LOS ANGELES COUNTY : Judge Denies Horcher’s Bid to Bar Recall Petitions

A Superior Court judge Wednesday denied an injunction sought by Assemblyman Paul V. Horcher (I-Diamond Bar) to keep thousands of signatures from being used to qualify a recall measure against the maverick lawmaker.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Diane Wayne ruled against Horcher and several other co-plaintiffs, noting that a Sacramento judge had ruled against Horcher last month in a similar lawsuit.

At issue are mailers containing petitions that were sent out by recall proponents. In one mailer, a recall petition was attached to a letter from Gov. Pete Wilson supporting the recall. A second mailer contained petitions attached to a similar letter from Michael J. Schroeder, vice chairman of the state Republican Party and chairman of the Recall Horcher Committee. In the third mailer, a recall petition was attached to a request for donations to the Recall Horcher campaign.

Horcher’s attorneys argued that the attachments violated state law that requires recall petitions to carry statements of equal length from both sides. The mailers contained anti-recall statements, but Horcher’s attorneys said the attachments in effect made the pro-recall statement longer.

Horcher was targeted for recall after he renounced his affiliation with the Republican Party in December and voted to continue the reign of Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco)--which Republicans considered the ultimate act of betrayal.