Saying that nobody was legally harmed by alleged election law violations, a judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to erase three City Council candidates from the May 21 primary election ballot.
Lane County Circuit Court Judge Lyle Velure ruled that the City Council candidates who filed the suit were not denied legal rights when the city placed on the ballot other candidates who had filed election paperwork in an order inconsistent with city law.
Eugene attorney Ed Spinney, who represented the plaintiffs, argued unsuccessfully that his clients will be legally harmed when they have to campaign against candidates who failed to follow the law.
“The only adverse effect that I see on the plaintiffs here is political, and not legal,” Velure said. “The only thing they will be deprived of would be winning an election by default.”
Candidates Jim Hale in Ward 5 and Kurt Thelen in Ward 6 filed the lawsuit Monday, arguing that three candidates should be booted from the ballot for collecting signatures before turning in other required documents. City rules and state law require candidates to file two documents and receive approval of signature forms before they can begin collecting signatures backing their nominations.
Defendants were Ward 5 candidate Gary Papé; Ward 6 candidates Jennifer Solomon and Frank Wiley; Annette Newingham, a Lane County elections official; and City Recorder Kathleen Fieland.
Hale criticized the decision but said he didn’t expect to appeal before the election.
“I’ll start campaigning,” he said.
While leaving the courtroom, Solomon and Papé said they were pleased with the decision and planned to launch their campaigns.
“This has removed any cloud over my campaign,” Solomon said. “The city council and the city deserve leaders and not litigants.”
The controversy began when Fieland gave inconsistent advice that led some candidates to collect signatures before turning in other required forms, Fieland said during the hour she spent on the witness stand.
Fieland said she decided to waive city rules that govern the filing of election materials and place the candidates on the ballot. Those candidates included David Kelly in Ward 3 and Kevin Wells in Ward 4, in addition to Papé, Solomon and Wiley.
“They had completely followed my oral instructions,” Fieland said. “To eliminate them from the ballot, I thought, would be unjust.”
But Spinney argued that Fieland’s decision violated a state law that requires election officials to review signature sheets before they are circulated, a law intended to ensure that the sheets indicate whether or not signature gatherers are paid. Attorneys for the defense countered that another state law allows local governments to fine tune election filing procedures.
Nonetheless, Velure said he wasn’t required to decide the legal issue because Hale and Thelen were not legally harmed by the city’s actions.
After the decision, Fieland shook hands with the three council candidates named in the suit, smiled at them and told them to “enjoy the campaign.”