The battle over ballot titles continues this week with word that attorney general candidate and LA DA Steve Cooley has sued to stop competitor Tom Harman from calling himself a prosecutor.
In filings with the Sacramento County Superior Court, Cooley said Harman has no business using “prosecutor/attorney/senator” as his ballot designation because the “prosecutorial” work stems only from Harman’s recent enrollment in an eight-week Orange County volunteer program that lets civil lawyers perform certain duties in the district attorney’s office. Harman is better known as a Republican state senator who represents California’s 35th District.
“Because ‘prosecutor’ is neither Harman’s profession, vocation, nor occupation, he cannot use the term as part of his ballot designation,” Cooley argued.
Asked earlier about the three-word ballot title, Harman’s campaign consultant, Wayne Johnson, insisted that it isn’t misleading and, in fact, paints a “complete picture” of the candidate’s work.
A hearing on Harman’s title is scheduled Thursday afternoon. That’s the same day lawyers for Cooley, the secretary of state’s office and the third Republican AG candidate, John Eastman, will appear in court to haggle over Eastman’s title.
Eastman, as you’ll recall, wants to be known as an assistant attorney general on the ballot. What voters won’t see is the fact that he holds that title, temporarily, in South Dakota while he works on a single case for the attorney general there.
Secretary of State Debra Bowen has rejected Eastman’s requested title. Eastman is challenging her decision and Cooley has intervened to side with Bowen.
Comments