STATE ASSEMBLY : Challenger Says Frizzelle Using Office for Campaign

Democratic Assembly candidate James Toledano charged Thursday that his opponent, incumbent Nolan Frizzelle (R-Fountain Valley), is violating state law by using his legislative office and staff members in his reelection campaign.

Frizzelle’s staff aides, who are employees of the state Assembly, have represented the assemblyman at two recent candidates forums, and arrangements for Frizzelle’s campaign appearances must be made through his district office in Fountain Valley, Toledano said.

“My taxes and your taxes are paying for his campaign,” said Toledano, standing outside Frizzelle’s office on Newhope Street. “This is a case of an incumbent using his office as a personal perk.”

One of Frizzelle’s staff members, Karen Walker, represented the assemblyman at an event sponsored by the California Nurses Assn. in Irvine earlier this month, but she said her appearance was not campaign-related.

“As an elected official, you’re asked to go to an event or send a representative,” Walker said, mentioning ribbon-cuttings and dedications as examples of such events. “He was invited to meet with constituents as an elected official, not as a candidate.”

Toledano and other candidates, however, were invited to the same function. Frizzelle said Thursday that when the nurses group called his office and asked him to attend, they did not make it clear that other candidates would be there.

“It wasn’t billed as a campaign function, and we had no way of knowing who was going to attend,” Frizzelle said.

Besides, Frizzelle said, the event was held in the evening, so Walker was attending on her own time.

Another Frizzelle aide, Jim Orr, represented Frizzelle at a candidates forum sponsored by Huntington Landmark, a gated seniors community in Huntington Beach. But Frizzelle said Orr took a vacation day and attended on his own time as a volunteer for Frizzelle.

“That one was in the evening too, but Orr took the day off to make doubly sure,” Frizzelle said. “We’re very strict around here about the rules.”

A third staff member, Lyla Crawford, is working for Frizzelle’s and other Republican campaigns at a local party office in Fountain Valley. She is a part-time Assembly employee, but Frizzelle said she has taken a month off from her job to work on the campaigns.

State law forbids incumbents from using their government offices or employees--while on state time--to benefit their campaigns.

Frizzelle said Toledano’s charges were signs of a desperate candidate searching for an issue in the closing days of a lost race. “He hasn’t mounted a campaign based on any issues,” Frizzelle said.