Cesar Chavez's grandson sues Arizona candidate for using activist's name on ballot
Source: Reuters
Cesar Chavez's grandson sues Arizona candidate for using activist's name on ballot
Source: Reuters - Wed, 11 Jun 2014 03:39 GMT
By David Schwartz
PHOENIX, June 10 (Reuters) - A relative of celebrated Mexican-American labor leader Cesar Chavez filed a legal challenge on Tuesday to have a man using his grandfather's name booted off the ballot in Arizona.
The challenge, filed on behalf of Alejandro Chavez, alleges that the man who changed his name to Cesar Chavez from Scott Fistler should be removed from the primary election ballot for misleading voters in his bid to win a seat in the largely Hispanic seventh congressional district.
"We believe he is trying to corrupt the process," said attorney Jim Barton, who filed the legal action in Maricopa County Superior Court on Tuesday.
Chavez, co-founder of the United Farm Workers union, is a revered civil rights figure for his work on behalf of farm workers and Hispanic Americans. He died in 1993.
~snip~
In addition to the name change, Fistler switched political parties to be able to vie in the Democratic primary to replace retiring long-time U.S. Representative Ed Pastor.
Read more: http://www.trust.org/item/20140611033710-01is8/
tomm2thumbs
(13,297 posts)Doubt he'll win the lawsuit but the public awareness is invaluable
rpannier
(24,327 posts)And TBH not sure he should.
Yes, Fistler is using the name to try and get elected.
Yes, it's probably in poor taste.
But it's not illegal to change your name to Cesar Chavez
It'll be up to his opponent to get the word out as to who he really is.
If I wanted to get elected badly enough in a Republican district in Kansas I might change my name to Kassebaum or Landon in hopes of getting votes
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,938 posts)Watch him change his name back when he loses and then Fistler will get a fat reward job from some Republican crony.
rpannier
(24,327 posts)He got what he wanted
former9thward
(31,925 posts)This is a D district. Fistler is running in the Democratic primary. Whoever wins the primary will face the Republican in November. The Democrat will win. So there is no chance the official R candidate can win. What Fistler is hoping to do is confuse people and get enough votes to win the primary. Little chance of that happening.
rpannier
(24,327 posts)But suing him for using the name is not likely to win because it's not illegal
former9thward
(31,925 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)but our electoral process is so corrupt already, doubt that this would trigger any judge's sensitivity.
Besides, we already let corporations pass on fraud, esp. banks.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)All he did was change his name. If people are too stupid to realize he's not Chavez, why is that his problem?
yellowcanine
(35,693 posts)Seems to me that people should not just be able to change their names willy nilly like this - particularly to a famous name just to game the process. The courts should have some discretion to deny name changes for this kind of frivolous reason. You can't change your name to McDonald and open a McDonald's restaurant without getting your ass successfully sued by McDonald's. I don't see how this is that different.
former9thward
(31,925 posts)Your name is not protected. Whatever your name is there are probably at least dozens, maybe hundreds or more, with the same name in the U.S. Famous people do not get to protect their name just because they are famous. The only way a court can deny a name change is if it is being done for legally fraudulent reasons such as you are trying to escape a valid debt or something.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)The turd who used to be a Rethuglian Scott Fistler?
Well, he may be a Democrat now named "Caesar Chavez," but he's still a turd.
rickyhall
(4,889 posts)How stupid does he think Hispanics are?
BTW I dislike the term "Hispanic", prefer "Latino/Latina", though I'm neither.