Friday, June 21, 2002 | 11:26 a.m.
A potential precedent-setting case that politicians are watching with great interest provided plenty of drama Thursday but no resolution about David Parks vs. David Parks.
Chief District Court Judge Mark Gibbons will rule next Thursday about whether the challenger whose residency is in dispute can remain on the ballot in the Democratic primary against Assemblyman David Parks.
On Thursday, the challenger Parks came to court with his alleged 84-year-old landlady, an anti-gay activist and a California driver's license, all of which proved nothing.
The incumbent stayed away but sent a political operative, the Democratic State Party chairman, an attorney, a private investigator and a videotape in his stead.
In the middle was the Clark County Elections Department waiting to see which names it can print on the ballot.
Attorneys for the incumbent asked for a continuance because the case is treading unchartered waters and the rules of evidence are up in the air. Michael Root, who is representing the challenging Parks, wanted to proceed because Belah Harris' frailty made her unable to return next week.
Gibbons had to leave the bench and stand at Harris' side so she could read his lips and still talk into the microphone for the court reporter. Harris frequently cupped her hand to her ear with a quizzical look on her face.
As bizarre as the scene was, with attorneys crowding the witness box to hear Harris, her words proved weirder.
"I'm under medication today," she told Gibbons. "Later I have to get fluid drained from my brain."
Harris testified that the challenger Parks has lived in her home since late 1997 after her husband committed suicide. He pays her $300 a month rent, always in cash, and has already picked up his mail, she said.
How could anyone determine if Parks, who supplied a California driver's license to the judge, really lives with her?
Private investigator David Groover tried, and after finding no DMV, phone or other records of a David Parks at the residence, went by the place for himself.
Groover also testified Thursday because Harris stated she was "harassed and threatened" by the private investigator who "tried to break into the house."
Groover, who has testified in District Court more than 100 times, said he waited politely outside the home for Harris to emerge and talk with him. The tape of that interview, during which she says Parks doesn't live there and isn't wanted there because he doesn't pay rent, was not shown in court.
Root objected to the admissability of the tape because he had not previously seen it. Gibbons instructed Groover to screen the tape for Root at his office before next week's hearing.
After the hearing, Root said Harris's story has been consistent, except that perhaps she didn't mean Groover when she said someone harassed her and tried to break into the house.
"He tried to physically force his way into this poor, elderly woman's house," Root said, not sure if Harris meant Groover or Paladin Advertising executive Jim Ferrence, who is representing the assemblyman and filed the complaint. "She naturally didn't trust him."
The videotape shows a much different story, but Harris' alleged hearing problem, bad eyesight and difficulty walking, make it hard to determine the credibility of either statement -- a point made when the incumbent Parks' attorney Dominic Gentile declined an opportunity to cross-examine Harris.
"Wait till they see the tape," he said to Terry Care, Democratic State Party Chairman, who also served as counsel for the incumbent.
The challenger Parks came to court wearing Dockers and a muted polo shirt and sat with activist Tony Dane prior to the hearing. Dane has attacked the incumbent Parks for years because the assemblyman is the only openly gay lawmaker.
Many argue Parks was put up to running against the assemblyman as part of Dane's anti-gay agenda. But Parks denies anything other than a commitment to run for office as the basis for his filing.
Gibbons gave few hints of his thoughts, except for when he asked Parks for the driver's license and put Harris on the stand trying to determine the truth.
"I live in this community and I want to know the truth," Gibbons said. "If David Parks has a right to run, he has a right to run, but if there's some skullduggery here, we need to find that out."
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