Court Order Bars Mailers by Badham

A Superior Court commissioner Friday ordered Rep. Robert E. Badham’s campaign committee to stop sending mailers that are from Republican groups but fail to explain that the official Republican Party is not endorsing Badham.

Under California law, political parties and official units of those parties are not allowed to endorse in a primary election.

At issue was a three-page letter from a local group, the Orange County Coordinating Republican Assembly, that urged a vote for Badham (R-Newport Beach) June 3 and attacked his challenger, Nathan Rosenberg, for alleged “lies” about Badham.

Omitted Disclaimer

The letter, sent to all 130,000 Republican households in Badham’s 40th Congressional District in early May, bore the small blue seal of an elephant in one corner. It contained a notice that it was “paid for by Badham Congressional Committee,” but it omitted the disclaimer required by state law that the Assembly was “an unofficial political group” rather than the official Republican Party organization.

Richard C. Goodman, the attorney for Rosenberg supporter John Killefer, the Newport Beach man who filed the lawsuit, said Friday that “many people who I know personally received the mailing and were deceived into believing it was an official Republican endorsement.”

Goodman said he was one of those who was misled. “I received it at my home. I got it in the mail and I said, ‘What is this?’ ”

The mailer violated the state’s “truth-in-endorsement law,” Goodman said, noting that, “voters are entitled to protection from deception in endorsements (by unofficial party groups) in the same manner that they are entitled to be protected from deception in selling products.”

Law Violated

After a hearing Friday afternoon, Superior Court Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer decided that the law had been violated and issued a temporary restraining order to the Badham Congressional Committee, the county Coordinating Republican Assembly and its chairman, J. Kenneth Ditty. The order bars them from circulating any campaign materials that do not contain a “Notice to Voters” as required by the California Elections Code.

According to the law, the disclaimer must be printed in at least 10-point Roman type and state, “The endorsement hereon is by an unofficial political group. Official organizations of (the Republican or Democratic) party are prohibited by law from endorsing candidates in the primary election.”

Asked why he hadn’t included the required notice, Badham campaign coordinator David Vaporean said he had believed “it wasn’t necessary.” Vaporean said he thought the words “Paid for by Badham Congressional Committee” constituted the legal disclaimer. “We clearly indicated who the piece was being paid for and for what purpose,” he said.

Goodman said his client had not sought any action to correct the first mailing. “All we wanted was an assurance that they wouldn’t do it again.”

Candidate Rosenberg was not a party to the suit, but he said Friday that “I’m pleased that the court decided to uphold the law.”