Countywide : Court Rejects Offer on Voter Handbook Insert
An attorney’s offer to pay for an insert to the June 3 primary voters’ handbook was rejected Monday by a federal judge.
William Yacobozzi Jr., who represents Orange County sheriff’s candidate Linda Lea Calligan, had offered to lend Calligan $71,000 to pay for an insert if it would help her win a lawsuit she has pending against Sheriff Brad Gates and Al Olson, the county’s registrar of voters.
Calligan sued Gates and Olson earlier this month in Los Angeles federal court, alleging that her constitutional rights were violated when an Orange County Superior Court judge deleted part of her candidate’s statement at Gates’ request.
U.S. District Judge Matt Byrne Jr. rejected Yacobozzi’s offer and scheduled a May 13 hearing on the case.
Byrne told an attorney representing the registrar of voters that the booklets could be prepared for mailing, but another mailing with the deleted portion of Calligan’s statement may have to be prepared if she wins her case.
The material deleted criticizes Gates’ operation of the jail and his personal conduct. Ballot handbooks are scheduled to be mailed to voters beginning May 24.
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