Unauthorized Use of Names on Arts Mailer Criticized

Several prominent Laguna Beach artists and supporters of the arts reacted angrily Friday when they learned that their names appear without their permission on a mailer endorsing three City Council candidates.

The mailer, sent out by a group called “Concerned Citizens for the ARTS in Laguna Beach,” endorses Don Black, Dan Kenney and Clayton Vernon. On the back of the mailer is a list of 15 alleged members of the “Concerned Citizens” group. When contacted by The Times, five said they had consented to the use of their names.

However, eight of the 15 said they were not members of the group and had no idea their names would be used to endorse any candidates. Two others could not be reached.

The eight who objected to the listing are Laguna Art Museum President Thomas Tierney; Hal Akins, chairman of the visual arts department at Laguna Beach High School; Patricia Caldwell, president of the Art Institute of Southern California; Dr. William Otton, director of the Laguna Art Museum; Eugene V. Parker, chairman of the board of trustees of the Art Institute of Southern California; Hal Pastorius, a local sculptor; Doris Shields, former director of the Festival of Arts Chorale, and Paul Stiker, trustee emeritus of the Art Institute of Southern California.

All eight said they were contacted a few weeks ago by Vern Spitaleri, president of Laguna Moulton Playhouse, and asked if they would join in sending out a questionnaire to all the candidates concerning their support for the arts. The results of the questionnaire would then be circulated within the arts community.

Spitaleri said the candidates did not answer the questions in the space provided, and the group could not distribute the results. Last week, with the election approaching, the decision was made to go ahead and pick the three candidates “who are obviously the strongest supporters of the arts” and then try to contact those listed on the mailer before it was distributed, Spitaleri said.

“We ran out of time--we weren’t able to reach everyone on the list,” Spitaleri said.