Rollins Can Use Counterterrorism to Describe Job

Calvert Supporters Lose Effort to Strip Rollins’ Counterterrorism Experience from 2024 Primary Ballot

CORONA —A superior court judge in California ruled on Dec. 26 that Democratic Congressional Candidate Will Rollins’ ballot designation will appear as “Counterterrorism Law Attorney” on the March 5th primary election ballot.

The designation went from “counterterrorism attorney” to “counterterrorism law attorney.”

Supporters of Republican Ken Calvert had previously filed a lawsuit against Rollins, aiming to strip any mention of “counterterrorism” from the designation.

The court found that, “There is no evidence before the Court that Rollins’ current principal profession can be accurately described as ‘counterterrorism attorney’” and that “the designation of ‘counterterrorism attorney’ and ‘counterterrorism advisor’ would be confusing or misleading to the voters, and therefore are not permissible ballot designations pursuant to Elections Code section 13107.”

You may read the ruling for yourself here: https://ukenreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Dobler-memo-1.pdf

You may also read the minutes of the hearing here: https://ukenreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/23WM000134-Minute-Order-and-Order.pdf

This battle is likely the tip of the iceberg in this race. California’s 41st is a top-targeted district in the 2024 elections. Punchbowl News recently ranked it No. 2 nationwide in the races to watch in the battle for control of the House. And the National Journal included it in its top 15 seats likely to flip nationwide in 2024.

The two will have competing campaign offices in Palm Desert. Rollins opened his on Dec. 11. Calvert will follow with a grand opening of his office on Jan. 13.

“Ken Calvert may be scared of talking about law enforcement experience in this race, but I’m not,” Rollins said in a statement. “I was proud to serve Riverside County through my role as a federal prosecutor in the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section of the National Security Division, taking on ISIS, the Sinaloa cartel, Al Qaeda terrorists, and Iranian nationals who violated U.S. sanctions. I’ve continued to build my legal practice around that experience, and I’ll bring it with me to Congress to support our law enforcement officials, not defund them like Calvert has. Riverside County deserves representation that will keep them safe from hate, extremism, and corruption, and that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

“The court’s ruling confirms what we knew all along,” said Coby Eiss, Campaign Manager. “This absurd lawsuit was nothing more than a politically inspired partisan attack to distract voters from seeing Will’s experience in counterterrorism on the ballot. But the truth is that Republicans and Democrats alike in California’s 41st know that Ken has failed the law enforcement community, voting more than once (Vote 1 | Vote 2) in 2023 alone to defund local law enforcement agencies. This is the same guy who claimed that the FBI had been infiltrated by ‘rot,’ and called for dropping charges against the insurrectionists who attacked cops at the Capitol on January 6th. Of course, Ken was also caught with a sex worker in his car while a sitting member of Congress. He initially fled from the police before finally complying with their demands to stop, and then lied about the whole thing for months. We’re going to remind voters of the clear contrast in this race, and this ruling is only the beginning.”

Calvert for Congress issued the following statement after the Superior Court of California judge issued a court order striking both of Democrat Will Rollins’ preferred ballot designations, calling them “misleading” and “confusing” to voters.

“This ruling proves what we’ve been saying all along: Will Rollins is a perpetual liar who cannot be trusted to tell Californians the truth,” said Calvert campaign spokesman Calvin Moore. “The fact that a court was forced to correct Rollins for lying to and misleading voters is a major red flag that he is not who he says he is. Rollins knows the only chance he has is to lie about his work experience, lie about where he lives and lie about Ken Calvert’s record.”