Chairman’s Actions Anger O.C. Democrats

Just days before the March 26 primary, Orange County’s Democratic Party chairman received $10,000 from a donor who might have violated federal campaign contribution limits and spent it on a last-minute mailer--unilateral actions that have angered local Democratic leaders.

The contributor, Debra Lee LaPrade of Paradise Valley, Ariz., sister of unsuccessful congressional candidate Jim Prince, had already reached the limit allowed for individual donations to her brother’s campaign before making the 11th-hour contribution to the county Democratic Party, federal election records show.

Party Chairman Jim Toledano, by his own account, did not consult his executive board in deciding to spend LaPrade’s contribution on a mailer for Prince--who was endorsed by the state Democratic Party in the 46th Congressional District--and Lou Correa, a Democrat who ran without an opponent in Tuesday’s 69th Assembly District primary.

His actions have already prompted one call for his resignation and caused the party’s treasurer, David Levy, to declare he will resign at a meeting tonight, in part because of his concern over the legality and ethics of Toledano’s decisions.

“I am perturbed, to say the least,” said Levy, who fired off letters last week to the Federal Election Commission and the Orange County registrar of voters disavowing any involvement.

“I’m the treasurer and the person responsible for doing our financial reports,” he said. “Whatever happens as a result of this, I want to make it clear that I am not responsible for it.”

Toledano said he accepted the unsolicited donation, discussed with LaPrade how it should be spent, and opened a bank account--to which he was the only signatory--specifically for that purpose. He said that he was unaware the contributor was Prince’s sister.

According to FEC regulations, the contribution might have exceeded limits that apply to federal candidates because, if LaPrade earmarked the money for Prince as Toledano said she did, she spent more than the $1,000 allowed to benefit any single candidate in an election.

“I don’t know how this can be ethical under any name,” said Michael P. Farber, one of Prince’s opponents in last week’s primary, who called Monday for Toledano’s resignation. “This money didn’t go to the [Democratic] Party and the party didn’t make the decision how to spend it. Jim Toledano made the decision unilaterally, and it seems to me he has abused his power.”

Toledano, an attorney who has led the local Democratic Party for 15 months, said he did nothing wrong and has no plans to resign.

“This is so damn counterproductive,” he said. “It’s a tempest in a teapot.”

Prince--who placed third in the primary behind Loretta Sanchez and Farber--confirmed Monday that LaPrade is his older sister, but said he was not aware of her donation to the Democratic Party until he was contacted by a reporter. He said he and his sister speak only every few weeks.

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Some time ago, Prince said, his campaign had discussed the idea of giving the local Democratic Party some money to publicize his candidacy and the state party’s endorsement of him. “But that idea died out because we didn’t have enough money,” he said.

Prince said he had no idea how his sister came to contact Toledano.

“But my whole family was very enthusiastic about the campaign,” he said. “If my sister did something inappropriate, I will make every effort to find out about it.”

Prince’s father, Harvey Prince of Marina del Rey, said, however, that he was aware of his daughter’s contribution. “The money was given to use for the Democratic Party to get the vote out because you need turnout to beat a Republican,” Harvey Prince said.

LaPrade said Monday that she had called Toledano, identified herself as Prince’s sister and told him she had “maxed out” in contributions to her brother’s campaign.

“I told him we wanted to give a donation to the Democratic Party to promote voter awareness,” LaPrade said. “He said this is how we could give it, and he’s an attorney, so I assumed it was a legitimate contribution.”

Toledano’s actions have irritated local Democratic leaders, who are scheduled to discuss the matter at a meeting of the party’s executive board tonight. The board held an emergency session Wednesday, but Toledano was unable to attend and the action was postponed until today.

Campaign statements on file with the Federal Election Commission show that LaPrade, her husband and her three children last June gave a total of $10,000 to Prince--$1,000 per family member for his primary campaign and another $1,000 each for the general election campaign that they hoped would follow. The contributions are the maximum allowed by law.

Because Prince ran third in last week’s election, federal law requires that he return the $5,000 donated for the general election race that he will not be part of.

According to Toledano and LaPrade, it was barely a week before the primary when LaPrade telephoned Toledano at party headquarters, offering to give $10,000 for a mailer that would educate voters about the party’s endorsed candidates, including Prince.

Toledano said he was delighted to accept.

“I looked on it as manna from heaven,” he said. “Somebody offers to give a chunk of money and put forth the fact that the party has endorsed certain candidates? You bet I accepted.”

As to why anyone from Arizona might want to contribute to a Democratic organization in Orange County, Toledano said he didn’t care and didn’t ask.

“What her motive was, was entirely irrelevant to me,” he said. “My motive was to put the Democratic Party as a whole in front of the voters.”

Toledano said he does not recall some details of his conversation with LaPrade, including which of them suggested that the mailer should encourage Democrats to support Prince and Correa specifically.

“I didn’t take notes. I didn’t focus on that, frankly,” Toledano said. But he remembers that he and LaPrade had a “mutual interest” in letting voters know that the two candidates had won the party’s endorsement.

The red-white-and-blue mailer, drawn up on Toledano’s home computer, landed the weekend before the primary in the mailboxes of 30,000 Democratic households in central Orange County.

Correa said he was never contacted about the mailer, which features Prince’s name in type about twice the size of Correa’s. Prince is pictured on the back; Correa is not.

“Somebody showed me the mailer and I said, ‘That’s interesting,’ ” Correa said. “But to tell you the truth, it also tweaked me a bit because I was trying to be neutral” in the race for the nomination in the 46th Congressional District, which overlaps his own district.

Toledano said he called the Federal Election Commission and the Fair Political Practices Commission in Sacramento after LaPrade made her offer and was assured that he could spend the money for voter education purposes without concern for any limits.

He said he could not remember the names of officials he spoke with at either office.

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Kelly Huff, a spokeswoman for the Federal Election Commission, which regulates campaigns for Congress and other federal offices, said she could not comment on any specific case. But she said donations to a party committee that are “earmarked” for specific candidates--either by the contributor or by the party committee--count against limits that apply for candidates, contributors and committees.

Huff said candidates may receive no more than $1,000 per election--primary or general--from any individual. Contributors may give no more than $1,000 to any candidate for any one election. Local party committees and state party committees--together--may contribute no more than $5,000 for the benefit of any one candidate per election, Huff said.

“If any individual is ‘maxed out’ to a particular candidate, anything they earmark for that candidate, even if it goes through another committee, would count against their own limit,” Huff said. “They can’t give any more for the specific purpose of helping that candidate.”

Local and state party committees that want to play a role in federal elections also are required to register with the Federal Election Commission for a variety of reasons, including receiving and spending more than $5,000 per year in contributions given for the purpose of influencing federal elections.

Huff said such committees have 10 days to register after meeting any of those circumstances. The Orange County Democratic Party, according to Huff and Toledano, is not registered with the FEC.

Times staff writers Peter M. Warren and Lee Romney contributed to this report.