Orange Assemblyman Cleared in Forgery Case : Justice: Appeals court qualifies ruling, saying it should not be construed as condoning what lawmaker John R. Lewis was alleged to have done.

A state appeals court on Tuesday dismissed a felony forgery charge against Republican Assemblyman John R. Lewis of Orange, ruling that Lewis committed no crime even if he did order the mailing of hundreds of thousands of campaign letters bearing the phony signature of former President Ronald Reagan.

The court agreed with attorneys for Lewis, who have argued since the lawmaker was charged a year ago that he could not be guilty of forgery because he did not intend to defraud anyone of money or property.

The three-justice panel of the 3rd District Court of Appeal, quoting from an earlier California Supreme Court decision, said its ruling ought not be construed as condoning what Lewis was alleged to have done.

But the justices added: “Whatever (his) misdeeds, he must not suffer for a crime which he has not committed.”

Lewis, in a statement released by his office, said he was “happy but not surprised” that the court had ruled in his favor. Lewis was the first sitting California legislator in 24 years to be indicted for a crime involving political misconduct.

“Too much time and taxpayer money has been spent by the attorney general in pursuing this case,” said Lewis, 35. “Although I am confident that I would have prevailed before a jury, I am pleased that the Court of Appeal has ordered the dismissal of this case.”

Assembly Republican Leader Ross Johnson of La Habra said in a statement Tuesday: “I am happy for John. I always maintained that nothing of a criminal nature occurred, and I still believe that the charges were politically motivated.”

Thomas A. Fuentes, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, said the decision “renews one’s belief in our system of justice. . . . I always believed that if cool heads and just minds examine the issue, then John Lewis would prevail.”

But Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd (D-Carson)--who was the target of one of the letters supposedly signed by Reagan--said Lewis “ought to be thankful” for loopholes in the criminal justice system. The letter accused Floyd of “caving in to the powerful underworld drug industry.”

“He’s gotten away with it,” Floyd said. “He’s not the only criminal walking the streets on a technicality.”

Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, who prosecuted the case after the Los Angeles and Sacramento County district attorneys declined, said in a statement that he had not decided whether to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

“We sought to halt this unfair conduct by criminal action, but the Court of Appeal has regrettably concluded that such cynical and misleading tactics are not prohibited by current law,” Van de Kamp said. If the decision stands, he added, “I will seek corrective legislation to prevent this conduct from further fouling our election process.”

The letters in question were mailed on behalf of Republican candidates in six Assembly districts during the final days of the 1986 legislative campaign. Lewis--who was then directing strategy for the party’s Assembly candidates--ordered the letters sent even though he knew that the White House had rejected drafts, according to the grand jury testimony of former Republican aides involved in the decision.

White House Alerted

The scheme might never have been detected but for the decision of a political consultant to place “The White House” as the return address on the campaign letters. Shortly after the election, undeliverable mailers began filtering back to the President’s offices marked “return to sender.”

So alerted, White House officials began investigating the matter. Then, according to testimony, Lewis concocted what he called an “Alphonse-Gaston” scheme to cover up his role, telling two staff members to lie to White House investigators and blame the whole thing on a miscommunication.

If that sworn testimony is true, the court wrote, then Lewis was “guilty of misconduct which impinges on the public’s interest in the integrity of its governmental institutions.” But the court said bluntly that such misconduct was not the same as felony forgery.

“There is no suggestion of fraud relating to money or property,” the justices wrote. “No funds were solicited by the letters, nor was there any invasion of a legal right.”

If what Lewis did is to be considered a crime, the court said, then it should probably be addressed specifically in the state elections code, where other political crimes are defined.

“The conduct which (Lewis) is alleged to have engaged in may be properly placed in this ‘political offense’ category, which the Legislature has placed outside the (jurisdiction) of the penal code,” the court said. “This statutory pattern reinforces our view that the forging of President Reagan’s signature to these political campaign tools is not punishable under” the section of law chosen by the prosecution.

Dale A. Drozd, one of Lewis’ attorneys, said he would not make “any predictions” about how the ruling would fare if appealed to the Supreme Court.

But he added: “The law is on our side. There was never any allegation that monetary or property rights were involved. If there isn’t, you can’t charge forgery. It’s just not a crime. Whatever the facts are, it’s not forgery.”

Earlier Problems

The Reagan letters matter was Lewis’ third brush with alleged political misconduct.

As a candidate in 1980, Lewis was censured by the Orange County Republican Central Committee for inviting voters to join him at a “Reagan/Lewis victory party,” implying that Reagan had endorsed him when in fact he had not.

Then, in 1988, Lewis was implicated in the county Republican Party’s plan to hire uniformed security guards to monitor Latinos as they went to vote in a bitterly fought Assembly race. In a court deposition, Lewis said he had been present when party officials joked about the possibility of driving green vans around polling places to give the impression that Immigration and Naturalization Service agents were lurking in the area.

Still, Lewis and Republican leaders have contended all along that Atty. Gen. Van de Kamp, a Democrat, chose to prosecute the Reagan letters case only to provide a boost to Van de Kamp’s campaign for governor. Although a trial court judge rejected that argument, the assemblyman reiterated the complaint Tuesday.

“I have felt, from day one, that I was being singled out for prosecution because of partisan political considerations,” he said. “Although the Court of Appeal did not have the opportunity to address the issue of selective prosecution, I believe my case would have been dismissed on those grounds as well.”

A Lewis ally, Republican Assemblyman Dennis Brown of Los Alamitos, called Van de Kamp a “ruthless political hack” engaged in a “political witch hunt.”

“It really shows that this is strictly a political maneuver by Van de Kamp’s office to make them look like they were going to single-handedly clean up state government,” he said.

A Van de Kamp spokesman declined to comment on the charge that the prosecution was politically motivated, except to say that the office was confident that the trial court ruling in its favor would have been upheld if reviewed by a higher court.

Staff writers Ralph Frammolino and Dave Lesher contributed to this report from Sacramento.

JOHN LEWIS’ POLITICAL CAREER

1974--Lewis, treasurer of Young Republicans at USC, ran unsuccessfully for a South Central Los Angeles Assembly seat held by Bill Greene.

1980--Lewis defeated Beverly Nestande in a bitter primary for the Assembly seat left open by her former husband, Assemblyman Bruce Nestande. The county Republican Central Committee’s ethics panel ruled that Lewis had violated the party’s code of ethics by implying in a campaign mailer that he had received President Reagan’s endorsement. 1982--Lewis masterminded the campaign of state Sen. Ed Royce (R-Anaheim) in a newly apportioned district and became the state GOP’s leading legislative election strategist. He easily won reelection against Yorba Linda High School track coach Paul Broughton. 1984--Lewis defeated Democrat Ray Anderson of Orange, who conceded before the race began. He would defeat Anderson again in two years. Nov. 7, 1988--Lewis handily defeated Democrat Bruce R. Fink for reelection but became embroiled in a scandal involving the GOP’s use of uniformed poll guards, allegedly to discourage Latino voters in the 72nd Assembly District. Lewis was helping Republican Curt Pringle defeat Democrat Rick Thierbach. He admitted attending meetings where hiring the guards was discussed. Feb. 6, 1989--Lewis was indicted by a Sacramento grand jury on one felony count of forgery for his role in mailing thousands of 1986 campaign letters bearing the phony signature of then-President Ronald Reagan. Lewis responded that he was the target of a political vendetta launched by state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, who was seeking the 1990 Democratic gubernatorial nomination. March 17, 1989--A grand jury transcript revealed that Lewis decided to mail to voters three phony Reagan letters even though he knew they had been rejected by the White House, according to the testimony of two GOP aides. On May 2, he pleaded not guilty. Sept. 1, 1989--The 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento ordered a halt to Lewis’ scheduled Sept. 25 trial, saying it would decide whether the state forgery statute applies to political documents. Dec. 27, 1989--Plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the county GOP in the 1988 poll guard incident revealed documents in which Lewis admitted he heard joking among party officials about the possibility of driving green vans around polling places to give the impression that Immigration and Naturalization Service agents were lurking. County GOP reached a $400,000 settlement in the case. Jan. 23, 1990--The same appellate court ruled that the state forgery statute does not apply to political statements, throwing out the charge against Lewis. Compiled by Jeff Perlman