Campbell Agreed to Tape Calls With Baugh

After being reminded she could face “fairly nasty” criminal charges, decoy Democratic candidate Laurie Campbell agreed to secretly tape-record telephone calls as part of the Orange County district attorney’s investigation of the tainted election of Assemblyman Scott Baugh, according to grand jury documents released Thursday.

Campbell, a longtime friend of Baugh who was recruited to run as a Democrat to help ensure a GOP victory in last November’s special election, told investigators in an interview last December she would tape the phone calls even though she believed that was “sneaky and underhanded.”

Neither the grand jury documents nor Campbell’s testimony indicate whether the Huntington Beach legal secretary actually taped any telephone calls. An official in the Orange County district attorney’s office said Thursday he couldn’t confirm or deny that any calls had been taped.

“Our investigation is continuing,” he said.

When asked about taped telephone calls, Robert Chatterton, Campbell’s attorney, said Thursday: “I don’t believe that ever happened.”

Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) has been indicted on felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from the campaign to replace former Assemblywoman Doris Allen, who was recalled Nov. 28, in the 67th district. Rhonda J. Carmony, campaign manager for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), has also been indicted on election fraud charges in connection with the effort to put Campbell on the ballot in the hope of siphoning votes from another Democratic candidate.

Three GOP political workers have already pleaded guilty to fraudulently circulating Campbell’s nomination petitions. Baugh’s chief of staff, Maureen Werft has also been indicted for voting in that election while she was a resident of Sacramento.

When Campbell and her attorney met with investigators for nearly two hours last Dec. 1, she was asked, “In your mind, has Scott [Baugh] done anything wrong in this whole situation?,” according to a transcript of the interview.

Campbell replied: “Well, he’s allowed himself to be taken in by sharks. But . . . I don’t see him as a victim.”

Campbell said she had been friends with Baugh since they met in the mid-1980s, when they lived in the same Sacramento apartment complex and later worked together at a law firm. She said she stayed in touch with Baugh and saw him occasionally after both moved to Southern California.

Her relationship with Baugh is far different from the one Baugh described during the campaign, when he indicated they were at best casual friends who attended the same Newport Beach church.

In January 1994, for example, Campbell and her husband, Kendrick, were living in Glendale when the Northridge earthquake struck. Frightened by the earthquake and repeated aftershocks, the Campbells spent the weekend with Baugh at his Huntington Beach home, she told prosecutors, according to the documents.

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Later that year, the Campbells moved to Huntington Beach, first attending nearby Seabreeze Church with Baugh and getting together socially. The Campbells and Baugh then switched to Mariners Church in Newport Beach, according to the transcript. Also released Thursday was a financial pledge card for the Baugh campaign that was apparently filled out by Laurie Campbell. On the card, Laurie Campbell agreed to donate $1,000 and volunteer in the campaign. Instead of filling in her address, she wrote: “Y’know.”

Last August, while attending a party at Baugh’s Huntington Beach house, Campbell, a registered Democrat, remarked that she should run in the special election to draw votes away from Democrat Linda Moulton-Patterson in the winner-take-all election.

Weeks later, Republican aides circulated nominating petitions for her, met her in the parking lot of the Registrar of Voters and instructed her to sign the papers before they were filed, according to sworn statements by the three political workers who have pleaded guilty.

An investigation was opened after The Times reported that Campbell had been a stealth candidate.

During their December interview with Campbell, investigators told her: “It sure appears Mr. Baugh is gonna let you ride this one out without his . . . help [and that] criminally speaking, he’s hanging you out to dry.”

Campbell insisted that Baugh “didn’t tell me to run [and] he didn’t ask me to run,” according to the transcript. Later in the same interview, however, Campbell said, that in a telephone conversation with Baugh, he told her “I do know these people that want to talk to you about” running.

Campbell signed an agreement to cooperate with investigators, according to her testimony before the grand jury last Feb. 13, but the document outlining its terms was ordered sealed.

After the investigation began, Baugh encouraged Campbell to tell the truth about her involvement, she said, adding that Baugh told her to do “what I have to do to protect myself.”

Asked if she were trying to protect anyone, Campbell responded, “At this point in time, there is no protection other than the truth.”

Reminded that Baugh lied at first about even knowing her, Campbell told investigators she confronted Baugh.

“I still believe in Scott,” she said. “He was caught with his pants down and didn’t know what to do.”

Times political writer Peter M. Warren contributed to this report.