GOP Panel Sides With Pringle, Reprimands Foe : Politics: Letter by primary opponent Rhonda McCune misrepresented facts, board says.

The county Republican Party executive board voted Wednesday to reprimand state Assembly candidate Rhonda J. McCune, saying that she misrepresented the facts in a campaign letter attacking her GOP primary opponent, Curt Pringle.

The board stopped short of the more severe step of censuring McCune. And it refrained from saying that the campaign letter was false.

Instead, the board decided that “information in the mailer, taken as a whole, was distorted, misrepresented and offered out of context.”

McCune’s letter made six accusations against Pringle, most stemming from his single term in the Assembly. The letter concluded: “He’s just another dishonest politician.”

McCune, the mayor of Buena Park, complained about the party’s ruling, saying that the members of the committee are biased toward Pringle.

She noted that both Pringle and his wife, Alexis, are members of the two GOP committees that reviewed McCune’s letter, although neither participated in Wednesday’s decision.

“They obviously all know each other,” she said, “and that’s OK because I really didn’t expect anything other than what’s happened. I think it is wrong for me to go out and not point out Curt Pringle’s record.”

County Republicans established an ethics committee to deter divisive primaries that might damage the party’s chances at the polls. The panel has a written code of campaign behavior.

Pringle complained to the panel that McCune’s letter violated the code. Both candidates were called Tuesday night to testify about their positions. The panel’s recommendation was referred to the party’s executive committee Wednesday for a final decision.

Responding to McCune’s complaint that the committee is biased, the party’s county executive director, Greg Haskin, said party rules require any panel member who has publicly endorsed one of the candidates involved to be disqualified from voting.

He said five committee members cited a conflict of interest and did not vote. Six remained to make the decision.

Pringle said about the decision: “I believe that campaigns have to be based on fact and truth, and hers wasn’t. I think the ethics committee did the right thing, but it probably should have been more severe.”

The Republican race in the 68th Assembly District has developed into a hotly contested battle. Pringle, who was in the Assembly in 1988-90 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 for the GOP nomination.

One issue raised in McCune’s letter was the controversy involving Pringle’s 1988 campaign, in which GOP officials ordered uniformed guards to be placed at polling places in Latino neighborhoods on Election Day.

McCune’s letter said: “Pringle violated federal voting rights law.” Actually, county and federal authorities conducted a criminal investigation that was dropped recently, with no charges filed.

As a result of the guard incident, however, a civil lawsuit was filed against Pringle and other Republican leaders that was settled out of court for more than $400,000.

McCune’s letter also said Pringle voted for tax increases and for Assemblyman Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) as Assembly speaker. Pringle denied those assertions.