Hoffman’s Use of Tommy Trojan Logo Angers USC

Republican congressional candidate Randy Hoffman has run afoul of Tommy Trojan.

Officials from the University of Southern California ripped into Hoffman, a 1976 USC graduate, for misusing the Tommy Trojan logo in a campaign mailer recently sent to university alumni.

The two-page mailer, paid for by the Hoffman campaign, was sent from “USC Alumni for a Stronger America,” based in Thousand Oaks and signed by four Hoffman supporters. The letter urged alumni to support “a fellow Trojan for Congress.”

The letterhead sported an image of USC mascot Tommy Trojan and was printed in cardinal and gold, the school colors.

“It’s incredible what they did. It was totally wrong,” said Jane G. Pisano, USC senior vice president of external relations, who said misuse of the logo for political purposes has never occurred before. “The university never endorses candidates for political office, and would never authorize the use of the Tommy Trojan logo for this purpose.”

USC received “a lot” of calls from angry alumni wanting to know why the university was endorsing a political candidate, Pisano said. University officials not only demanded that Hoffman stop sending the mailer, but insisted he contact all those who received the letter and explain that USC has not endorsed him.

Pisano said the campaign may also have violated copyright laws if it picked voters’ names and addresses out of the USC alumni directory. But that is still undetermined, she said.

“The letter was merely a group of alumni informing other USC alumni of their support for Randy and made no such inference” of USC’s endorsement, said Todd Slosek, Hoffman’s campaign manager. “Nonetheless, we will comply with USC’s request.”

Slosek said he did not know how many letters were sent or if the USC alumni directory was used, since the material was mailed independently by members of the USC Alumni for a Stronger America.

The four co-chairs named in the letter--Joseph G. Frake, Arthur R. Hemm, Lauren Rush and Willard S. Snyder--could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Hoffman is running for the 24th Congressional District, which stretches from Sherman Oaks to Thousand Oaks, and is trying to unseat incumbent Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks).

Peter Loge, Sherman’s campaign manager, said the mailer showed Hoffman “is desperate, and willing to do anything to get elected.”

Sherman is a graduate of UCLA.