SACRAMENTO — Foes of Democratic attorney general candidate Jerry Brown filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging his eligibility to become California's top lawman because he did not pay state bar membership fees in recent years and was declared inactive.
The lawsuit, filed in Sacramento Superior Court by supporters of GOP candidate Chuck Poochigian, a state senator from Fresno, contends that Brown failed to meet a state election law requirement that the attorney general be admitted to practice law in California at least five years immediately preceding election.
Although the former California governor and current Oakland mayor first passed his bar exam and gained approval as a practicing attorney in 1965, Brown on several occasions over the past four decades failed to renew his membership and was rendered inactive. Brown renewed his membership in 2003, before he announced his attorney general candidacy.
Details here from the Los Angeles Times.