Judge to decide fate of 2 disqualified GOP candidates

The candidacies of two GOP legislative candidates who were disqualified after missing this week's financial disclosure filing deadline will be decided today.

Robert Miles, a candidate in House District 9, and Jonathan Storrs, who is running in House District 26, will have a hearing before 3rd District Judge Robert Reese at 2 p.m. to appeal the disqualification by state elections officials. Both candidates had trouble filing their disclosures online at the elections Web site, which is overseen by Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, said their attorney, Todd Weiler.

Both men are Republicans challenging incumbents Democrats. Miles is running against Rep. Neil Hansen, D-Ogden, and Storrs is looking to unseat Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake.

"It's not like either of the candidates was trying to defy the law or deprive the public of its right to know" the financial details of their campaigns, Weiler said. "Both were experiencing technical problems."

Weiler said that Storrs actually filed his, albeit 24 minutes late. Since he only had seven entries to make, he went to the Web site shortly before the 5 p.m. deadline Tuesday but could not get the state-assigned password to work.

Miles, on the other hand, entered all of his information on Monday but apparently hit the wrong key when he finished and did not actually transmit the report. He did not double-check with the elections office to make sure it received the report.

Although county clerks were notified Thursday that the candidates had been disqualified, Herbert's deputy chief of staff, Michael Cragun, agreed to instruct clerks in Salt Lake and Weber counties to wait until after today's hearing to notify voters. If their removals stand, then any votes for the candidates will not be counted.

According to state law, elections officials have no latitude when it comes to financial disclosures, Cragun said. They do inform disqualified candidates that they can petition a court if they feel the disqualification is wrong.

"The lieutenant governor has no discretion — either it's in or it's not," he said. "But the judge has wide discretion."

He said that while there is evidence that Miles entered some data, the system is designed so that candidates can input data throughout the campaign and submit the report at the filing deadline. That way, "they do not have to input data" at the last minute.

As for Storrs, he said that the problem seemed to be that he was using the wrong log-in when he tried to file.

A total of seven candidates were disqualified for failing to file their financial disclosure reports by the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline. The others are: Eric Hamilton, Libertarian, House District 24; Edward Lalaone, Democrat, House District 60; Cabot Nelson, Libertarian, House District 31; Ronald Regehr, Libertarian, House District 55; and Rebecca VanDevener, Personal Choice, Senate District 3.

In September, three state school board candidates were placed back on the ballot by 3rd District Judge Timothy Hanson. Two of them attempted to file before the deadline but had trouble with the Web site, and a third never received notice about the filing deadline.

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