Pringle Complains to GOP About Primary Foe’s Attack

Republican Assembly candidate Curt Pringle complained to the county GOP’s ethics committee Tuesday about a campaign letter from his opponent Rhonda McCune that attacks him for being “just another dishonest politician.”

McCune’s letter highlights six accusations against Pringle stemming from the one term he served in the Assembly, as well as the controversy surrounding his 1988 campaign and its role in placing uniformed guards at polling places in Latino neighborhoods on Election Day.

In a letter to the county Republican Party’s ethics committee, Pringle charged that McCune’s campaign mailer is “filled with untruths, innuendoes, misrepresentations and outright lies about me.”

The ethics committee took testimony from both campaigns Tuesday evening to determine whether the letter violated the party’s written code of conduct. The code of conduct is intended to deter Republican candidates from attacking each other and possibly helping Democrats in the fall election.

If there is a violation, the county Republican Party will issue a censure to McCune’s campaign. The censure has no penalty or impact except for the campaign fodder it provides to an opponent.

The committee’s decision will remain secret until it is submitted today to the Republican Party’s board of directors, which will announce a final judgment.

“This mail piece clearly and factually describes Curt Pringle’s dismal record,” said McCune, the mayor of Buena Park. “During Pringle’s time in the state Assembly, he betrayed the trust voters placed in him.”

Pringle was unavailable for comment Tuesday, but he wrote a three-page letter to the committee denying each of the accusations individually. He concluded: “These outrageous actions must be responded to immediately.”

The Republican race in the 68th Assembly District has developed into a hotly contested battle where anti-incumbency, abortion and money are splitting the candidates. Pringle, who served in the Assembly from 1988 to 1990 before he was unseated by Democrat Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove), is facing McCune and Westminster Councilwoman Joy L. Neugebauer in the June 2 primary.

McCune’s letter complains that Pringle voted to raise taxes while in the Assembly; that he lied about endorsements from law enforcement groups; and that he received a poor rating in a California Journal magazine survey..