Today, Orange County Superior Court Gregory Lewis ruled that Mike Schroeder can on Monday take a deposition from Debbie Cook, Huntington Beach Mayor and Democratic congressional candidate against Schroeder’s longtime friend Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. Her lawyer, Fred Woocher, is going to try and block that.
Schroeder says Cook shouldn’t be able to call herself mayor on the ballot because she wasn’t directly elected by the people, but picked by her fellow City Council members.
I talked with Nicole Winger in the Secretary of State’s office and she told me Cook has gotten their approval to use mayor on the ballot because she can say it’s her prinicpal occupation, profession or vocation, basically the way she spends most of her time. And she also confirmed that in the 71st Assembly race, Republicans Neil Blais and Jeff Miller both have their designations as mayor on the ballot. Blais is mayor of Rancho Santa Margarita and Miller of Corona.
Well, Woocher says this case is harassment and shouldn’t even be before Lewis because it’s the Secretary of State who has the last word on ballot designation, not Orange County Registrar Neal Kelley, who Schroeder also named in the suit. So it should be heard in Sacramento.
Woocher was asked by Rep. Loretta Sanchez to take this case and he and Mark Rosen will be filing with the Court of Appeals first thing Monday morning, hoping to overturn Lewis’ ruling.
“It’s a political fishing expedition,” he said.
Schroeder called Cook a “scofflaw,” and said he would concentrate at the deposition on probing how she can prove she spends the majority of her time being the Huntington Beach mayor.
Schroeder also said Cook didn’t properly fill out the paperwork on the ballot designation.
“The rules are the rules,” he said. “She has to follow the law.”
Not all Republicans think this lawsuit is a great idea.
On OCblog, Mark Bucher says he’s a supporter of Rohrabacher’s but thinks this lawsuit should be dropped.
Schroeder told me the bench trial before Lewis is set for Wednesday.
I’m no Cook or Schroeder fan but this seems really stupid but typical of Schroeder & his over inflated ego. Lately I’m embarrassed to call my self a republican.
Mike Schroeder: make sure you cross your eyes and dot you tees.
LOL. Schroeder got quoted in this article self-righteously asserting that Cook must follow the law, not knowing that the next day the lawsuit would be dismissed because he filed it in the wrong county and named the wrong party. Way to follow the the law, Mikey! Again, LOL.