Lawmakers lose election but refuse to leave

What would happen if an election took place, and the incumbent losers refused to leave office?

That’s exactly the situation in Quartzsite, Ariz., where two winning candidates for the positions of mayor and town councilman are not being allowed to be seated.

Quartzsite is the town that gained national attention last June when police grabbed a woman who was speaking at a town-council meeting and frogmarched her from the event. (Scroll down for video).

The 2012 municipal election took place May 15, but the old town
council in Quartzsite has since refused to seat Ed Foster as mayor and
Mark Orgeron as councilman.

Foster collected 56 percent of the vote to easily defeat opponent
Jerry Lukkasson, but officials claim he cannot be seated because of an
unpaid debt to the town, and so Jose Lizarraga remains at the helm for
now.

Orgeron defeated Vice Mayor Barbara Cowell, but is not being seated, as officials dispute his residency in the town.

“This is outrageous,” says Chris Rossiter of the Greater Phoenix Tea
Party Patriots. “The tea party will not tolerate corruption in public
office.”

A rally is being held today at the Arizona Capitol Senate building to
express support for Foster and Orgeron, as well as disdain for the
councilmembers who lost and refuse to go.

Meanwhile, Orgeron has filed federal legal action, looking for a judge to force the incumbents from office.

Among the points mentioned in his complaint, Orgeron says both he and
Ed Foster are legally qualified to be lawmakers in the town, and are,
in fact, the legitimate officeholders now since they won the election,
with their terms starting immediately.

“The mayor is no longer the mayor of the town, and cannot
legitimately exercise the powers of office, and the vice mayor is no
longer the vice mayor of the town or a member of the town council and
cannot legitimately exercise the powers of office,” the complaint
states.

Ed Foster

The Arizona Republic reported
Foster has filed papers asking La Paz County Attorney Sam Vederman to
file a writ under a state law allowing a court to remove usurpers from
public office and seat a legitimate candidate.

Vederman told the paper the situation in Quartzsite is volatile, and he worries about violence breaking out.

“We’re exploring the entire situation,” Vederman said. “A lot of
people are concerned there could be violations (of Arizona law). I just
want everyone to remain calm.”

Orgeron, 50, maintains he is indeed a resident of Quartzsite, having
moved there in July 2009, and says he has “been a resident of the town
continuously since then.”

He is currently the head teacher at Quartzsite Elementary School.

“I believe the current town council and city government have stifled
the voters,” Orgeron told the Republic. “We need to turn that town back
over to the people.”

Vice Mayor Cowell says Foster was disqualified because he did not pay
court-ordered attorney fees from a lawsuit he lost against the town.

In recent years, Quartzsite adopted an rule banning municipal debtors
from holding office, but many dispute the legality of such a law,
claiming it violates the rights of both voters and candidates.

Tim Casey, a Phoenix attorney who practices election law, told the
Republic that under Quartzsite’s ordinance, a resident could not hold
office if he or she had an unpaid traffic ticket or was contesting a
municipal fee.

“I would think there would be a number of constitutional problems
with that,” Casey said. “It would seem to be an impermissible limitation
on public service and a violation of the will of voters.”

Quartzsite’s population is estimated by the Census Bureau to be less
than 4,000, and there were only 706 ballots cast in last month’s mayoral
race.

Town Manager Alex Taft said this week that 168 votes are under investigation for possible fraud.

Cowell told the Republic she and other incumbents believe “something
is not right” because about 300 new voters registered before the
election, including some staying on federal lands.

“We have proof that there were (three) people who were dead who voted,” Cowell added.

As WND reported last summer,
Quartzsite gained national attention when a YouTube video surfaced
showing local resident Jennifer Jones being forcibly removed from a
council meeting while she had the floor during the public-speaking
portion of the event.

When WND asked Jones about the councilmembers, she said, “I liken
them to monkeys in the zoo. They make a lot of noise and throw a lot of
feces around, but at the end of the day they’re just primates and don’t
deserve to be writing checks for [a town of] about 3,800 people. They
don’t deserve to be managing money. They don’t act like they’re at the
top of the food chain. It’s embarrassing.”

Upon learning of the incumbent lawmakers’ refusal to leave office,
WND reader Keith Sasaki commented, “I can see Obama doing this sort of
thing. Can’t you?”