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July 14, 2010

Reid’s name removed from JP ballot

Mary Meaux The Port Arthur News

PORT ARTHUR — A candidate for Precinct 2 Justice of the Peace lost his bid for a spot on the November ballot.

Independent candidate Robert Reid was to face Democratic candidate Marc  Derouen in a bid to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Judge Robert “Bob” Morgan.

Jefferson County Judge Ron Walker made the decision to take Reid’s name off the ballot after an informal hearing in Walker’s courtroom on Tuesday.

Derouen cited improper filing procedures in Reid’s 31 page petition.

“The Election Code is very specific if a person is running to place their name on the ballot by petition,” Derouen said via phone Tuesday afternoon.

According to Derouen, a candidate is required to take an oath to attest that he witnessed each individual signer place their name on the petition. But Reid had at least three other people helping circulate the petition thus meaning Reid himself did not witness each signiture.

Of the 271 signatures gathered for Reid, a total of 235 were registered voters who had not voted in the Democratic primary.

Reid, an assistant principal at West Orange-Stark Middle School, believes he gathered the signatures properly according to the Secretary of State’s Website.

“There are some technical issues with the petition,” he said. “I’m surprised I was not given the time to take curative action.”

The Independent candidate was certified by Walker to be on the ballot on May 17, he said.

Derouen said the burden to properly document the petition lies with the candidate, Reid.

“I did not do this to Mr. Reid, he did it to himself,” Derouen said.

While Reid admits he probably will not file for the Justice of the Peace seat in four years when the seat is back up for grabs, he said he is disappointed in Walker’s ruling.

“I want the voters to decide who the next Justice of the Peace Precinct 2 judge will be,” he said.

Reid said Walker’s office had not contacted him about the issue as of 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Walker was not available for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Derouen, who has worked for 17 years as an investigator for a local law firm, began his journey towards the JP seat with a landslide win over Richard “Dickie” White during the March Democratic primaries.

The petition issue between Reid and Derouen is reminiscent of a battle that current Jefferson County Commissioner Michael “Shane” Sinegal faced two years ago.

Sinegal’s candidacy for the Jefferson County Precinct 3 Commissioner seat was declared invalid after the Jefferson County Democratic Party discovered a clerical error on the petition he turned in when filing for the position.

Sinegal, who was Port Arthur’s mayor pro tem at the time, said he did not disagree that the error had been made, but took exception with the amount of time it took the party to discover the error and let him know of its existence.

More than a month passed from the time Sinegal submitted the petition until party officials determined in late January, 2008 that his candidacy was not valid because of the error.

Sinegal filed an injunction to keep his name on the Democratic ballot, and won.

mmeaux@panews.com

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