There won't be a Democratic primary for the mayor's race after all.
In the closing moments of an hours-long court hearing Thursday, Marshall Home withdrew from the race, sparing a Superior Court judge from having to decide whether Home met the residency requirements for an election bid.
The city charter requires a candidate to have lived within the city limits for the past three consecutive years prior to a bid.
Home, however, voted in the November general election from a county address, then re-registered at a city address after he found out he couldn't run for mayor if he didn't live in the city.
Although Home in court filings in the case indicated he used his county address as a business address or merely used it to pick up his mail, he admitted under questioning that he has for months spent the night at the county address. His wife is in a wheelchair and finds the county property more comfortable, he said.
Home said he owns many properties and that he has a physical presence at many of them. "I reside within my body. That is my definition of residency," he said.
Attorney Bill Walker, who represented the Democratic activist who brought the challenge against Home, said Home essentially was carpetbagging.
Still pending, however, is a challenge by Home to Democratic contender Jonathan Rothschild, which was the subject of a separate court hearing in the morning.
Home elaborated on his assertion that lawyers can't run for office because they are members of the judiciary, and as such, cannot serve in executive office.
He testified that lawyers are foreign agents. He said the bar that oversees attorneys really stands for "British Accreditation Registry," which answers to the Queen of England.
After arguing it was a crime for Democratic Party leaders - including the head of the party, attorney Jeff Rogers - to endorse Rothschild before the primary, he added, "These people are traitors."
Judge R. Douglas Holt rebuked Home several times during both hearings, saying he was not going to allow "political tirades," and noted he was using the courtroom as an arena for conspiracy theories.
The testimony about Home's residence, even though it was in a separate case, may enter into the judge's decision on the challenge to Rothschild. A challenge to a mayoral candidate only be made only by a qualified elector of the city of Tucson.
Contact reporter Rhonda Bodfield at rbodfield@azstarnet.com or 573-4243.
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