Free Republic

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles Times has endorsed City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa in the May 17 mayoral run-off, saying the candidate has a "relish and intensity" for attacking the city's woes that incumbent Mayor James Hahn lacks. The Times also endorsed Villaraigosa in 2001, when the two candidates ran against each other in a tight race marked by attack ads that helped Hahn to a come-from-behind win. "Villaraigosa's drive, people skills and knack for coalition-building earned our endorsement in 2001. Given Hahn's lack of dynamism, those traits seem even more desirable four ho-hum years later," reads the editorial...

LOS ANGELES - Days after prosecutors began a preliminary inquiry into his fund-raising, mayoral candidate Antonio Villaraigosa began airing a TV ad Monday that seeks to put Mayor James Hahn on the defensive over an ongoing corruption probe at City Hall. The 30-second spot covers familiar ground: Villaraigosa has been attacking Hahn for months over the ongoing investigation, in which prosecutors are looking into allegations that City Hall officials traded contracts for campaign donations. No administration officials have been charged. "Where will the investigation end?" a narrator in the ad asks. "Isn't it time for a change?" The ad appeared...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - District Attorney Steve Cooley said Friday his office was looking into questionable out-of-state donations to Antonio Villaraigosa, one day after the mayoral candidate announced he was returning $47,000 from workers of two Florida-based companies. "In response to extensive media coverage, I believe an inquiry is warranted and have instructed our Public Integrity Division to take the necessary first steps," Cooley said in a statement. There was no political motivation to the move, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office. "His job is to enforce the law," she said, referring to Cooley. "He's here...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The two candidates for mayor relentlessly attacked each other Monday in their first televised, one-on-one debate and wrangled over issues from trust to traffic in caustic and sometimes personal terms. Mayor James Hahn repeatedly questioned whether Angelenos could trust city Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, depicting him as an indecisive, pandering leader with a record of damaging decisions in his days as Assembly speaker. "This campaign is about trust," Hahn said. Referring to Villaraigosa, he said bluntly, "People don't trust you." The councilman, in turn, said Hahn's City Hall was the most investigated administration in modern times, alluding...

A judge refused yesterday to order the counting of ballots in the San Diego mayoral race in which voters wrote in the name of Councilwoman Donna Frye but neglected to fill in a small oval-shaped bubble next to it. The decision by retired Judge Eric Helgesen was a crucial victory in a post-election legal battle for Mayor Dick Murphy, who has claimed victory after finishing with 2,205 more votes than Frye in results announced Friday. The judge ruled against the League of Women Voters of San Diego and two Frye supporters who contended there are thousands of such ballots the...

Frye's Mayoral Hopes Begin To Fade New Lawsuit Expected In Disputed Mayoral Vote Count POSTED: 7:41 PM PST November 15, 2004 UPDATED: 1:55 PM PST November 17, 2004 SAN DIEGO -- A third lawsuit is expected to be filed later today in the still-undecided San Diego mayoral election, NBC 7/39 reported. The new suit will be filed by the League of Women Voters and will focus on write-in ballots that have Councilwoman Donna Frye's name written in but don't have the oval next to it filled in, according to NBC 7/39. Election officials say those votes are invalid, but the...

Frye candidacy ruled legal; vote count won't stop Judge says attorney waited too long before challenging write-in bid NANCEE E. LEWIS/Union-TribuneCity Clerk Charles Abdelnour smiled as Judge Charles E. Jones announced his ruling yesterday. A Superior Court judge gutted an attempt to invalidate the San Diego mayoral election yesterday by ruling that Donna Frye's write-in candidacy is legal and refusing to order a halt to the vote-counting. Judge Charles E. Jones also turned aside requests from San Diego business lawyer John Howard to prevent the election results from being certified and to order a new election without Frye. Jones said...

Shrinking Lead May Spell Doom For Frye Narrow Race May Require Recount POSTED: 5:17 pm PST November 11, 2004 UPDATED: 6:11 pm PST November 11, 2004 SAN DIEGO -- Although it's unknown if the San Diego mayor's race outcome may be decided in court next week, one thing is certain -- the race is getting tighter every day. The latest count from the registrar's office shows that write-in votes -- most of which have been cast for City Councilwoman Donna Frye, are 34.8 percent of the total cast. Meanwhile, incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy has moved up to 34.2 percent, and...

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The presiding judge of the San Diego Superior Court recused all 124 judges on the bench from hearing a lawsuit attempting to block write-in candidate Councilwoman Donna Frye from becoming mayor. Judge John Einhorn said he made the decision Wednesday because one of Frye's election rivals, incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy, was a judge for 15 years before he was elected mayor in 2000. Several judges have contributed to Murphy's campaigns, and Einhorn wanted to avoid any appearance of favoritism. Einhorn arranged with California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George to have the case heard by Charles...

I'm running for mayor of a small Minnesota town, population 5500. I wanted to solicit helpful advice from wise fellow FReepers: Q: f I were YOUR mayor, what is the first thing you would want me to do? (in your community, what's your #1 concern) Q: What do you expect from your city government? What DON'T you want them to do? Q: How should the city try to attract business and industry to town? So, if you were face-to-face with YOUR mayor, what would you say or ask? I realize that every town and city are different, with wildly divergent...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The state Fair Political Practices Commission on Tuesday accused a prominent lawyer of laundering contributions to the election campaign of Mayor James Hahn. Pierce O'Donnell allegedly arranged maximum donations from law firm employees and others, and then reimbursed them. He made 26 illegal contributions totaling $25,500, according to the accusation filed in Sacramento. The panel charged with enforcing California's campaign laws requested that O'Donnell be fined at least $94,000. If the case is not settled, an administrative hearing will be scheduled in coming months, said Steven Russo, head of enforcement for the commission. O'Donnell, 57, said...

Ken Mulvaney filed a handful of sworn statements from voters that he says bolster his claim that he was cheated out of a fair contest for mayor of Orlando. A judge in Mulvaney's election-fraud lawsuit against Mayor Buddy Dyer gave him until today to produce witness lists, affidavits and any other evidence to support his case. Mulvaney's attorney collected 19 statements from Orlando residents, including some who said Dyer's paid campaign worker, Ezzie Thomas, either filled out their absentee ballots for them, took completed ballots in unsealed envelopes or urged them to mark their ballots for Dyer.

By WDBO's: Mike Synan 07/02/2004 WDBO is getting it's first look at what evidence Ken Mulvaney and Lawanna Gelzer have in their lawsuit alledging ballot fraud in the Orlando Mayor's race. We told you two weeks ago about some of the affadavits filed by the city saying nothing was done wrong. AM 580 WDBO's Mike Synan continues our team coverage. At the center of this issue is the head of Orange County's League of Voters Ezzie Thomas. He was paid 10 thousand dollars by Mayor Buddy Dyer's reelection campaign. Several voters signed affadavits saying they gave Thomas a signed, but...

Law-enforcement agents raided Orlando City Hall on Friday and carted off computers used by top managers in the Fire Department as part of their widening investigation into possible election fraud in the mayor's race. Agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement would reveal few details of their inquiry, but a search warrant indicated that investigators are trying to determine whether city firefighters were improperly paid with taxpayer money while campaigning for Mayor Buddy Dyer. "It's part of our ongoing criminal investigation of election fraud," FDLE legal adviser Steve Brady said. "It's all related to the same issue, the mayoral-election...

Breaking News From The Guetzloe Report! Dyer Took Oath Of Office 17 1/2 hours earlier than official public swearing-in ceremony... Advised by Legal Counsel To Avoid Potential Court Order Stopping His Swearing In Due To Ballot Fraud Lawsuit & Aggressive FDLE Investigation. It will be reported in Sunday's Orlando Sentinel, that Buddy Dyer responded to legal advisor's insistence that he take the oath of office in the dead of night 17 1/2 hours prior to his official swearing-in ceremony. The ceremony, widely reported but attended by virtually no one, was actually just for show. Dyer was sworn in at midnight...

MONDAY COURT DATE SET FOR JUDGE BRONSON TO HEAR MOTIONS FOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT AGAINST DYER, PAGE IN ORLANDO ELECTION FRAUD LAWSUIT (ORLANDO) On Monday, May 17, 2004, at 11:00 a.m. Orange/Osceola Circuit Judge Theotis Bronson will hear the motions by Mulvaney attorney Frederic B. O'Neal for a default judgment against Buddy Dyer and Ernest Page in the City of Orlando election fraud case. This hearing is the next step in the effort by Mulvaney to invalidate the result of the March 9, 2004, Mayoral election. If successful, Dyer and Page would be removed from the upcoming trial. Attorney's for Dyer...

BREAKING NEWS FROM GUETZLOENEWS.COM (Orlando) Orange-Osceola Circuit Judge Theotis Bronson issued a ten (10) page ruling against Orlando Buddy Dyer and for Orlando Mayoral challenger Ken Mulvaney in the voter fraud case Mulvaney has filed against Dyer. Regarding the charges of ballot tampering and fraud by the Dyer campaign as alleged in the Mulvaney complaint, Judge Bronson stated... "this Court finds that such allegations, at a minimum, are sufficient to place the result of the election in doubt." In denying the Dyer motion to dismiss and the City of Orlando motion to dismiss, Judge Bronson ordered Dyer to answer the...

Losing Orlando mayoral candidate Ken Mulvaney filed a lawsuit in circuit court today alleging that more than 200 absentee ballots may have been fraudulent.

<p>This week's voting in the Monroe mayoral election may have been a watershed moment in the way the city's voters support their candidates for mayor.</p> <p>The results of Tuesday's municipal primary election showed voter support for runoff candidates Jamie Mayo and Don Spatafora clearly along racial lines, with Spatafora gaining 44 percent of votes in majority white precincts and Mayo getting 51 percent of votes in majority black precincts.</p>

<p>Randy Pullen raised the profile of immigration issues in the race for Phoenix mayor Monday with a fund-raiser featuring a U.S. congressman who is an outspoken critic of immigration policies.</p> <p>Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., said illegal immigration is no longer just the domain of the federal government.</p>