Jason Wolff, an independent candidate running for Bexar County District Attorney, blasted his Republican opponen, Ashley Foster, as the “Tonya Harding of politics” after the county GOP filed a lawsuit to remove him from the ballot.
The Bexar County GOP’s filing — which also lists Foster and county Republican Party chairwoman Kris Coons as complainants — alleges that there are irregularities concerning the signatures Wolff collected to run as an independent.
Specifically, the amended complaint filed Friday in the 225th Civil District Court alleges Wolff’s notary, Shaina Ochoa, accepted citizen signatures to get Wolff on the ballot without circulators — the people who collect the signatures — signing an affidavit and swearing under oath to have personally collected the signatures.
If plaintiffs can prove their claims that would appear to violate Texas state law, rendering Wolff’s candidacy moot.
“The surrounding evidence, including testimony of individual circulators, the circumstances by which petitions were delivered and returned, communications concerning the petition drive, Ochoa’s mandatory notary records, and other evidence, will establish that numerous purported circulator affidavits were notarized without the required personal appearance and oath,” Bexar County GOP’s attorney Justin Nichols wrote in the complaint.
However, Wolff defends the legitimacy of his ballot signatures, arguing that the Bexar County Republicans are engaging in political theater to remove him from the ballot and give their candidate a better chance against Democrat Luz Elena Chapa.
“I and my circulators will be there to defend the legitimacy of my inclusion on the ballot, and they will swear in front of anyone to the veracity of the petitions they worked so hard to circulate,” Wolff told the Current.
A spokesperson for Foster’s campaign declined comment on Wolff’s remarks, saying it would rather let the lawsuit speak for itself.
Bexar County Elections Administrator Michelle Carew, also named as a defendant in the petition, didn’t respond to the Current’s request for comment.
To get on the ballot as an Independent candidate, Wolff had to collect at least 500 valid signatures before June 25. Wolff submitted 1,147, and 710 were accepted by the Texas Secretary of State, according to the suit’s allegations.
TikTok videos posted by Wolff, who has used the platform to publicize his campaign, include at least two things the plaintiffs allege should result in the invalidation of signatures.
In one clip posted in June, Wolff urges those interested in supporting his candidacy to drive up downtown’s Peacock Alley downtown and “honk their horn,” at which point someone would come out with the petition for them to sign.
In another video posted that same month, Wolff told his circulators they could drop off their petitions and he would “take them and get them notarized.”
Under Texas Law, the circulator must be the one who takes the petitions to the notary, not the candidate.
“The drive-up procedure advertised by Wolff is significant because Texas law required more than the ministerial placement of a notary stamp upon previously signed petition papers,” the complaint states. “The circulator whose affidavit was being notarized was required actually to execute that affidavit under oath before an authorized officer.”
The way Wolff’s notary, Ochoa, acted in court further muddied the water, the petition argues.
During a Aug. 14 hearing, District Judge Christine Vasquez Hortick ordered Ochoa to hand over her notarial book, which every notary is required to keep as a way to document each notarial act performed.
At first, Ochoa said her notary book was confiscated during an unrelated law enforcement raid at the Calfas Law Office, where both she and Wolff are employed. The court ordered Ochoa — with police in tow — to return to the office to search for the notary book.
“Ochoa feigned searching for her notary book, and could also not locate her notarial seal,” the complaint states. “The parties made their way back to court. Once the hearing resumed, Ochoa then claimed, after counsel left her office, she remembered to look in another office and magically found the missing notary book.”
In court, Ochoa invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, refusing to answer questions including whether Wolff instructed her to manufacture the book, whether the circulators ever appeared before her at all and on what date she performed the notarizations.
In a TikTok to supporters, Wolff defended Ochoa’s right to plead the Fifth.
“[Ochoa] was flustered, she was upset, and I have no explanation as to why she would plead the Fifth,” Wolff said. “But I certainly understand how that makes me look. And, I can tell you this: Out of those 1,100 signatures, you can knock on every one of those doors because you have their addresses, you can find their phone numbers. You can call them, see them face to face, and you could say, ‘Is this you? Are you real? Is this your signature? And I guarantee you everybody who signed my petitions will say, ‘Absolutely.'”
A trial on the matter is set for Sept. 1.
Sign Up for SA Current newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed
