Courtesy of Flog.
QuoteYou read it here first: Today defeated City Council At-Large Group 2 candidate Bob Harms is filing suit against his opponent, Jay Jabour.
As Susan Cooper Eastman reported in Folio Weekly, the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that Jabour doesn
If Jay Jabour is ruled unqualified to hold te seat there should be a new election cycle (HARMS SHOULDN'T GET THE JOB HE DIDN'T EARN IT) and Jay Jabour should be sued by the city for any extra expenses incured
Quote from: JUSTDAVE on June 03, 2007, 01:01:56 AM
If Jay Jabour is ruled unqualified to hold te seat there should be a new election cycle (HARMS SHOULDN'T GET THE JOB HE DIDN'T EARN IT) and Jay Jabour should be sued by the city for any extra expenses incured
Yeah. First of all, I don't see a court overturning this election. Secondly, if they did, they would most likely order a new election...you don't win by default. This isn't Miss America.
On a couple of those entries (all the contribution ones) it seems like the address was taken off a check, and he could certainly state that he was using an old check book. I'm not saying he didn't fudge but just pointing out that a couple of the points are easily dismissed. Th utility bill, well, thats pretty damning.
S what! A lot of people have two or more homes. Only one can be the priimary but the other can be used as well. The primary is usually the one with homestead exemption filed.
I would care a lot more about this if it weren't an at large seat. But I think considering the pending budget crisis, it would be foolish to go through yet another extremely low turn out election. Plus, it would be county wide, so there would be major costs associated with another race.
That said, he seems to have broken the elections laws, and needs to suffer some pain. The only question in my mind is, how big a fine should it be...
Again, if you own two homes, you usually keep the electric on and if family uses it, the electric bill is higher. At the beach, the family probably spends the night when they're working at the beach and stays in town otherwise. I have two homes and use the other when we can, mostly on vacations and week-ends. The address on the checks and his report he will have to explain, but I fully understand how the other house can be used by his family. Ask anyone else who owns a beachhome.
I understand about owning two homes....and this comes down to which one is his legal residence...know what I mean? Which one is the location on his license, his tax returns, etc...
Quote from: jbm32206 on June 04, 2007, 12:17:56 PM
I understand about owning two homes....and this comes down to which one is his legal residence...know what I mean? Which one is the location on his license, his tax returns, etc...
No. It come down to whether he stayed there 183 consecutive days prior to qualifying. Hard to imagine with $20 utility bills.
Quote from: SunnyDaze on June 04, 2007, 12:08:33 PM
Again, if you own two homes, you usually keep the electric on and if family uses it, the electric bill is higher. At the beach, the family probably spends the night when they're working at the beach and stays in town otherwise. I have two homes and use the other when we can, mostly on vacations and week-ends. The address on the checks and his report he will have to explain, but I fully understand how the other house can be used by his family. Ask anyone else who owns a beachhome.
Jay...is this you??? Good luck in the lawsuit!
While it's pretty obvious that Jay did not live in the beach house by what we might define as "reside," the fact of the matter is the statute is unspecific and does not define "reside." What may be important is the "legislative intent" when the at-large seats were created regarding residency. I have not seen this part of the rule, but if anyone has this section, please post it. What's more, the standard of proof would be lofty in this case. The electric bills and address issues are part of the evidence, but alone, are unlikely to have enough weight to overturn a certified election. As for Holland and the CB, there are no criteria that define residency - it would have been virtually impossible for them to keep Jay out of the election under their own authority and if they had acted, they probably would have had to take it to the judiciary for a decision