Days after San Diego police Officer Larry Turner appeared to secure a spot on the November general election ballot, supporters of Mayor Todd Gloria withdrew a lawsuit challenging whether the political newcomer was legally qualified to run.
Political activist Helen VanDiver sued the San Diego city clerk and county registrar last month, asking a Superior Court judge to disqualify Turner from Tuesday’s primary ballot on the grounds that he did not satisfy the residency requirements.
The judge denied the request at a hearing late last month but scheduled a follow-up hearing for March 29. Now that proceeding will be vacated.
San Diego attorney Robert Ottilie filed the request for dismissal late Thursday, two days after Turner appeared on track to finish as the runner-up in the primary election. If partial, preliminary results hold, Gloria will face Turner in a head-to-head contest on the November ballot.
In a statement Friday, VanDiver’s lawyer said his client no longer wanted to pursue the claim due to personal attacks on her character since the suit was filed.
“What should have been an opportunity to try this case on the merits last week has been turned into what is anticipated to be a month-long political spectacle,” Ottilie wrote. “My client is unwilling to subject herself or her family to any further harassment.”
Turner, who is what’s called a real party in interest in the lawsuit rather than one of the defendants, is being represented by lawyer Michael Aguirre, the former elected San Diego city attorney.
Aguirre said dismissing the case was the right decision, but he said Friday that more information was needed about who brought the case and why.
“The communications subpoenaed from the three San Diego city officials behind the lawsuit should be produced to see if the mayor’s agents violated the requirement that independent recipient committees act independent from the mayor,” he said.
“This is important because these committees can only receive unlimited amounts of money if they are truly independent from the mayor,” Aguirre added.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported last month that two of Gloria’s political appointees had indirect ties to the lawsuit.
Guillermo “Gil” Cabrera was appointed by the mayor to the regional airport board and runs the New San Diego political committee that supplied evidence in the case filed by VanDiver. Shawn VanDiver, who was appointed to the mayor’s military advisory committee, is the plaintiff’s son.
A third city appointee hired the private investigator who surveilled and researched Turner, records from the New San Diego political committee show.
All three told the Union-Tribune they were not working in concert with the mayor or his campaign. State and federal campaign rules do not allow independent political committees to coordinate with candidates they support.
At a Friday morning news conference, Turner said he was disappointed the case would not move forward and sworn testimony would not be taken by the political appointees.
Turner called the lawsuit a dirty trick and an example of why he is challenging the mayor.
“It’s just another misinformation campaign — dirty politics — the kind of corruption that goes on in San Diego unfortunately and why I’m running,” he said. “This is some dirty stuff they did to try and trick voters.”
The lawsuit had accused San Diego city and county officials of not performing their due diligence in allowing Turner onto the ballot.
It argued that Turner was not legally “domiciled” inside San Diego city limits for 30 days prior to the filing of the paperwork required to seek the Mayor’s Office. It cited multiple findings by private investigators it said indicated he may not be eligible to run.
Judge James Mangione heard initial arguments in the case at a hearing held Feb. 20.
But rather than grant the plaintiff’s request for a speedy trial and determination, the judge set the next hearing for March 29 — more than three weeks after the primary election.
Ottilie said in his statement that the allegations raised by his client have yet to be refuted. He also noted that other people could mount a similar challenge now that information compiled by private investigators has been put into the public record.
“It is unfortunate that issues of such importance to the community can no longer be addressed civilly,” he wrote. “These issues should have been resolved by the election officials. It should not be necessary for an ordinary citizen to address qualifications for a candidate for mayor.”
If the case is pursued and Turner were removed from the November ballot, he would be replaced by the third-place finisher, who in unofficial partial results is San Diego civil rights lawyer Geneviéve Jones-Wright.
