McCann served, lawsuit can continue

Chula Vista City Councilman John McCann approached the dais for Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

Before the newly elected councilman reached his chair, he was served with court papers for the legal matter between Chula Vista resident Aurora Clark and the Registrar of Voters.

John Moot, Clark’s attorney, is asking that the registrar consider uncounted ballots from a November election for City Council, which McCann won by two votes.

While Moot and an attorney for the defendant — the San Diego County Registrar of Voters — appeared in court Jan. 21, they couldn’t proceed with the legal matter because McCann had not been served.

Now that McCann has been served the lawsuit can run its course.

Moot said he will try to secure a court date as soon as possible.

The suit is against County Registrar Michael Vu but California law states that when an election is contested, the candidate who was certified as the winner must also be included in the lawsuit.

McCann said he hasn’t retained an attorney and said he probably wouldn’t ask the city attorney to represent him.
City Attorney Glen Googins said if asked by McCann he would have to evaluate whether he can represent him because it might not be a city-related issue.

“The issue would be, is John McCann being served as a council member or as a candidate?” Googins said. “It appears to me that he is being served in his capacity as a candidate, not as a councilman,”

However, California Government Code 3681.5 states that a city attorney can represent a council member in an election contest.

“A city may defend any person elected to the City Council or to the office of city clerk or city treasurer in any election contest instituted for any of the causes set forth in subdivisions (a), (d), or (e) of section 16100 of the Elections Code.”

Subdivision (e) states “…eligible voters who attempted to vote in accordance with the laws of the state were denied their right to vote.”

McCann said in an emailed statement he is confident the law will remain on his side.

“Voting laws were in place prior to our election and the Registrar followed those laws. You can’t change the rules in the middle of the election because you don’t like the results. The law is on our side and we are confident that the judge will uphold the certified election results based on those laws.”