Cook

Keith Carlson, who is the treasurer of the state Republican Party, filed this action in Orange County Superior Court on Monday, March 17, 2008, requesting a writ of mandate stopping Debbie Cook, who is a candidate in the upcoming June Democratic primary in the 46th Congressional District, from using the title of mayor in her ballot designation. She is, in fact, the Mayor of Huntington Beach, but Carlson claims that because she was elected by the city council and not the electorate directly, that she cannot use the title. While most of the 46th Congressional District is within Orange County, it includes parts of Los Angeles County as well. On Friday, March 21, 2008, the trial court denied a request to dismiss the action for lack of jurisdiction, and ordered Cook to sit for a deposition. Cook brought this petition on Monday, March 24, 2008, for writ of mandate or prohibition, seeking dismissal of the action and a stay of her deposition. (This court granted the request for stay of the deposition that Monday afternoon. On Tuesday afternoon we stayed the trial.)

We leave aside the question of whether Carlson who, to be sure, lives and votes in the 46th Congressional District,…