GOP candidate accuses judge of political bias

Lynn Doan

Monday, June 28, 2004 | 11:06 a.m.

A Republican candidate accused a judge of political bias Friday after the judge ruled that she did not meet residency requirements to run for the Assembly.

Former candidate Anne DiMartini said District Judge Valorie Vega removed her from the District 29 race to strengthen the Democrats' chances of winning the election. DiMartini said Vega is a Democrat.

Vega ruled that DiMartini had failed to establish residency in the Henderson district 30 days before May 14, the deadline established by state law.

On March 18, DiMartini signed a purchasing agreement for a house in Henderson and she testified that she had been moving personal items into the house since April 5. However, prosecutors argued that escrow for the house on Signal Butte Way did not close until May 13, and though DiMartini had begun moving items into the house, its former owners were still living there until late May.

"We knew that we were on the line, and we also knew that the judge we got could make or break it," DiMartini said after Friday's ruling. "Once we heard who the judge was, we already knew her party affiliation, and we said, 'Oh, we are so done.' "

When she ran against Democratic candidate Jared Shafer for public administrator in 1998, DiMartini said she was able to gather a significant number of Democratic votes. DiMartini said Vega was afraid that she would be able to obtain crossover votes again while running for the Henderson assembly seat.

Vega responded, "My judgment was based on the evidence and on the law."

Vega noted that if DiMartini had any question about Vega's impartiality, she could have challenged Vega's position to hear the case before the hearing, but she did not.

"You can't tell me there's nothing human inside (Vega) that thought, 'Maybe there's two Democrats running in this race, maybe we can upset a Republican district,' " DiMartini said.

DiMartini was apparently unaware that even after she was booted from the race there still will be two Democrats running in the primary election. The democratic winner will square off against the winner emerging from a three-person Republican primary.

One of the Republican candidates, Anthony Bandiero, who filed the residency complaint against DiMartini, said he does not believe Vega based her decision on politics.

"I think the judge ruled the way she did because Dimartini did not live in the district," Bandiero said. "That's all, there was nothing else to it."

Bandiero also said he doesn't believe DiMartini's ousting will have much of an affect on his chances of winning the race.

Now that she is out of the race, DiMartini said she is fully endorsing Republican candidate Jon Petrick, who she noted was the only Republican candidate who did not participate in a challenge against her residency.

On Thursday, Democratic candidate Todd Allen was taken off the Senate District 11 ballot after a judge ruled that he did not meet residential requirements. Allen had rented an apartment in District 11 but the judge ruled he didn't actually living there.