Countywide : D.A. to Ask State to Take Case Involving Sheriff

To avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks said Tuesday that he will ask the state attorney general to take over an investigation of whether Sheriff Brad Gates committed perjury on a voter registration affidavit and candidacy papers.

Hicks said he decided to turn the case over to the state prosecutor’s office because he and Gates employ Nelson/Padberg Communications of Costa Mesa as a campaign consultant.

“I don’t think it is a conflict of interest,” Hicks said, “but . . . we are referring the matter to the attorney general because we like to avoid the appearance of a conflict.”

Sheriff candidates Linda Lea Calligan, a county Sheriff’s Department sergeant, and Municipal Judge Bobby D. Youngblood, who is on unpaid leave to run his campaign, previously had asked Hicks to turn the case over to the attorney general’s office.

The county district attorney’s office had been reviewing the complaint--originally made by Youngblood--that Gates listed a San Clemente residence that he did not live in at the time that he registered to vote.

Gates denied the accusation, saying that delays in a real estate transaction may have caused confusion over his legal residence. Gates said that he followed advice from the office of Registrar of Voters Alvin E. Olson on which address to list and that moving from his prior house to a new house was delayed several weeks by painting and repairs.

However, Youngblood and Calligan allege that Gates’ situation is identical to that of Steve A. Grasha, 27, who is being prosecuted by Hicks’ office for lying about his address in campaign documents when running last year for Buena Park City Council.