GOP Aide Loses Bid to Get Charges Dismissed

In a setback for the defense, a Superior Court judge rejected a motion Tuesday to dismiss election fraud charges against GOP political aide Rhonda J. Carmony.

After more than three days of testimony and argument, Judge Kazaharu Makino ruled against the dismissal motion for lack of evidence.

The judge is expected to rule on a second defense motion today that would disqualify Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi from prosecuting the case and replace him with the state attorney general.

Carmony, former campaign manager for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) and now his fiancee, is charged with three felonies for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to put a decoy Democratic candidate on the ballot in a 1995 recall election by using candidate petitions that were improperly and fraudulently certified.

The charges against Carmony arose out of the election victory of Republican Scott Baugh of Huntington Beach, who succeeded former Assembly Speaker Doris Allen in the 67th Assembly District seat.

Baugh, too, faces felony charges for allegedly falsifying campaign contribution reports, in part to conceal his association with the decoy candidate.

Both Baugh, whose motion to disqualify Capizzi failed earlier this month, and Carmony have denied wrongdoing.

Carmony’s attorney has argued, as did Baugh’s to no avail, that Capizzi is prosecuting Carmony for her political association with Rohrabacher, and to enhance his own political image as he toys with the idea of running for state attorney general. The district attorney’s office has denied the allegation.

In ruling against the selective prosecution motion Tuesday, Makino said the defense did not show a connection between the district attorney’s prosecution of Carmony and any alleged animosity Capizzi may have for Rohrabacher.

“There’s been no singling out of Ms. Carmony, nor any discriminatory design in the handling of this case,” said Makino. “What, at best, has been shown is . . . that Mr. Capizzi and Mr. Rohrabacher don’t like each other.”