Aide Says Carmony Asked Him to Circulate Petitions

A former aide to Assemblyman Curt Pringle testified Wednesday that GOP campaign aide Rhonda Carmony asked him to circulate nominating petitions as part of a Republican scheme to place a spoiler Democratic candidate on the ballot in a crucial 1995 election.

Mark Denny, who has since pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation in the effort to circulate petitions on behalf of Democrat Laurie Campbell, said Carmony phoned him at the Pringle campaign office just hours before the candidate filing deadline and asked him to gather signatures for Campbell, whose name was placed on the ballot to splinter the Democratic vote during a November 1995 special election.

“She [Carmony] indicated they were working to put a candidate on the ballot and needed help in putting together the final signatures,” he said, adding that Carmony “didn’t believe they would have sufficient signatures and so she asked for my assistance.”

Carmony, 27, is charged in Superior Court with falsely making a nominating petition, falsely filing a nominating petition and conspiring to falsely file a nominating petition. She is the campaign director and fiancee of U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach).

Prosecutors allege that Carmony convinced other Republicans to gather Democratic voters’ signatures on Campbell’s nominating petitions, knowing they wouldn’t sign the petitions, as required by law. It is illegal to falsify nominating petitions or to file falsified ones.

The defense has said Carmony had at most a minimal role in the effort, which they say was orchestrated by Denny’s boss, Jeff Flint, then-chief of staff to Pringle.

Denny is the first witness to directly link Carmony to the effort to splinter the Democratic vote during the recall and replacement election for maverick Republican Doris Allen. Carmony listened intently and blinked repeatedly as Denny testified, while her mother, twin sister and grandmother sat a few feet away. An aunt stood in the back of the courtroom.

Denny, who was fined and sentenced to three years’ probation for his role in the Campbell affair, testified that he had no intention of signing the petitions he circulated in the west Garden Grove neighborhood.

“I knew it wouldn’t be a good thing for an employee of Curt Pringle to circulate petitions for a Democrat,” he testified, adding that “it would be embarrassing in the election” if the public learned that he and Pringle were behind this.

Denny said he and former Allen recall campaign manager Jeff Gibson gathered signatures for an hour, then went to the registrar’s office shortly before the 5 p.m. filing deadline. There they met in the parking lot with Campbell, Carmony and Richard Martin, another GOP aide, who brought with him other Campbell petitions.

Gibson joined Carmony in Campbell’s car, Denny testified. There, Campbell signed all eight of the petitions circulated by the Republican aides, then went in and filed to run for the 67th Assembly District seat.

The defense maintains that Carmony watched that process, which was directed by Gibson and orchestrated by Flint, and believes Denny is lying.

Campbell, who is a key witness in the case, was given until next week to decide whether she will testify in the trial. Campbell, who has an agreement with prosecutors to testify in exchange for reduced charges, announced Tuesday that she is considering invoking her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination and not testify.

She asked Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno for a new attorney and Briseno assigned Gary M. Pohlson, who most recently represented former Assistant County Treasurer Matthew R. Raabe. Campbell could be charged with the same felonies as Carmony, Briseno said, and in addition could face separate charges for each of the eight petitions she falsely signed as circulator.

During Wednesday’s testimony, former employees of what once was the state’s most powerful conservative political action committee described a flurry of phone calls to GOP leaders and activists in Orange County as the Sept. 21 filing deadline approached.

Catherine Rayner, the field representative for California Independent Business PAC, said she talked with Flint on Sept. 21 about what progress he was making in getting decoy Democrats for the ballot.

Rayner testified that Flint told her: “We are taking care of it. It is being done. Don’t worry about it.”

A memo prepared that day for the PAC’s eight members was read aloud. It identified Campbell as “ ‘our’ Democrat.” Rayner also testified that she first heard the name Laurie Campbell from Flint that day. “Flint told me about Laurie and said, ‘She is conservative. She is our gal, and we are taking care of it.’ ”