Court Rejects Maldonado Ballot Title

Law forbids “misleading and deceptive” ballot titles.

(Sacramento) – In a ruling made final today, Sacramento Superior Judge Gail D. Ohanesian has forbidden legislator Abel Maldonado from characterizing himself as an “Auditor” on the June Republican Primary ballot for State Controller. Maldonado was attempting to have his occupation listed as “business controller/auditor”, but that title was rejected by the court as misleading.

Maldonado had originally failed to disclose his primary occupation as a legislator, but after questioning by the judge, his attorneys submitted “business controller/senator” which was accepted.

We’re certainly happy to hear about the decision of the court,” said Paul Hegyi, campaign manager for Maldonado’s opponent, Tony Strickland. “It’s one thing to try and hide from voters the fact that you’re a legislator, but it’s quite another to claim to be an Auditor when you’re not. That’s no longer just an opinion, that’s the finding in a court of law.” Strickland serves as President of “Club for Growth” and will be listed on the ballot as “Taxpayer Organization President,” accurately reflecting his current primary occupation.

Calling himself a ‘business controller’ is also quite a stretch,” said Hegyi. “Apparently, his attorneys admitted in court that Maldonado had his relatives in a family-owned company name him that in a board meeting a few months ago, even though the company had never previously had such a position. They also gave him the title of ‘auditor,’ but the judge obviously felt you have to draw the line somewhere and disallowed it. Had the court let Maldonado get away with something so obviously untrue, there would no longer be any standard at all. People could form a club and have themselves named ‘certified honest bookkeeper’ and put that on the ballot. The judge was obviously correct in preventing Maldonado from abusing the ballot title process with a fundamentally untrue title.”

The law is clear: A candidate cannot use a ballot title that misleads voters,” said attorney James F. Sweeney, an expert on California Election Law. “The court correctly concluded that the record simply didn’t support the Senator’s effort to characterize himself as a ‘business controller – auditor’ and would not permit him to conceal the fact that he was a full time legislator. Voters are entitled to accurate and honest information when casting their ballots.”