Petitioner Denise Erkeneff of Dana Point filed a lawsuit today against city council candidate Luigi Rossetti, Jr., the county and city to obtain a court order to strike the fictional name "Lou Penrose" from the ballot and ballot statements in the upcoming Nov. 4 municipal election.  Rossetti is the District Director for Orange County Congressman John Campbell and a Dana Point resident.  Erkeneff’s family are long-time Dana Point residents.  Erkeneff is a Republican, and is active in the south country community. 

     Rossetti is registered to vote in Dana Point, and his driver’s license, marriage license, and social security numbers are all in the name of Luigi Rossetti, Jr.  He is employed by Congressman Campbell and the U.S. Congress in the name of Luigi Rossetti, Jr., has received a traffic ticket in that name, has attended driving school in that name, and owns his home with his wife in Dana Point in that name.  

     However, Rossetti filed a Declaration of Candidacy for the Dana Point city council and a Candidate Statement in a different name, "Lou Penrose."  The county and city certified this name on the ballot for Congressional aide Rossetti, despite the fact that Penrose is not his registered name. "Lou Penrose" is not a "legal" name of Rossetti, rather, it is an assumed identity, or alias.   "Lou Penrose" is not registered to vote in Dana Point, does not own property, and so on, according to legal documents. 

     The law allows for nicknames and initials to be used in ballot designations.  Thus, Edmund Gerald Brown, Sr., a former Governor, was allowed to use the ballot name "Edmund G. "Pat" Brown."  The Code also already allows candidates to legally change their names for the ballot, but they must do so in the normal, court-sanctioned procedure and at least one year before the election.  A court-sanctioned procedure allows for a public records trail to the name-changer.  However, assumed names or identifies are not so easily researched.  Names on the ballot cannot be misleading and must be accurate according to the California Elections Code.  

     Erkeneff argues that an entirely fictitious name on the ballot, such as "Lou Penrose," is not a nickname, rather, it is an error that does not fully inform the voters and can mislead them as to the true identity of their candidates on the ballot.  For example, if such a precedent were to be established, what would stop an individual with a negative history on the Yahoo and Google search engines from simply assuming a fictitious name before an election to intentionally deceive voters as to his or her true identify and history? A hearing will be held on the Petition, probably in the next week.  I am representing Erkeneff.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.