his office is merely a place where he picks up mail and phone messages.
There are 22 candidates for open seats (assuming Youngquist is not running).
Judge Lynn Olson has been challenged by Deputy Public Defender Rhonda A. Haymon in a grudge match—Olson found the lawyer in contempt and fined her—and Judge Emily Theresa Spear is facing opposition from Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Repecka based on the judge’s misconduct, resulting in a public admonishment by the Commission on Judicial Performance.
Ballot Designations
Possible court challenges to ballot designations loom.
Deputy District Attorney Sam Abourched has indicated he might seek a writ ordering the Registrar-Recorder’s Office to remove the description of La Shae Henderson, a rival in the contest for Office No. 97, as a “Deputy Public Defender.” She left that post as of Dec. 31 and is now a private criminal defense lawyer.
Christopher Darden—whose office is in Orange County’s Fountain Valley but insists he is actually a Los Angeles lawyer—has a ballot designation of “Attorney/Professor.”
On his ballot designation worksheet, filed with the Registrar-Recorder’s Office, he contends that he is “currently a Professor at Santa Monica Community College.”
However, he is not a “professor” there; he is an adjunct professor.
Two Competitors
Darden, who gained international fame as a prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson murder case, is in a race for Office. No. 130. Others in that contest are Deputy District Attorney Leslie Gutierrez and private practitioner Osman M. Taher. Taher lists as his office address with the State Bar that of an apartment building in Foothill Ranch, a community in South Orange County. However, the address he provided the Registrar-Recorder’s Office is one on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica—a different one from that listed by Youngquist, but also a place offering “Address for use on website & business cards.”
Ballots for voting by mail will be sent out no later than Feb. 5 and voting centers will open on Feb. 24.
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