Experts Question Brain’s Voting

Jeff Brain, the standard-bearer of the San Fernando Valley secession drive, has voted in three Los Angeles elections since he moved out of the city in 1999, officials said.

Brain, a Glendale resident, was registered at a Sherman Oaks address where he no longer lived when he voted in the elections, according to the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office.

By keeping his registration at his old address, Brain was able to cast votes in Los Angeles mayoral and City Council races, and Los Angeles-area contests for the Legislature and Congress. The elections took place in March 2000, November 2000 and June 2001.

Brain, president of the Valley VOTE secession group, said there was nothing wrong with voting as a Los Angeles resident after moving in August 1999 to Glendale, because he intends to move back to Los Angeles soon.

“I’m quite comfortable with what I’ve done,” Brain said. “I did not consider myself a permanent resident of Glendale.”

But election law experts questioned whether Brain’s voting history met California’s residency requirements. And a leader of the campaign to keep Los Angeles from breaking apart said it casts doubt on the integrity of the secession movement’s leadership.

State law says voters who leave their home temporarily for another election precinct or another state do not lose the residency listed on their registration.

But Daniel Lowenstein, a professor and election law expert at UCLA School of Law, said the residence must be a specific home where a person lived and intends to return--not a general area or city.

For example, a college student can move out of state and live only a few days a year at his or her parents’ house but still use it as a voting address if the student intends to return, he said.

Fred Woocher, a Santa Monica election lawyer, said courts would give close scrutiny to any residency claim if the voter had no home to return to.

“It’s a combination of intent and the physical presence,” he said. “You can’t say that ‘I left my heart in the Valley and I intend to move back.’ If in fact you’ve picked up your belongings and settled in a new location, then that’s your residence.”

On Wednesday, Brain released a statement in which a Valley VOTE board member said Brain had complied with California election law. Brain’s former Sherman Oaks apartment “is the only place under the election code where he is legally entitled to vote,” said John Isen, who chairs the board’s legal committee.

The statement said Brain had “stayed with friends and relatives” in Glendale and Woodland Hills since his February 2000 divorce. But in interviews, Brain said he has lived in Glendale since August 1999 except for a four-month stay with his brother in Woodland Hills last year.

Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, said California’s voter residency laws were “very loose and very subjective.” She said she was unaware of anyone being charged with violations.

‘No Right to Vote,’ Says Anti-Secessionist

Larry Levine, co-founder of the One Los Angeles anti-secession group, said Brain had influenced the outcome of elections in a district where he had “no right to vote.”

“This is pretty serious stuff,” Levine said. “If people were allowed to do this, it would open the door to the most massive voter fraud people have seen.”

Levine said the residency questions and Brain’s history of failing to pay taxes reflect poorly on the secession movement. Federal and state tax collectors have filed liens against Brain for more than $57,000 in income taxes, penalties and interest over the last 11 years. Additionally, the city of Los Angeles won a $4,001 judgment against him in June for failure to pay business taxes for his real estate brokerage.

“I would say that this and several other things call into serious question the right of Mr. Brain and those who offer him as their representative to ask us to trust them to organize a city, to run a city, or even to present information on which we should make a decision,” Levine said.

Brain called questions about his voting history “smear attacks” by opponents of Valley cityhood.

“I’m going to stop answering these questions about personal issues,” Brain said. “I’m not running for political office.”

“This is the politics of personal destruction,” he added. “The issue is whether the Valley should be a separate city or not.”

For four years, Brain has been the chief spokesman for Valley VOTE, making the case at forums, debates and hearings for a referendum on secession.

Brain said he is “30 days from moving back to Sherman Oaks” but still scouting for an apartment.

“I have several that I have looked at, and I’m trying to make a decision on which one,” he said.

In September, Brain filed a new registration form listing his address as the Sherman Oaks office of Valley VOTE. County Registrar-Recorder Conny McCormack said the form was rejected because Brain had listed a business address as his home.

“It’s not acceptable,” she said. “You have to be registered where you live. It’s very clear on the voter registration form.”

Brain said that when he listed Valley VOTE’s address, he did not notice that the form instructed him to write down “where you live.”

“The mistake I made--and it was my mistake--was registering at my office address,” he said.

Registrar Will Review Complaint

On Monday, Levine filed a complaint with the registrar-recorder calling for “appropriate sanctions against Mr. Brain based on his filing of a false voter registration form under penalty of perjury.”

McCormack said her office would review the complaint. But normally, she said, the county simply notifies voters who register at a business address that their registration is invalid until they list their home address.

Brain called Levine’s complaint “meaningless.”

In the meantime, Brain said he’d picked up some insights on Valley cityhood from his roughly two years in Glendale.

“I’ve used this as an opportunity to learn about how Glendale operates,” he said. “I’ve gotten a copy of their charter. I also attended a few City Council meetings.”

Brain has not registered to vote in Glendale.

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Times staff writers Andrew Blankstein and Caitlin Liu contributed to this report.