COUNTYWIDE : D.A. Sues State Bar Over Dues Spending

Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury has filed a lawsuit in Sacramento contending that the State Bar of California is misusing the membership dues of prosecutors.

In the lawsuit, filed Friday in Sacramento Superior Court, Bradbury says it is improper to use taxpayer money to fund the political and ideological activities of the State Bar.

The suit also charges that procedures set up to protest the money’s use are unconstitutional, said Ventura County Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin G. DeNoce, who prepared the suit for Bradbury on behalf of the 80 prosecutors who work for him.

Bradbury’s protest is based on a 1990 U. S. Supreme Court ruling that the State Bar cannot force its members to pay dues used to finance political activities such as lobbying efforts.

After the ruling, the State Bar determined that $3 out of the $478 annual dues paid by members should be refunded, said Fritz Kraetzer, a member of the organization’s Board of Governors.

“They’re spending a lot more than $3 in political activities,” said DeNoce, who said he wants to know exactly what is being spent. “The question is, should the State Bar take a political position since they are a neutral regulatory agency?

“It’s our position that the State Bar is violating our First Amendment rights,” DeNoce said. “No man can be forced to support political views that are contrary to his own. . . . Our view is that the State Bar should be neutral and should not be biased one way or another.”

Kraetzer responded: “I believe that everything that the State Bar is doing is proper and should be charged as mandatory dues. But I also understand that people don’t always agree.”