Campaign Slip Spells Embarrassment

It was a simple spelling error, the kind of mistake that could be easily lost in the blizzard of preelection junk mail.

But of all the words to misspell, Steve Frank’s Assembly campaign slipped up on the name of his most important political endorsement: state Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley).

Frank’s campaign sent thousands of brochures to Republican voters last week with a letter lauding his credentials and bearing the signature of “Cathy” Wright.

“I did not sign it, that’s for sure,” Wright said. “I’ve been Cathie with an ‘ie’ for 46 years. No one on my staff would have signed the letter with a ‘y.’ ”

No, indeed.

Wright is infamously touchy about the proper spelling of her name. She gets snippy about it at political functions, refusing to affix identification stickers to her lapel that don’t spell Cathie correctly.

Frank knows her sensitivity and has been dreading a call from his longtime political ally, who endorsed him over five other Republicans in the 38th Assembly District race.

“I’m embarrassed,” said Frank, who has received an earful of telephone calls on the mailing.

Frank blamed the error on his Sacramento-based political consultant. Frank said he caught the mistake after the first batch of fliers was already in the mail headed to Republican voters who requested absentee ballots in the district that encompasses Simi Valley, Fillmore, parts of Thousand Oaks, and the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys.

The signature was corrected for subsequent mailings.

“Cathie is probably the most significant supporter I have in this race,” Frank said. “People know her. They trust her. Her endorsement means a great deal.”

So how exactly did this happen?

Frank said his consultant, Bill Saracino, wrote the letter and then faxed it to Frank for his approval. Frank said he typed up a few typographical and grammatical changes, including fixing the spelling of Cathie, and faxed it back to Saracino.

“Somewhere along the process, a typesetter didn’t pick up the correction that was made on the original copy,” Saracino said.

He said he also ran the letter by Wright’s campaign consultant. “Her campaign operation approved it,” he said.

Neither Frank nor Saracino said they know who actually penned Wright’s signature.

“It was probably an employee in a print shop somewhere up here,” Saracino said.

Frank said the public shouldn’t be surprised that Wright did not write the letter, nor actually signed it.

“Ninety-nine point-nine percent of these things are written by the consultant, not the candidate,” Frank said.

He estimated that less than a quarter of the letters that go out with the signatures of busy politicians are actually signed by lawmakers. Some have signatures imprinted on stamps, or automatic pens that can scribble a perfect duplicate. Other politicos authorize a top assistant to sign their names.

“Do you really think the governor signs all of those letters?” Frank said. “This is a normal way of doing business.”

Not always. The letter writer must first obtain the politician’s permission.

John R. Lewis, a former Republican assemblyman now a state senator from Orange, learned the hard way. He was indicted in 1989 for allegedly forging former President Ronald Reagan’s signature on campaign literature.

His forgery indictment was later overturned by an appeals court, which reluctantly held that forgery charges could be brought only if there was an intent to defraud victims of money or property.

The case inspired the Legislature to pass a bill to close the legal loophole in 1990, making it a felony to use unauthorized “handwritten or mechanically reproduced” signatures in campaign material.

In Frank’s case, he had authorization to use Wright’s signature. And the senator stands by her endorsement.

“Once you endorse someone for office, they can use your name anyway they want to,” she said. “But they ought to get your name right.”