Youngblood Claims Gates Misused Campaign Funds

Orange County sheriff candidate Bobby D. Youngblood said Thursday he has asked the state Fair Political Practices Commission to investigate whether Sheriff Brad Gates misused political campaign funds to improve a San Juan Capistrano equestrian center that Gates owns and is using as a campaign headquarters.

At a press conference in Santa Ana, Youngblood, a Municipal Court judge on leave of absence to run for sheriff, accused Gates of deceptive campaign practices borrowed from “the Ferdinand Marcos school of finance.” He also unveiled results of a three-week investigation by a Los Angeles private investigative firm he had hired.

Youngblood said the Gates political action committee, Friends of Brad Gates, has paid $780 for telephone installations at the equestrian center, 27252 Calle Arroyo in San Juan Capistrano, $655 for electrical wiring and $246 for window tinting.

Youngblood said another expense was $500 paid to a Dana Point man who told Youngblood in a telephone conversation that he has been the cleaning man for the Ortega Equestrian Center for several years. The expenditure was listed among those from the campaign headquarters, Youngblood said.

He also called upon Gates to make a “full accounting” to the public of his personal assets, which Youngblood estimated at $2.5 million in real estate alone.

Asked to respond to Youngblood’s comments, Eileen Padberg, Gates’ campaign manager, said neither she nor Gates would make comments to the media every time Youngblood holds a news conference.

“If you would send the material that Youngblood made available to the press we will respond, if it deserves a response. But I’ve got a campaign to run and Gates has a Sheriff’s Department to run.”

Gates could not be reached for comment.

Youngblood, with the help of flow charts detailing in bold, black and white letters the Brad and Diana Gates “multimillion-dollar fortune,” claimed that the sheriff and his wife have amassed extensive real estate holdings without disclosing business relationships and partners as required under the state Political Reform Act. These, he said, included dealings with Undersheriff Raul Ramos and his wife, Ruth, and developers the judge would not name.

“We’re saving them for our next press conference,” Youngblood said.

Ramos, in a brief interview, said he wasn’t going to answer questions about accusations “made by that man.”

Lynn Montgomery, a Fair Political Practices Commission spokeswoman, said the commission received Youngblood’s complaint two days ago but had not had time to do anything with it.

As a result of an endorsement won by Gates from the county Deputy District Attorneys Assn., Youngblood said he has asked the state attorney general’s office to take over an investigation of Youngblood’s allegations that Gates committed perjury on a voter registration affidavit and on nomination papers.

But Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Maurice Evans said the district attorney’s office, which is conducting the investigation, “will continue doing its job.”

The sheriff has said he followed instructions from the registrar’s office when he signed the documents.