Woocher Thinks Trung Sued To Soon

Peggy Lowe has a great post over at Total Buzz:

Did Schroeder & Co. jump the gun?

Picked up an interesting e-mail from Fred Woocher today -- you remember him, right? He's the attorney for the mysterious Mr. Feather and he was one of the many guys who have lived at the Registrar of Voters office over the last week.

Woocher believes that Trung Nguyen jumped the gun on his lawsuit and that his attorney, Mike Schroeder, should have been arguing yesterday to get Janet Nguyen declared the winner, not the other way around.

"They have to wait until after the Board of Supervisors declares the result of the election (and seats Janet) before they can contest the election in the kind of lawsuit they filed today. The court can't even entertain their lawsuit until after the Board of Supervisors acts to "declare" Janet elected, not vice versa," Woocher wrote in his e-mail, which was sent last night. Read his arguments below.

-- Peggy Lowe

Under the Elections Code, after the votes are counted (or in this case, re-counted), the Registrar of Voters, as the "elections official" or "the official conducting the election" (in the parlance of the Elections Code) is required to "prepare a certified statement of the results of the election and submit it to the governing body within 28 days of the lection." (Election Code, section 15372.) That's what Neal did yesterday.

You can read the rest of Woocher's e-mail here.

UPDATE (5:14 p.m.): Peggy has Mike Schroeder's response here.

Comments

[Proud of Schroeder]

Schroeder said you can file a lawsuit at any time...He would know. We are all so proud of him. Hey Utsay, I thought you said Schroeder would not get involvd in any type of legal action if Janet was declared the winner. Hmmmm.

Mike lost the Brown suit and he is going to loose this one.

[Morning Coffee]

So, are we going to see a brief filed on Janet, or Mr. Feather's, behalf taking this position?

[UtSay]

Dear Proud of Schroeder,

Mike took on the pro-bono case to represent Trung Nguyen for the recounts, and I thought he would turned his back once the recounts were done. Apparently, I am wrong! Mike Schroeder continued representing Trung Nguyen (along with Steve Baric) to file the law suit, which proves that he is more of a decent and kind heart than I had thought. I can only speculate that perhaps during the recounts he has recognized who Janet Nguyen really is and decided to stay with Trung Nguyen. Regardless, IMHO, he has more integrity than Woocher & Greer combined.

Yes, I admit that "I am wrong", if that makes you sleep well tonight. :)

[clprevatt]

I'm not an attorney but I think Woocher is on to something here. The Elections Code is pretty clear when a challenge to an election can be filed and that is after a winner is declared by the Governing body, in this case the Board of Supervisors.

What I find to be hilarious is that none of our current Supervisors had the forethought to ask County Counsel, and his $9.3 million department, what the Elections Code said about when a challenge could be filed. They were so concerned about jumping the gun, when it seems that the trigger could not be pulled until they acted.

We'll at any rate, the suit has been filed. Anyone know nguyen a Judge will hold the initial hearing?

[Proud of Schroeder]

UtSay,
I will sleep the same tonight regardless but I do respect you for admitting you are wrong. You do not see that quality in men nowadays. You see lies, deflection and political spin, but you don't see honesty. I thank you for that.

There is a specific EC provision that requires a suit after a recount be brought in 5 days. That provision controls in this context. The more general provision does not control here.

[clprevatt]

8:24
Please enlighten us to that controlling provisions number.

[LT]

Proud of Schroeder "I will sleep the same tonight regardless but I do respect you for admitting you are wrong. You do not see that quality in men nowadays. You see lies, deflection and political spin, but you don't see honesty..."

I know the Photoshop thing is old. But wasn't Trung honestly admitted, took full responsibility, and apology for the incident
that he overlooked his volunteer works.