L.B. Council Candidate Greer Accused of Campaign Violation

The state Fair Political Practices Commission has scheduled a hearing for May 7 to consider an accusation that Phillip B. Greer, an unsuccessful 4th District Long Beach City Council candidate, failed to properly label a mass mailing sent to 3,500 voters before the April, 1984, election.

John Keplinger, the commission’s executive director, had accused Greer in October of a single violation of the Political Reform Act involving two aspects of the mailing.

First, he alleged that Greer failed to acknowledge on the outside of the mailing that his campaign committee paid for the enclosed letter of support. Keplinger also said that although Greer placed an acknowledgement on the campaign letter itself, the type size was too small.

If the commission finds that Greer violated the law, he could face a $2,000 fine.

In most similar cases, a settlement is worked out between the commission staff and the defendant. However, commission spokeswoman Lynn Montgomery said that an agreement could not be reached with Greer, who asked for the hearing. Greer was unavailable for comment Wednesday.