Fine Print Can Wreak Havoc if Candidates Don’t Heed It

It seems simple enough.

Circulate petitions to get on the ballot for an elected office, gather the appropriate number of signatures and wait for the registrar’s office to validate them.

You qualify, you run. Right?

Not so fast.

Election laws mandate that if you signed the petitions, then you have declared--under penalty of perjury--that you witnessed the signatures being gathered. If not, you could be found guilty of making a false candidacy declaration, a crime punishable by as much as a $1,000 fine and up to three years in prison, or both, for each violation.

It happened to former Huntington Beach Mayor Linda Moulton-Patterson, who pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor election law violation and was ordered to pay $5,400 in fines and penalties and perform 200 hours of community service.

Moulton-Patterson, running in a special election for the 67th Assembly District seat last year, swore she had witnessed the signatures on her nominating petitions when she had not. In fact, she admitted she had signed eight petitions but had circulated only two in their entirety.

The investigation into the 67th Assembly District special election has already resulted in the indictment of Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach), who won the race, for perjury and violations of the state campaign finance law. Baugh denied wrongdoing.

Three GOP aides have already pleaded guilty to falsifying a nominating petition used to place a decoy Democrat on the ballot in the election. A fourth Republican faces trial in August on three felony counts for her alleged role in recruiting the decoy candidate. She denies any impropriety.

The Orange County district attorney’s office does not keep statistics on how often similar election violations are charged, but Guy Ormes, supervising deputy district attorney, said the petition gathering process usually isn’t investigated unless a complaint is filed.

“As with any complaint we get, we look at it to determine whether it is criminal,” he said. “In general, we get many complaints that, even if everything was true and provable, wouldn’t be a crime.”

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Gary W. Schons, a senior assistant attorney general whose office in San Diego recently charged a candidate running for San Diego County district attorney with falsifying nomination petitions, said such prosecutions are rare.

“I’m sure it doesn’t come to the attention of the authorities very often,” he said.

Ravi Mehta, chairman of the state Fair Political Practices Commission, said the violations by Moulton-Patterson and the Republican aides are the only recent examples he’s heard of.

Because there is essentially little enforcement of the law, the only watchdogs are usually political opponents who can bring a suspected violation to the attention of law enforcement officials, Mehta said.

Despite the Orange County case, Mehta said he does not believe the signature requirement is violated often.

“I don’t think most people break this law,” Mehta said. “I think people go out and get their own signatures. And if it is being violated, it certainly isn’t being prosecuted.”

The law, he said, is in place for a legitimate purpose--to demonstrate that a candidate has at least some degree of support in the community.

“What the law is saying is if you are a viable candidate, go get some signatures,” Mehta said. “If you can’t gather a few dozen signatures, what’s the point of running? It isn’t that much work to go out and get them.”

Leon McKinney, the GOP activist who filed the complaint against Moulton-Patterson that led to her being investigated, said he believes those who gather signatures should sign the affidavits. But he still wonders about such prosecutions.

“I have felt all along that prosecuting people for these sorts of violations, whether they be Republicans, Democrats or independents, is not a good use of our somewhat limited law enforcement resources,” he said.