Official to Urge State Agency to Investigate Election Mailers

Monterey Park’s chief election official said Tuesday that he will ask the state’s political watchdog agency to investigate mailers that attacked City Councilwoman Judy Chu by playing on a climate of suspicion surrounding political contributions from Asian sources.

City Clerk David M. Barron said the mailers sent before the March 4 City Council election violate California law. The mailers came from supposedly different groups, all of which failed to comply with a state law requiring them to file campaign reports with his office, Barron said.

The groups also failed to provide campaign committee identification numbers on each leaflet as required by law, Barron said.

“These were very professional mailers produced at considerable expense and targeted to various parts of the community by groups with names that would draw their sympathies,” Barron said.

Barron’s announcement came a day after Chu said she will file a complaint with the watchdog agency, the Fair Political Practices Commission.

“These were fictitious groups with names such as the Southern California Senior Citizens Alliance, the Republican Club of Monterey Park and Monterey Park Latino Assn., which all shared one post office box center,” said Chu. “Someone spent a lot of money trying to defeat me. And despite all the hate mailers, I won.”

Barron said he has already received a letter from the local Republican Party saying it had nothing to do with the “Republican Club” mailer.

One mailer from the Southern California Senior Citizens Alliance has a front page with a reproduction of $20 bills and the words: “We’ve had enough of Judy Chu’s financial scandals. It’s time for change.”

Inside, it encouraged voters to support Councilwoman Rita Valenzuela and candidate Margaret To. Chu, however, said she does not believe that Valenzuela, who was reelected, or To were connected to the mailer.