Phony Reagan Letters ‘a Human Error’

Saying that it all “boils down to a human error,” staffers of the Assembly Republican Caucus accepted full responsibility Thursday for a series of presidential endorsement letters that were mailed to voters without White House approval.

But caucus spokesman Mike Pottage said all six of the Republican Assembly candidates whose campaigns sent out letters bearing a reproduction of President Reagan’s signature thought the letters had White House approval.

The phony presidential endorsement letters were mailed to voters just before the Nov. 4 election.

Pottage, press secretary to Assembly GOP Leader Pat Nolan of Glendale, said the error was made by caucus staffers who thought the Republican National Committee had secured necessary clearances from the White House.

Pottage said those staffers, whom he declined to identify, gave erroneous information to individual campaigns that the endorsement letters had been fully approved. Other caucus staffers who should have known better “simply did not communicate,” Pottage insisted.

“It was careless; a staff communications breakdown,” Pottage said. “If we were trying to hoodwink the voters, we sure as hell would not have put that (White House) return address” on the letters. The White House got wind of the phony letters when many were “returned” by the post office to the White House.

A White House aide, speaking on condition that he not be identified, said Pottage’s explanation is “in general conformity with what we have concluded.” But the presidential adviser said White House aides are still awaiting more information before concluding their investigation into how the unauthorized mass mailings occurred.

Pottage on Thursday also recanted an earlier written statement by Nolan that someone had merely “modified” a Reagan letter that had been approved. “We thought that was true” when Nolan issued a written statement last week to explain one of the unauthorized letters, he said. “But now we know that was not the case.”

What happened, Pottage said, was that the Republican National Committee furnished a draft of the kind of endorsement letter that the White House might approve. The caucus staffers then tailored the draft to fit each Assembly Republican candidate and sent the phony endorsement letters, under Reagan’s signature, to the candidates for mailing. The letters never were submitted to the White House for approval.

The campaigns of three winning GOP Assembly candidates--Bev Hansen of Santa Rosa, Richard E. Longshore of Santa Ana and Trice Harvey of Bakersfield--mailed out the Reagan “endorsement” letters to voters.

Voters also received unauthorized presidential endorsement letters on behalf of Matt Webb, who lost to Assemblyman Steve Clute of Riverside; Henry Velasco, who lost to Assemblywoman Sally Tanner of El Monte, and Roger Fiola, who lost to Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd of Hawthorne.

Presidential aides, although they are still looking into the matter, say they are generally satisfied with the explanations provided by Nolan and others and will not seek criminal prosecution of the campaigners responsible. But some Democratic candidates have indicated they may file complaints with state and federal authorities.

Spokeswomen both for the state Fair Political Practices Commission and Secretary of State March Fong Eu said there appears to be nothing in the state Political Reform Act or the state Elections Code that specifically forbids unauthorized endorsement letters.

Pottage also released a letter Thursday from Mitchell Daniels, assistant to the President for political and intergovernmental affairs, thanking Nolan for helping to clarify how the breakdown occurred.

White House staffers have told The Times that Reagan, if asked, usually endorses all Republican candidates in an election, and that all of the letters--except one that attacked Floyd for allegedly caving in “to the powerful underworld drug industry”--might have been approved if they had been submitted for approval.