Charges Against State GOP Delegate Dropped

Criminal trespassing charges against a delegate to last year’s state Republican convention in Anaheim have been dropped.

Ezola Foster, 49, a Los Angeles schoolteacher, had been scheduled to go on trial this week on charges of trespassing, disturbing the peace and resisting arrest last September while passing out flyers at the convention that attacked GOP leaders. Without explanation, the charges were dismissed Monday.

Foster said Tuesday that she was glad of the dismissal but that she had suffered “embarrassment and loss of standing among my colleagues and students” after the arrest, which was seen on several television newscasts in the state.

“The whole case is so bizarre,” Foster said. “The fact that I was arrested in the first place seemed rather punitive on their part. I’ve been victimized, and I’m not really sure why.”

Booked by Police

Foster, a registered guest at the Anaheim Hilton & Towers during the Sept. 25-27 convention, was detained by Hilton security personnel and then booked by Anaheim police after she and about two dozen supporters refused requests to leave the building.

The arrest came after the group began distributing flyers charging that party officials had “failed to protect family values” in favor of pornographers and homosexuals.

Foster alleges that party officials ordered Hilton security to arrest her. State GOP leaders, however, deny that they played a role in Foster’s arrest.

“It’s preposterous, and she has never produced any explanation of why she says that,” said John Hoy, executive director of the state Republican Party. “If we had everyone arrested who said things that weren’t very nice about us, we’d have half the Democratic Party in the slammer.”

Dismissal ‘Fine’

Hoy said state Republican leaders had urged the Anaheim city attorney to drop the charges and termed Monday’s dismissal “fine with us.”

He also said Foster, who once ran an unsuccessful campaign for an Assembly seat and is a member of the state Republican Central Committee, is welcome at future conventions.

Foster’s Los Angeles-based Black Americans for Family Values has gained a reputation as a right-wing fringe group.

But Foster says her ideas are not radical.

“It’s not as if I’m asking them to overthrow the government or something,” she said. “I’m just asking them to take action on issues that are important to the family. I think it’s very important for the average citizen to take part in the political process. . . . I will continue attending the conventions, and I hope I will be treated in a better manner.”