Lawsuit Filed in O.C. Judge’s Race

A retired Marine lieutenant colonel has filed suit in an attempt to force a candidate for Orange County Superior Court judge to use her married name on the March ballot.

This is not just any judicial race. Stephanie George Deamon is running against former district attorney and defeated candidate for state attorney general Michael Capizzi. Although his name does not appear in the suit, he is the one who most profits if it is successful.

The man who brought the suit, Otto Schmidlen, along with two of his attorneys, are on a list of Capizzi supporters that his campaign has circulated.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Orange County Superior Court, says that Capizzi’s opponent must either be thrown off the ballot or be forced to use her married name, Stephanie Deamon, instead of Stephanie George, which is how she wants to be listed.

“The reason is there’s an election code section which says she can only run if she’s a registered voter, and Stephanie George is not a registered voter in Orange County,” said Schmidlen’s attorney, Thomas Malcolm, a close friend of Capizzi’s.

He said voters have a right to know her name so they can check into her background.

“Why doesn’t she want to use that name?” he asked.

George’s attorneys said she is known by her maiden name in law enforcement circles, which takes on great importance in a judicial election.

George has been a deputy district attorney for 10 years and married for four years. She and her attorneys expressed anger in interviews Monday, calling the lawsuit an example of campaign shenanigans and sexism.

George said she uses both names, that her business cards identify her as George Deamon, but some judges call her George, and she uses George while serving as a commander in the naval reserve.

“I’ve been Stephanie George in my lifetime longer than anything else,” she said.

Her attorneys said the ballot law is written to prevent fraud by a candidate trying to gain votes by poaching on another person’s popularity--if, for example, someone changed their name to Tom Bradley to run for mayor of Los Angeles.

They criticized Capizzi for not filing the suit himself. “What’s he afraid of?” asked attorney Jennifer Keller. “I think it’s just cowardly to do this.”

“This is so offensive to women, and I think it will be offensive to voters. I think he’s made a tremendous political blunder.”

George called the suit “an unbelievable anti-feminist, sexist position.”

Her attorneys said the issue of changing a name after marriage was one only women have to deal with.

Capizzi denied that the lawsuit was sexist. He said George can call herself anything she wants, but that the elections code says she must use the name she has been going by for the last year.

Schmidlen, a former grand jury foreman, didn’t show up at the court hearing Monday where Judge Tully Seymour postponed a ruling until Wednesday. In a telephone interview, Schmidlen said he was paying for the lawsuit and referred questions to his attorney.

Asked whether he had encouraged Schmidlen’s suit, Capizzi replied, “I allow adults to make their own decisions.”

Asked whether the suit had been discussed with him, Capizzi said, “Let’s say I was aware it was discussed.”