GRAND JUNCTION — Paul Pitton has been on that edge between a win and a loss many times in his 36 years of coaching football. But waiting for the Colorado Supreme Court to decide if he can hold on to the school board seat he won by a landslide in November is a tougher type of nail-biter.

“I’ve learned to deal with adversity, but I am not a politician,” said Pitton on the day the court was hearing oral arguments that could have a statewide impact as well as a decision for Pitton, who has taught math and coached at Palisade High School for decades.

Pitton’s political-novice bid for a Mesa County Valley School District 51 Board of Education seat landed in front of the high court because of his address. Pitton filed, and was certified, to run in the November election in one district. But it was determined after he was listed on the ballot and voters had already begun to send in mail-in ballots, that Pitton actually lived in a different district. The boundaries had been changed four years ago. But Pitton and a school district secretary overlooked the fact that the map they were using was outdated.

On the same day the court heard the Pitton case, members of the school board voted unanimously that it wouldn’t declare a vacancy, deciding that Pitton now lived in the district he was elected to represent. But a court ruling — expected in weeks or months — could declare that Pitton lived outside the district when he was elected.

How that came to light and is playing out hints at political jockeying in a local Republican Party as divided as the national GOP.

Pitton is a registered Republican and considers himself conservative. But Ann Tisue, the outgoing board member whose seat he was running for, is part of a more conservative faction backed by a group called the Mesa County Patriots.

Tisue had been supporting one of Pitton’s challengers, and she held a press conference on Oct. 19 to announce that Pitton did not live in the district he was running in. She didn’t contact Pitton and didn’t announce the discrepancy until four days after it was discovered, after mail ballots had already gone out.

“To this day I have no idea what was driving her,” said Pitton, who added that he didn’t receive any support during his run from the local Republican Party. He said party officials didn’t even return his phone calls.

Tisue could not be reached for comment.

When Pitton vowed to remain in the race — and to move into the proper district — Tisue’s husband and two other men filed a petition to try to have the district court in Grand Junction declare that votes for Pitton should not be counted. But District Judge David Bottger ruled that it was not the proper place of the court to interfere in an election that was already underway.

The election proceeded and Pitton trounced his two opponents with 54 percent of the vote.

The trio that had tried to stop his candidacy at the local level appealed to the high court. That group’s Denver attorney, Mario Nicolais, a columnist for The Colorado Statesman, argued that overlooking disqualification deficiencies could undermine the election process and could lead to sham candidates running for office. He argued that Bottger’s decision should be overturned.

Pitton’s attorneys argued that opportunities to challenge his eligibility were not taken before ballots were printed and that Bottger properly allowed the election to proceed.

The Colorado attorney general’s office also filed a brief in the case stating that Bottger should have ruled on Pitton’s eligibility and ordered that votes for him should not be counted.

Pitton’s case represents the third time candidates who were geographically ineligible have been elected to school boards in Colorado.

A candidate in Bayfield avoided a court battle by resigning from the school board after he was found to live in a wrong district. In Adams County, the Supreme Court vacated a race after the winner was found to have moved from the district she ran in. Another candidate was appointed to take her place.

In Pitton’s case, if the court declares a vacancy, he could be appointed to serve on the board because he now lives in the proper district. His home in the wrong district is up for sale.

Pitton said while he waits for that ruling, which should be issued in one to three months, he is continuing to ponder why all this happened the way that it did. He said Tisue and her husband have been driving into the driveway of his rental home to check and see if he is actually living there. Neighbors at his old home report the Tisues and their cronies have been driving around that home.

Pitton said he still doesn’t know why all this enmity erupted and is continuing when he all he set out to do was use his 36 years of teaching and coaching experience to help the district.

“Sometime I am at the point where this thing is just wearing me out,” he said.

— info@coloradostatesman.com