Costa Mesa : Election Mailer Termed Violation of State Code

The head of a local political action committee alleged Friday that a campaign mailer by Costa Mesa City Council candidate Charlene Johnson violates the state election code.

Jim Aynes, president of Mesa Action, said the brochure--which resembles an official sample ballot except that Johnson’s circled name is the only one of the 13 candidates to appear--could confuse voters. Aynes has asked the district attorney’s office to look into the mailer.

Johnson, 62, a businesswoman and wife of a Costa Mesa councilman who was defeated by a Mesa Action-backed candidate in 1984, could not be reached for comment.

Her campaign manager, however, said that 25,000 of the brochures in question had already been mailed out to Costa Mesa voters. In defense of the mailer, Thomas Roll said: “It’s sufficiently different (from an official ballot) to be clear. There is no intent to deceive the public. But to be extra cautious, we are going to go ahead and put a disclaimer on all future distributions that this is not an official ballot.”

Roll said that 5,000 more copies of the mock sample ballot had yet to be mailed.

According to Section 11709 of the State Election Code, every simulated ballot or sample ballot shall include a separate box that states the ballot is not official and has not been prepared by the relevant government agency. Anyone who violates the law is guilty of a misdemeanor.