TUSTIN : FPPC Complaint Is Filed in Council Race

A political opponent has filed a complaint with the state Fair Political Practices Commission alleging that City Council candidates Michael J. Doyle and Tracy Worley failed to report nearly $3,000 each in campaign contributions earlier this month.

Doug Davert, an attorney working as a volunteer for an opposing campaign, filed the complaint last week with the FPPC, alleging that a political action committee for city police officers spent nearly $6,000 on a February mailer containing pictures of Doyle and Worley, as well as statements from them.

The expenditure should have been reported by the candidates as a contribution, Davert said, because the mailers could not have been produced without their knowledge.

Doyle and Worley have denied any wrongdoing. They said the complaint has no basis and is “politically motivated.” John Adams, treasurer of the police officers PAC, said that the mailers contained information from Doyle’s and Worley’s campaign materials and were printed without their consent.

The two are challenging council members Leslie Anne Pontious and Charles E. Puckett for the two council seats at stake in the April 12 municipal election. Davert is volunteering on Pontious’ campaign.

The Tustin Police Officers Assn. political action committee, which supports Doyle and Worley, was also named in the complaint.

State law allows political action committees, such as the police officers PAC, to spend money to nominate, elect or defeat a candidate as long as the expense is not made in consultation or cooperation with the candidate.