Board Seeks to Bar Woman Who Ran as a Nurse, and Won

ESCONDIDO — In an unusual legal maneuver, an Escondido-based hospital district board asked the state attorney general’s office Wednesday for permission to sue to keep a home health aide off the board of directors.

The application by the Palomar Pomerado Health System board is aimed at Nancy Scofield, who critics say misrepresented herself on the Nov. 6 ballot by listing herself as a nurse.

Scofield did so even though she had never been licensed as a nurse. She was a home health aide, which has no licensing requirements.

In order for a public agency to sue a public official, it must gain the permission of the attorney general’s office because the agency then represents the people of California. But it is so rare that an agency sues one of its own directors that it remains unclear how much the board must prove.

Even the attorney general’s office isn’t sure who must show what.

“It hasn’t come about frequently, and certainly not lately, and I’m not certain to what extent it has occurred in the past,” said Rodney Lilyquist of the attorney general’s San Diego office.

Scofield’s attorney, Timothy Rutherford, maintains that the board will have to prove that the listing as a nurse unfairly made a difference in the election.

Scofield placed second in a field of a dozen candidates in an election in which the top four finishers won seats. Scofield garnered 34,217 votes, and the highest losing candidate received 23,506 votes.

Scofield has insisted that she relied on her community volunteer experience and support from local organizations in her campaign. She also has claimed that the word nurse is a generic term.