COSTA MESA : Use of City Seal in Races to Be Discussed

It’s an issue that has come up time and again among council members but has yet to be resolved: Can political candidates vying for city seats use the city seal in campaign literature? The subject will be brought up once again at a City Council study session scheduled for Monday.

At this week’s council meeting, Costa Mesa resident Ernie Feeney objected to incumbent Peter F. Buffa’s use of the city seal on invitations to a fund-raiser.

Feeney said she didn’t know if the invitation was printed at taxpayers’ expense since there was no disclaimer.

“I had no way of knowing whether it was stationary from the city,” Feeney said.

Buffa said the mailer was paid for by his reelection committee.

The issue has been around since 1984, when a candidate for the City Council had her picture taken under the city seal, raising the ire of other candidates.

Though the city has discussed the dos and don’ts of using the city seal during a number of study sessions, a policy has never been drafted.

“If there’s a policy, I would follow it,” Buffa said. “But right now, there is no policy, and I’m not doing anything wrong.”

Buffa, who is seeking his third term, said the city seal was placed on the invitation itself, and not on the outside of the envelope. If it were on the envelope, he said, he would understand Feeney’s concern.

According to the Fair Political Practices Commission in Sacramento, the city has authority to determine how the city seal may or may not be used in campaign literature.