“Birther” Lawyer Orly Taitz has qualified to run for California Secretary of State, giving Debra Bowen new competition for her position. Taitz, a USSR native and naturalized U.S. Citizen, has gained notoriety for her numerous legal challenges to the legitimacy of Barack Obama's presidency.

Taitz told the Orange County Register she is running “to clean up the fraud we all have seen in the 2008 election. It is important to bring legitimacy to elections.” Taitz added that she “will be fighting to ensure the California corporations are not overburdened by regulations.”

Convinced that Obama is not a natural-citizen – that he is in fact a native of Kenya, Taitz has brought several lawsuits against the president. At least three of them have been dismissed. On March 15, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a $20,000 sanction against Taitz, claiming she willfully violated rules of civil procedure. Taitz continues to appeal the original order from a Georgia federal court, stating it was simply an act of intimidation by the administration.

Seemingly prompted by Judge Clay Land's 43-page order in the Georgia case, the State Bar of California is currently investigating Taitz for professional misconduct. Taitz has said that the California Bar is requesting that she respond to Judge Land's order.

In an email to TPMmuckraker, Taitz said:

     "Mandela had to spend years in prison, fighting corruption in the government...Responding to an inquiry from the bar is not that bad in comparison, is not such a high price to pay fighting massive fraud in the government, which allowed illegitimate Obama to get in the White House without as much as a valid social security number and without as much as an original birth certificate with the name of the doctor and hospital."

Taitz's lawyer in her appeal case has suggested that Judge Land's order was not the motivating factor prompting the Bar's investigation. He claims a third party outside the government raised a complaint against his client insinuating that Taitz might be the victim of a political witch hunt. 

Secretary of State Bowen was involved in one of Taitz's civil proceedings when she was asked to investigate Obama's qualifications for placement on the 2008 California presidential ballot. Taitz has remained critical of Bowen's refusal to challenge Obama's eligibility.

Before she can hope to run against Bowen in November, Taitz will have to vie with fellow Republican and former NFL player, Damon Dunn. Setting her sights on the June 8th Republican primary, she has filed a criminal complaint against Dunn  alleging voter and elections fraud.

Taitz has garnered an M.O. as an elections purist. Amongst her accusations of unethical behavior leveled against Dunn's campaign, she contends that Dunn is ineligible for the GOP nomination because he was registered as a Democrat in Florida within the last twelve months. Dunn contends that while living in Jacksonville he did register with the Democratic party in 1999, but he moved away that same year and canceled his registration.