5 Indicted in Campaign to Defeat S.F. Stadium Proposal

Sacramento Kings owner Gregg Lukenbill and four others have been indicted on misdemeanor charges for their alleged role in a campaign to defeat a proposal for a new baseball stadium in San Francisco.

A grand jury indicted Lukenbill, 35, Monday on misdemeanor charges of conspiring to violate state election reporting requirements. Also indicted were Lukenbill’s key aide, Maurice Read, and political consultants David Townsend, Jack Davis and Richard Schlackman.

“I was stunned,” Lukenbill said of the indictment. “I’ll deal with it seriously,” he said. “We’re just trying to sort through it. We’ll overcome it.”

The grand jury investigation began after Mayor Art Agnos accused Lukenbill of illegally concealing the source of donations to the campaign to defeat Proposition P, a proposal to build a ballpark in the China Basin area of San Francisco as the new home of the Giants. The measure failed by less than 2,000 votes in the Nov. 7 election.

Lukenbill, a sports developer, is seeking a major league baseball team for Sacramento. Agnos accused him of trying to steal the Giants, who want out of Candlestick Park and said they would leave San Francisco if the ballot measure failed.