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Jury Indicts Lewis Over Forged Reagan Letters : Assemblyman Says Action Is ‘Democratic Campaign Stunt’

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Times Staff Writers

Orange County Assemblyman John R. Lewis surrendered to Sacramento authorities Tuesday after he was indicted on one felony count of forgery for his role in mailing thousands of 1986 campaign letters bearing the phony signature of then-President Reagan.

Lewis, a conservative Republican assemblyman from the city of Orange, turned himself in at Sacramento County Jail after he was secretly charged Monday night by the grand jury. The indictment was the culmination of a 15-month investigation by Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp into charges that Assembly Republican leaders had mailed out letters forged with Reagan’s signature in six legislative races.

The 34-year-old assemblyman, who was released on his own recognizance, is the first sitting legislator in 24 years to be indicted for a crime involving political misconduct.

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Long a key campaign operative within the Assembly Republican caucus, Lewis issued a statement denouncing the indictment as a political ploy by Van de Kamp to enhance his expected Democratic candidacy for governor in 1990.

“By the time this is over, John Van de Kamp will be exposed for the phony and hypocrite he is,” Lewis said. “John Van de Kamp is guilty of abusing his office for political gain. This is nothing more than a carefully calculated Democratic campaign stunt subsidized by taxpayer monies.”

Several Orange County Republican leaders agreed that Lewis appeared to be a political victim.

“It is blown so far out of proportion that it would be a comedy if it weren’t so tragic for John Lewis’ personal and political life,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Lomita), a former White House speech writer who was helped by Lewis in his uphill battle to win the 42nd Congressional District race last year. “Making this into a criminal issue is the worst kind of politics.”

Marcia Gilchrist, Orange County Republican Party treasurer, said that Lewis “is a very well-liked local legislator. . . . I think the people in John’s district are going to rally behind him and be very supportive of him, recognizing that it’s a Democrat ploy.”

Gus Owen, president of the Lincoln Club, a prestigious GOP support group in Orange County, said Lewis should have his day in court.

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But Owen added: “I think it’s unfortunate any of our legislators are involved in anything of this nature.”

The criminal charge against Lewis is unrelated to a wide-ranging federal sting investigation into political corruption in the Legislature. Sources familiar with the federal probe have indicated that it is likely to result in the indictment of one or more legislators within the next few months. Lewis has not been a target of the FBI probe.

Although Van de Kamp also investigated the activities of other legislators and GOP staff members involved in mailing the Reagan letters, the attorney general’s office said no other criminal charges are expected in the case.

The grand jury indictment charges that “John Lewis did willfully, with the intent to defraud, cause to be counterfeited and forged the handwriting of another, to wit, President Ronald Reagan.”

The indictment also contends that Lewis distributed the letters on behalf of Assembly candidates “with the intent to prejudice, damage or defraud the voters in the various districts from which the candidates were seeking election.”

If convicted of the felony forgery charge, Lewis could be sentenced to up to 3 years in prison and would be prohibited from serving in the Legislature.

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“This is more serious than somebody using your name, forging your name on your check and getting your money,” said Steve White, chief assistant attorney general. “This is somebody trying to upset the process of free elections.”

The long-simmering controversy over the letters began the day before the Nov. 4, 1986, election when voters in the South Bay area received letters purportedly from Reagan accusing Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd (D-Carson) of “caving in to the powerful underworld drug industry.”

After Floyd protested to the White House about the letter, then-Assembly GOP Leader Pat Nolan of Glendale said the letter had been “inadvertently” mailed without the then-President’s authorization.

The letter in Floyd’s race, mailed on behalf of losing GOP candidate Roger E. Fiola, was similar to letters sent out by Assembly Republican leaders in five other legislative races. All six letters were on White House stationery and “signed” by Reagan. The Floyd mailer, however, was by far the harshest of the letters.

Presidential aides first learned of the letters when hundreds that could not be delivered by the post office were sent to the White House--the return address on the envelopes.

A White House investigation in early 1987 fixed the blame for the forgeries on two members of Nolan’s staff and a Republican direct-mail specialist. Presidential counsel Peter J. Wallison protested at the time that the phony letters violated procedures designed “to preserve the integrity of the President’s signature.” The White House was “highly disturbed by this very serious breach of our approval system,” he added.

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But Rep. C. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), a former White House lawyer who worked for then-President Reagan at the time the letter was sent, said that obtaining such signatures was merely an “internal housekeeping matter.”

“Believe me, the White House counsel knows how to institute criminal proceedings,” Cox said. In this case, he said, “they did not wish to do so.”

Sacramento County Dist. Atty. John Dougherty looked into the forgeries and concluded that Lewis knew before the letters were sent that the White House had not authorized the use of Reagan’s signature. Dougherty also said both Lewis and Nolan instructed their staffs to lie to White House officials. But he declined last September to prosecute anyone, citing the “political nature” of the case and his office’s lack of financial resources.

Van de Kamp, who had already been investigating the case at the urging of Floyd and other Democrats, then intensified his probe.

Floyd, still angry over being a target of the “Reagan letter,” said Tuesday that he felt vindicated by the indictment of Lewis.

“People who do that sort of thing don’t belong in this business,” he said. “I have been yelling (about this case) for over 2 years. It’s the slimiest deed ever done.”

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Blow to Republican Hopes

Coming on top of the FBI sting, the grand jury indictment of Lewis is yet another blow to the Assembly Republicans’ hopes of building popular support and winning control of the Assembly in the 1990 elections. Last fall, Nolan stepped down as GOP leader after he was videotaped allegedly accepting $10,000 from federal agents posing as businessmen seeking approval of legislation. Nolan is one of the targets of the FBI investigation.

For Van de Kamp, putting Lewis on trial could help counter criticism that he--as well as past attorneys general--has been too timid in prosecuting political corruption cases.

As the report of Lewis’ indictment spread through the Capitol, the assemblyman’s Republican allies there rushed to his defense. Assembly GOP Leader Ross Johnson of La Habra charged that Van de Kamp’s decision to seek an indictment from the grand jury was politically motivated.

“John Lewis is the victim of a partisan political witch hunt by Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp,” said Johnson, who was himself interviewed by investigators in the case. “Van de Kamp is running for governor and needs a scalp on his belt to portray himself as a so-called ‘defender’ of election ethics.”

Johnson and Lewis also contended that Van de Kamp has ignored complaints from Republicans about fraudulent endorsement letters sent out by Democratic candidates.

Charging Van de Kamp “has relentlessly hounded John Lewis and other Republican members of the Assembly for 2 years,” Johnson said: “The attorney general is a politician masquerading as a law enforcement officer.”

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Van de Kamp’s office declined to respond directly to the Republican charges of partisanship, but Chief Assistant Atty. Gen. White said: “The grand jury examined the evidence and then issued the indictment. That document speaks for itself.”

Lewis, who has carried few bills during his legislative career, has devoted most of his energy to helping Republicans win office, including such fellow conservatives as Nolan, Sen. Edward R. Royce (R-Anaheim), Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach) and Assemblyman Dennis Brown (R-Los Alamitos).

Ferguson, when told of the indictment, said: “Oh lord. That’s absolutely horrible.”

Ferguson said it is “unbelievable that so serious a thing could happen over a political stunt that seems to have been so commonplace, at least up until now.”

According to one source familiar with the attorney general’s investigation, Lewis was indicted because he was the one who ordered the forgery of the President’s name.

In the course of the investigation, several Republican legislators were questioned but declined to cooperate, citing their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination. Prosecutors granted immunity to at least two staff members involved in sending out the letters, sources familiar with the investigation said.

In a similar political letter case last year, a San Bernardino jury convicted Diane Wiley, an aide to losing Democratic Assembly candidate Joe Baca, of two counts of forgery. The jury found that she forged the name of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) in mailers sent out during the 1988 primary election.

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The last sitting legislator to be indicted for political misconduct was Democratic Los Angeles Assemblyman Lester A. McMillan, who was charged in 1965 with accepting a $10,000 bribe from a Culver City businessman. He was acquitted.

In 1980, Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana) was charged with nine counts of unlawful intercourse and oral copulation with minors. He was also acquitted.

After leaving the Legislature, former Assemblyman Bruce Young in 1986 was indicted and later convicted of five counts of mail fraud for concealing outside income while a legislator and laundering campaign funds to other politicians. His conviction was later overturned.

In the Lewis case, Assembly GOP leaders mailed out phony Reagan endorsement letters in support of three winning Assembly Republicans: Bev Hansen of Santa Rosa, Trice Harvey of Bakersfield and Richard E. Longshore of Santa Ana, who died last year.

Letters were also mailed on behalf of three losing Republicans: Henry Velasco, who was defeated by Assemblywoman Sally Tanner of Baldwin Park; Matt Webb, who lost to Assemblyman Steve Clute of Riverside, and Fiola, who lost to Floyd.

Times staff writers Richard C. Paddock and Claudia Luther in Orange County contributed to this story.

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