Neighbors Seek Restraining Order on Assembly Candidate; Provoke Residence Question

A family in Rancho Bernardo requested a restraining order Oct. 7 against Assembly candidate Carl DeMaio in a harassment complaint to San Diego Superior Court that has brought up new questions about where exactly DeMaio lives.

A judge did not feel the family was in danger and denied the restraining order pending a hearing.

Mohammad and Roya Zamanian live adjacent to the home DeMaio shares with his husband, Johnathan Hale, in Rancho Bernardo. Mohammad Zamanian told me they have faced constant harassment from DeMaio and Hale.

“They have made life miserable for us for two years,” Mohammad Zamanian said. “They keep telling us what kind of plants we can have. They peer at us. They threaten my kids. We just want him to stay away from us and don’t communicate with us at all.”

It seems like a classic neighborhood dispute – complaints about view obstruction, their shared property line, HOA rules violations and heated exchanges.

But the predominate public interest in the dispute may be in what it reveals about DeMaio’s residency. He’s a candidate for Assembly District 75, which does not include the Rancho Bernardo neighborhood where the dispute is occurring. He claims instead to be a legal resident in Fallbrook, within the 75th Assembly District. But the court filing includes references to DeMaio as a resident of the property and in one document, he cites it as his home address.

In an email to the Zamanian’s on Oct. 5, DeMaio said he hoped he could work something out with the family. “I want to provide one opportunity for you to be a good neighbor and dialogue productively about this,” he wrote.

He cited an agreement from last year where Zamanian allegedly promised not to impede DeMaio’s view with plants.

DeMaio signed the email with his address in Rancho Bernardo. However, if he lives there, he is not eligible to run for the 75th Assembly District. His residency was a controversy at the beginning of his contentious race against fellow Republican Andrew Hayes. I asked Zamanian if he sees DeMaio at the property.

“He’s there every day,” Mohammad Zamanian said.

Jen Jacobs, a spokesperson for DeMaio, said DeMaio has two properties, the one in Rancho Bernardo and the one in Fallbrook and he’s at the Rancho Bernardo property frequently but only to record his podcast.

“Of course someone would see him there on the regular,” she wrote in a message.

She said Zamanian is “unhinged” and that the homeowners association sides with DeMaio in their dispute.

Kurt Smith, who previously led the homeowners association and lives a couple doors down from Hale and DeMaio, told me the dispute stems from the Zamanians not following proper procedures to get approval from the association for landscaping work.

He said DeMaio and Hale had cared for a slope on the Zamanians’ property during the time a previous owner was incapacitated. He said neighbors were surprised when the Zamanians moved in and started work on it, work they said was not properly approved.

“Nobody likes to be surprised, particularly in these type of HOA communities. This is the kind of stuff HOAs are supposed to prevent but sometimes exacerbate,” Smith said. He felt the attention on it and the escalation of the dispute was disproportionate to what was at stake.

In a letter detailing the dispute, Roya Zamanian said DeMaio and Hale had trespassed and destroyed plants, threatened Zamanian’s daughter and gardener and obsessively observed them through the backyard.

I asked Mohammad Zamanian if this dispute were political, given DeMaio’s prominence as a candidate and former City Councilmember representing the neighborhood. He said he didn’t know about DeMaio’s prominence or the Assembly race.

“I’m a lifelong Republican, not a bleeding-heart liberal,” he said.