Mayor Reimburses City for Cost of Prohibited Mailing

Saying she didn’t know state law prohibits mass mailings by elected officials at public expense, Mayor Karen Lloreda reimbursed the city $601.35 to cover the cost of sending out 3,000 letters to Capistrano Beach residents on city stationary.

On Tuesday night, she also apologized profusely at the City Council meeting.

“I erred through ignorance, and I apologize for the additional rift that I have caused in our city,” she said.

The letters, mailed earlier this month, alert residents to the possible consolidation of water and sanitary districts and include a newspaper clipping about the reorganization of special districts.

“I still don’t think that what I did was improper--I think it’s a good thing to try to educate the public about an issue of some significance,” said Lloreda, who serves on the city’s Water and Sanitation Subcommittee. “But I’ve taken the responsibility of paying for [the mailings].”

Lloreda, who is facing recall in the March 26 election, sent the letters upon the advice of City Manager Stephen B. Julian, who hadn’t checked beforehand with City Atty. Jerry Patterson.

As a result, Lloreda said she was unaware of Proposition 73, the law forbidding mass mailings on city stationary by elected officials.

In a memo to Lloreda, Julian apologized for the inaccurate advice and said he will “take full responsibility for the publication and mailing of the letter.”

But Councilman Bill Ossenmacher, who called the mailing a “misuse of public office,” called for an investigation by the city attorney into the mailing, but received no council support. The city attorney also said an investigation would be up to the state.

Finance Director Susan Cannan said that postage was about 12 cents a letter and that the labor was handled by volunteers.

In the meantime, former council member Mike Eggers, who is running against Lloreda in the upcoming recall election, said that despite Lloreda’s reimbursement to the city, he will file a formal complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission about the mailings.