Lawsuit filed over candidate’s residency

Monday, Aug. 9, 2004 | 9:27 a.m.

It's unusual to have candidates running for the same office join together for anything but a debate.

But questions about the residency of one of their opponents has three regent hopefuls doing just that.

Candidates Matthew Berkus, Jim Germain and James Dean Leavitt filed a civil suit in Clark County District Court on Friday challenging the residency of fellow candidate Mark DeStefano and asking a District Court judge to invalidate his candidacy.

"It doesn't seem like he lives in regent District 13 and thus cannot represent the voters" of that district, Berkus said.

The men allege in the complaint that DeStefano lives in university regent District 7 and not in District 13, where he is running for office. They claim that he does not actually live at the Lee Canyon cabin he owns in District 13 and does not meet the state statute's definition of residency.

The statute defines residence as "the place where a person is legally domiciled and maintains a permanent habitation." The complaint alleges that DeStefano only purchased the cabin on March 22, and that he has continued to live at his home in District 7 since that date.

DeStefano has repeatedly defended his residency by noting that he owns and pays property taxes on both his District 13 and District 7 homes and splits his time between them. DeStefano also said he is bidding on another home in District 13, where he plans to live full time.

DeStefano said the suit was thus frivolous and a waste of money.

"I'm out there (talking to voters)," DeStefano said. "I'm focusing on the issues."

The trio of candidates, half of the six-candidate race in the nonpartisan primary election, are asking District Judge Ron Parraguirre to rule on DeStefano's residency. If Parraguirre finds that DeStefano does not meet the residency requirements as they allege, they want the judge to invalidate any votes DeStefano may receive in the primary race. The judge has not yet set a date for an evidentiary hearing, Frank Cremen, the lawyer representing the candidates, said.

The civil lawsuit is the only way to remove DeStefano as a candidate at this stage in the race because the complaining candidates missed the Clark County election department's deadline to challenge a candidate's eligibility.

The Clark County district attorney's office investigated DeStefano's residency last week with the possibility of charging him with perjury, but District Attorney David Roger said they ultimately ruled there was not enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that DeStefano falsified his candidacy declaration.

"If this had been caught before the deadline, it would have been ruled that he was ineligible," Berkus, a lawyer, said.

Leavitt, a lawyer, said he found out that DeStefano lived in District 7 by chance when he ran into one of DeStefano's friends at a Starbucks. All of the candidates agreed that it would never have been uncovered otherwise.

Incumbent Tom Kirkpatrick and challenger Gloria Sturman said they supported the lawsuit and agree that DeStefano's residency may be invalid, but both said they decided not to get involved in the lawsuit.