Gary Deardorff’s Cheap Shot Post Date: August 11, 2014 Author: Lauren Tolmachoff

Recently a lawsuit was filed against me by Gary Deardorff challenging the signatures on my Nomination Petitions. I would to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

As a first-time Glendale City Council candidate, I expected to encounter some obstacles along the way. The nomination petition process is a very important part of the election and I viewed gathering the needed signatures as an opportunity, not a mundane task. While I was fortunate enough to have a some friends help out with signatures, I collected the majority of my own signatures by knocking on doors after work every evening and talking to voters face-to-face.

Once I had collected well over the required number signatures, I took a 30% sample and compared those signatures to voter registration records. My petitions were submitted to the City Clerk’s office on May 27. On May 30, Mr. Deardorff made a public records request for all Cholla candidates petitions. I was not concerned because I felt confident that my signatures were valid. On June 10, Gary Deardorff filed a complaint in the Superior Court of Maricopa County against all three Cholla Candidates challenging our Nomination Petitions and requesting the removal of our names from the ballot. The hearing was set for June 18 and I was advised to hire a lawyer and prepare for court.

The complaint challenged 278 of my signatures, which would put me under the required number by 17. I went to work checking the validity of each signature in the complaint. After verifying the first 36 challenges, 24 were validated on a registered voter disc dated October 2013 purchased from the Glendale City Clerk’s office. I began to realize that this complaint was nothing more than a cheap shot and a blatant attempt to intimidate, distract and cause myself and the other candidates to spend campaign money and precious time defending ourselves.

I reviewed the first 111 challenged signatures and the vast majority were on the voter registration disc. My attorney advised me to stop going thorough the list and instead go to the County Elections Department to obtain the 17 Voter Registration Certifications that I would need to take to court. While at the County Elections Department, the staff told me that they were working overtime including that weekend due to lawsuits like this one filed by Gary Deardorff. After I provided the voter certifications to my attorney, she contacted Mr. Deardorff to advise him that I had more than enough valid signatures and asked him to withdraw his complaint. He promised to do so on Monday, June 16.

By late Monday afternoon the withdrawal had not been filed. My attorney contacted him again to let him know that our response was due in court the next day. He stated that he would not have time to go to court until the next day. My attorney then provided him with the necessary information to submit the withdrawal online. On his second attempt, Mr. Deardorff successfully filed the withdrawal.

Gary Deardorff was in court on June 18 defending his signatures against another candidate’s challenge. He claimed to be a victim. He said he had hired a firm to obtain his signatures because he has a five day work

week and did not have the time to do it himself. He also stated that he filed a complaint against the other candidates before reviewing their signatures, even though he had eleven days to do so. He stated that that once he reviewed them, he withdrew his complaint and had apologized to the other candidates, an apology I have yet to receive.

I spoke to him briefly after the hearing to tell him that because he filed a complaint against me, there is now a lawsuit that will remain on my record forever. Mr. Deardorff was so uninformed about what he was doing, he was not aware that a complaint filed in Superior Court created a permanent record. Gary Deardorff obviously does not think things through or consider the consequences before he acts or makes decisions. That is a very dangerous characteristic for anyone seeking public office.

Source: http://www.electlaurentolmachoff.com/gary-deardorff-dirty-politics/