Campaign Forgery Bill That Reagan Backed Advances

The state Senate passed and sent to the Assembly a bill endorsed by former President Ronald Reagan to make it a crime to use an unauthorized signature in campaign literature. The legislation by Sen. William A. Craven (R-Oceanside) was prompted by a 1986 mailer authorized by Assemblyman John R. Lewis, a GOP strategist from Orange County, that contained Reagan’s unapproved signature.

Lewis was charged with felony forgery, but an appellate court threw out the charge on the grounds that the letters did not legally constitute forgery. Craven subsequently introduced the bill specifically making unauthorized use of a signature in campaign material punishable by a prison term, a $50,000 fine or both.