Allen’s Attorney Warns GOP Not to Back Recall

Firing a legal warning shot, an attorney for Assembly Speaker Doris Allen has demanded that the state Republican Party cease efforts to throw its financial weight behind a recall effort against the embattled lawmaker.

In a pointed memo to GOP officials, Allen’s attorney said the party violated its own rules when Chairman John S. Herrington urged support of the recall in a highly critical letter last month.

Dana Reed, an Orange County attorney representing Allen, said the Cypress Republican is entitled to a hearing and various administrative remedies before the party can spend money on the recall.

“The Speaker was angered by the letter, as I think any Republican would be angered,” Reed said Tuesday. “We wanted to remind the party that Doris Allen is now, has been and always will be a Republican, and it would be inappropriate for them to fund a recall against her.”

Herrington and other party leaders said the July 7 warning from Reed appears to be the first salvo in what could become a protracted legal battle. The party engaged in a series of courtroom skirmishes when it waged a successful effort to recall maverick GOP Assemblyman Paul Horcher this year.

“To me, it’s a bold threat,” Herrington said.

The state party leader, who dispatched his fund-raising letter under the auspices of the state party, argued that Reed was wrong and that the party is legally entitled to expend money against Allen.

Republicans accused Allen of being a traitor after she was lifted to the Assembly’s top perch on the shoulders of Democrat lawmakers. The Orange County GOP, the state party’s board of directors and a cavalcade of state Republican lawmakers have come out in support of the recall.

Party activists have accused Allen of being a puppet of Assemblyman Willie Brown, the longtime Democratic leader and former Speaker, and of turning on lawmakers in her own party after they chose not to support her campaign for the speakership.

Herrington said the GOP would put off any further activity on the Allen recall until the party faithful vote on the issue when they come together in September for their annual state convention. Herrington remained confident that the party’s delegates to the convention would vote to back the effort.