Loser in L.B. Council Race Is Fined $1,250 for Mailing

Phil Greer, an unsuccessful 1984 Long Beach City Council candidate, was fined $1,250 by the state Fair Political Practices Commission on Tuesday for failing to properly identify a campaign mailing.

The commission staff alleged at Tuesday’s hearing that a letter sent on behalf of Greer to 1,000 4th District residents by Kelly Green of Long Beach was actually paid for and distributed by Greer.

The formal accusation alleged that neither Greer’s name nor that of his campaign committee appeared on the outside of the mass mailing’s envelope and that the committee’s name on the letter inside was printed in smaller than six-point type.

The state’s Political Reform Act requires the name and address of the person who pays for the mailing to be identified on the outside of each piece of campaign literature and that the information be printed in at least six-point type.

The accusation filed against Greer said that he “intentionally omitted the committee’s name from the outside of the envelope so as to make the mass mailing appear to be a personal letter from Kelly Green.” Green was an employee of the print shop where the material was prepared.

The letter attacked Greer’s opponent, veteran Councilman Thomas J. Clark, who defeated Greer in the April, 1984, election.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Greer, a lawyer, repeatedly denied the allegations put forth by commission lawyers. “There was no intent to violate the law,” Greer insisted. He could not be reached Wednesday for comment on the commission’s decision.

In announcing the fine, Commission Chairman Dan Stanford said, “When a candidate chooses to send negative mailings into voters’ homes, it is especially important that the voters be fully informed of the identify of the sender of such mailings. In this instance, the voters were misled by the lack of proper identification on the mailing.”