Phoenix council candidate withdraws from race after being accused of forging signatures
A Phoenix City Council candidate who was accused of forging signatures to help another man qualify for a local school board election is ending his campaign.
Emilio Avila Solis on Thursday said he was "withdrawing from the race" to represent southwest Phoenix in District 7 and is "obtaining an attorney," in response to The Arizona Republic's questions.
His announcement came after a complaint was filed to the Arizona Attorney General's Office on Aug. 6.
The complaint claims Avila Solis forged hundreds of signatures when circulating petitions to help Kino Flores qualify for the ballot in the Tolleson Union High School governing board race. The complaint was filed by attorney Jim Barton, who represented former state lawmaker Leezah Sun in her complaint against Flores filed in Maricopa County Superior Court last month.
Sun, who retired from the state legislature after an ethics report found she engaged in a pattern of threaten-making and abuse of office, is also running for the Tolleson school board.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah removed Flores from the ballot on July 31 after the county recorder's office found at least 202 of Flores' 541 signatures, or 38% of them, were invalid. That left Flores 61 signatures short of what he needed to qualify.
The majority of invalidated signatures, 114, were voided because they didn't match the voters' signatures on file at the Maricopa County Recorder's Office. Another 59 were thrown out because the signers weren't registered to vote, and 24 more didn't live in the district.
The recorder only reviewed the signatures that Barton challenged, which were 440 of the 541 signatures, meaning there could have potentially been additional invalid signatures.
Barton pointed to the superior court case in his complaint to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, saying he believed Avila Solis, who was listed as the main petition circulator for Flores, "forged the majority of the signatures for this petition."
Barton pointed to the fact the addresses were all entered in the same handwriting and on the same day.
"While it is not unlawful for the circulator to fill in the address, date, and even printed name blocks on candidate petitions, it is highly unlikely that when prefilling petitions in this manner every person on the same street will open their door and sign the petition, in sequence and on the same day," Barton wrote.
He also listed 24 individuals who, according to Sun, said they did not sign the nomination petition for Flores. Two of them signed affidavits declaring as much.
Avila Solis said Sun was retaliating against him because he spoke to a reporter about her past ethical indiscretions.
"She ran around suing everybody who testified against her, including me because I talked to a reporter. She is not the victim she is portraying to be. She's a bully and a threat to our community. That's why the voters resoundingly rejected her during last week's primary," Avila Solis said.
When asked if he denied Sun's accusations, Avila Solis said, "That's all I have to say about this matter."
Sun ran but lost in the Democratic primary to represent District 22 in the State Senate last week.
She told The Republic her complaints against Avila Solis were about "justice" and rewarding candidates "who go through the process correctly," not retaliation — though she added that she believed Flores was a victim of Avila Solis and not at fault.
Flores could not be immediately reached. In a court filing, Sun's attorney said Flores did not provide an explanation of the suspected forgery, nor did he deny that forgery occurred. Instead, Barton wrote, Flores told Sun, "do what you have to do."
The accusations against Avila Solis do not involve his own petition to qualify for the Phoenix City Council District 7 election, and no one challenged Avila Solis' City Council petitions.
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Phoenix City Clerk Denise Archibald verified Avila Solis' signatures and certified him to the ballot on July 18. She said the office had not received formal withdrawal paperwork for Avila Solis yet. Withdrawal requires a notarized withdrawal submission to the city.
"If a candidate submits a withdrawal, we we will provide it to the county, and they will determine whether the timing allows for the candidate's name to be removed from the ballot or not," Archibald explained in an email.
Archibald previously told The Republic that the signature verification process included:
Ensuring that people who signed are registered voters who live in the correct district.
Staff visually checking that signatures on the candidacy petition matches voter registration signatures on file with the county elections office.
Checking that signatures collected after the candidate's Statement of Interest was filed and no earlier than the allowed date depending on the election. May 9 was the soonest signatures could be collected for the Phoenix City Council elections in November.
Checking that any single person did not sign more than one petition for the same race.
Checking that the sheets meet requirements of state law and the city's code and charter.
Richie Taylor, a spokesperson for the Attorney General, said Mayes' offices would review the complaint but could not comment on potential investigations.
Barton said Mayes would have to evaluate the complaint and determine whether it warranted investigation. That might depend on the office's caseload and how serious the office thinks the allegations are, Barton said. If it were pursued, if could become a law enforcement matter, he said.
Jonathan Neerman, a Dallas-based attorney and former chair of the Dallas County Republican Party, who has no connection to Avila Solis, Barton or Sun, said there are a few "red flags" when reviewing signatures for forgeries: similar looking handwriting and same ink for all the signatures.
Neerman reviewed a few pages of Flores' petition at The Republic's request. He said he "would not be concerned that the addresses are all near each other," but that the handwriting for the name and addresses looked the same.
Neerman said he knocked someone off the ballot for suspected signature forgery only once in his career.
"I would certainly have enough questions to ask the candidate before kicking her or him off the ballot," Neerman said.
Reporter Taylor Seely covers Phoenix for The Arizona Republic / azcentral.com. Reach her at [email protected] or by phone at 480-476-6116.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix council candidate accused of forging signatures, drops out