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Saturday, April 03, 2010

Ind. Courts - "Lawsuit alleges candidate for judge didn't sign paper"

Updating earlier ILB entries on this judicial race ("Judge hopes feds' probe of tax breaks will clear air" - 3/6/10 and "Gary P-T editorial on Lake County Circuit judgeship: Political deceit reaches on high" - 3/21/10), today Andy Grimm reports in the Gary Post-Tribune:

CROWN POINT -- A Lake County Circuit Court ruling could decide who will be the Democratic candidate for Lake County Circuit Court Judge.

In the latest twist in an unusually odd primary fight between Crown Point attorney Alex Dominguez and Merrillville Town Judge George Paras, a Schererville man has filed a court challenge claiming Dominguez should be removed from the ballot because he didn't sign his name on candidate paperwork.

The lawsuit names Dominguez, Secretary of State Todd Rokita and the Lake County Election Board as defendants.

"Every other candidate in the state has to sign in the box and verify their information. Why not (Dominguez), too?" said Robert Vann, the Merrill-ville attorney who filed the suit for Schererville resident John McGrath.

"(Dominguez) is a lawyer. He should know the law. If he was a judge, is he going to let litigants come before him and say 'I almost followed the law?' "

A copy of the form submitted by Dominguez with the Indiana Election Commission included with the lawsuit shows that a signature box at the bottom of an apparently two-sided form is blank. However, the other side of the document shows Dominguez's notarized signature on a line acknowledging Dominguez was aware of campaign finance rules, said John Kopack, Dominguez's lawyer.

The lawsuit comes almost a month after the deadline to file candidate challenges with the Election Commission, Kopack said.

"This is an attempt by the other candidate's camp to do what they apparently intended to do at the filing deadline," when sitting judge Lorenzo Arredondo filed to redraw his name as a candidate on Feb. 19, minutes before the filing deadline, and his friend Paras filed to enter the race.

That move that would have left Paras as the only candidate on the primary ballot. Dominguez has said his uncle, Lake County Sheriff Roy Dominguez, had heard rumors Arredondo would withdraw so Paras could run unopposed, and Alex Dominguez filed for the job about 30 minutes before Paras and Arredondo.

"They want their candidate to run with no opposition," Kopack said.

Kopack said state election laws require any candidate challenges be filed with state or local election officials three weeks ago, not in court the month before the election.

Vann said Dominguez was never a candidate because his filing paperwork is meaningless without proper signatures. Vann also said he had not discussed politics with his client McGrath, whom he described as "a concerned citizen."

"You can try to spin this any way you want," Vann said Friday. "I think (the signature) is very significant. This guy wants to be judge. He has to comply with the law. Signatures are important. There are all sorts of legal documents that must be signed."

Kopack said a court hearing could take place within two weeks.

Richard Winger of Ballot Access News notes:
Because the county probably wants to print the primary ballots very soon, this case will be decided quickly. Indiana does not permit write-ins in primaries, so if Dominguez is removed from the primary ballot, only one candidate will remain on the ballot, and he will be the nominee automatically.
Readers may recall this ILB entry from March 20, 2010, headed "Porter county judge orders trustee candidate removed from ballot." In that case, in the county adjoining Lake, Porter County Judge Mary Harper:
ruled that county election officials must remove a Union Township trustee candidate's name from May's primary election ballot.

Mike Herzog of Hobart did not sign the declaration of candidacy form in front of a notary as statute requires and must be disqualified, she said at the end of Friday's hearing that lasted nearly three hours. * * * "I think the Legislature wanted strict compliance," she said.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 3, 2010 09:49 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts