SAN DIEGO — A court hearing regarding San Diego Mayoral candidate Larry Turner's residency will not go forward at the end of March as scheduled after the plaintiff in the case dropped her lawsuit.
According to the plaintiff's attorney, Bob Ottilie, the lawsuit was dropped Thursday evening. He said his client, Helen Michelle Vandiver, chose to end it after she and her family were harassed and threatened.
"She's asked me not to say anything further on her situation because she wants this to go away. People attacked her, unfortunately, instead of focusing on the merits," said Ottilie.
Turner held a news conference Friday morning.
"This is some dirty stuff they tried to do to trick voters, they tried to do it before March 5. After March 5 they dropped it," said Turner.
He still maintains people associated with Mayor Todd Gloria, three political appointees, are behind it.
"The mayor, to deny, he had any knowledge of this, if that's true, then he's a terrible manager. He has three very close friends and advisors who he has working on the city's dime, put this plan together and he didn't know anything about it? Fine. I'm not calling him a liar, then you have no control over your staff," said Turner.
His attorney told reporters the investigation into Turner's residency was paid for by a recipient committee, called New San Diego, which he said has ties to the mayor's office.
"This is about whether or not the mayor is going to play by the rules," said Mike Aguirre, Turner's attorney. "And those rules allow an unlimited amount of money to be raised by what is called a recipient committee. Recipient committees, though, have to be truly independent and not coordinated with the mayor. "
Aguirre said subpoenas went out to people connected to the mayor, including Gil Cabrera, President of the Airport Authority. According to the documents, Cabrera was asked to turn over communication between himself and Mayor Gloria and his staff regarding Turner.
"That's a smoke screen, said Ottilie. "If you want to do a smoke screen that's fine, but produce the facts first, and then you would have an argument that maybe this was done politically. But they've never produced the evidence."
Ottilie said the mayor has nothing to do with this case. He maintains everything he submitted to the court in a 34-page brief is true. He said Turner has yet to produce any proof San Diego was his primary residence 30 days before he filed papers to run for mayor.
"Here's the real tragedy for the city and Mr. Turner. I feel sorry for Mr. Turner, I really do. Because I think it appears he made a mistake and he hasn't produced the proof that would get him out of it," said Ottilie.
"If he was not qualified during those 30 days at issue then he can never fix that, and the issue of qualifications never goes away. Anybody else could bring the claim or if he is elected, or appears to be elected, the city council cannot certify his votes and if they do, that act itself is voidable and a post-election challenge could be brought and he could be removed from office," he said.
He said if Turner has the evidence, why not produce it at Friday's news conference?
He said election officials need to look into verifying what Turner's primary residence was during that 30 day window.
CBS 8 reached out to both the San Diego City Clerk's Office and the Registrar of Voters.
Cynthia Paes, Registrar of Voters sent CBS 8 the following statement:
"We will need to refer you to the San Diego City Clerk’s office as they are the elections official for city offices and measures."
The clerk's office did not respond.
Gloria's campaign released the following statement:
"The mayor has no opinion on this matter — nor has he ever. The mayor has been clear that it does not matter who he faces in the general as he remains focused on running the city."
WATCH RELATED: Judge rules Larry Turner can run for mayor after accusations he doesn't live in San Diego