What’s in a Name? A Lot If It’s Reagan : Candidate Sues to Put President in His Occupational Description

C. Christopher Cox, the 40th District congressional candidate whose campaign literature has focused heavily on his former employment in the Reagan White House, filed a lawsuit Monday that seeks to add the name Reagan to his occupational description on the ballot.

Cox, who served in the White House for two years, will be listed as “White House Counsel” unless his suit succeeds. He submitted the title “Senior Associate Counsel to President Reagan” for his occupational designation for the June Republican primary. But the official overseeing congressional ballots, Secretary of State March Fong Eu, rejected that description because it was too long and included a proper name.

Except for those holding elected posts, the Elections Code--which, of course, is written by those holding elected posts--limits ballot designations to three words, Eu’s office said.

So Cox, mindful of the favor the Reagan continues to hold in the arch-conservative district being vacated by retiring Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach), proposed an alternative title for himself: “Senior Reagan Counsel.”

This, too, was rejected by the secretary of state, who held that Reagan’s name could not be a part of Cox’s occupation.

“We have always rejected proper names in ballot titles because we do not feel they serve the true purpose of the ballot title,” said Melissa Warren, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state. “The purpose of the ballot title is to let the voter know what the candidate’s expertise is and not to say anything about his philosophy.”

Finally, as the secretary of state threatened to print Cox’s name on the ballot with no occupation beneath it, the candidate proposed that he be identified as “White House Counsel.”

Eu’s office accepted this designation, but Cox then filed the suit to try to have the earlier decision overturned.

For the candidate, whose campaign leaflets prominently display photographs of Cox standing next to Reagan, as well as enlarged excerpts from Reagan’s letter accepting Cox’s resignation from the White House staff, identification with the party leader is of considerable importance.

Cox said Monday that including Reagan’s name in his ballot designation would be beneficial to voters. “It makes it clear which White House I worked in,” he said, adding that “some people might think that working for President Reagan isn’t a particularly good thing.”

The candidate conceded, though, that in the 40th District, association with Reagan could be a considerable boon. “That is indeed why I am running,” he said.

The printer’s deadline for the ballot is Saturday, so Superior Court Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer scheduled a hearing for Friday.