Justice Dept. Says ’88 O.C. Poll Guard Case Not Closed After All

Despite an earlier statement to the contrary, U.S. Justice Department officials said Friday they are still conducting a criminal investigation of Orange County Republican leaders who stationed uniformed guards at Santa Ana polling places on Election Day, 1988.

In February, a department spokeswoman erroneously told reporters that federal investigators had decided there was insufficient evidence of criminal activity to file charges.

But Friday, Justice Department spokesman Doug Tillett said the confusion was apparently caused when one of two divisions investigating the case decided to drop it.

“There are parts of this case that are still being reviewed by the department,” Tillett said in a brief statement Friday.

He added that federal charges might still be filed against the Republican leaders who hired the guards on behalf of Curt Pringle’s campaign for the 72nd Assembly District seat. However, Tillett said he could not comment on when the investigation might be concluded.

Both the civil rights and the public integrity sections of the Justice Department were reviewing the case, Tillett said. He said attorneys in the civil rights branch decided in February that they would not prosecute.

Leaders of the Orange County Republican Party have acknowledged that they joined with Pringle’s campaign in November, 1988, to place guards at 20 polling places in predominantly Latino neighborhoods of Santa Ana. They said the action was prompted by rumors that Democrats were planning to bring buses of illegal voters to the polls.

Pringle narrowly won the election in 1988, but he lost his seat last year to Democrat Tom Umberg, who used the so-called poll guard case to attack Pringle.

A group of Latino voters who charged in a lawsuit that they were intimidated by the guards won a $400,000 out-of-court settlement from the county’s Republican Party and Pringle’s campaign.

The Justice Department has been conducting its investigation in conjunction with the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade said Friday that he is expecting to discuss the case with federal authorities before a decision is made on whether charges will be filed.

“My sense is that it’s getting close, but God knows what that means,” Wade said.