No Charges Filed Over Campaign Brochure

The city attorney’s office has ruled that three deputy district attorneys did not violate election laws when their signatures appeared under a campaign fund-raising letter that was distributed to other prosecutors.

The three prosecutors’ signatures appeared under a letter dated Sept. 15, 1998, asking deputy district attorneys to attend a fund-raiser for Rep. James Rogan (R-Glendale). The three are Albert MacKenzie, who is president of the Assn. of Deputy District Attorneys; James Bozajian, secretary and former president of the association; and Walter Lewis.

State law makes it illegal for employees of a government agency to solicit political contributions from other employees.

In January, Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti’s office asked the state attorney general to review the matter to determine if campaign laws were violated. The attorney general referred it to the city attorney’s office.

Chuck Goldenberg, senior assistant city attorney, said he decided not to prosecute because the Rogan campaign organization wrote and distributed the letter. He said that because campaign officials used exemplars of the prosecutors’ signatures to affix to the letter, there was no evidence that the three men saw the final draft that contained the paragraphs asking for money.

“There was no evidence that they intended to break the law,” he said.

MacKenzie, whose association has frequently been at odds with Garcetti, said the district attorney never should have lodged the charges because no one filed a complaint about the letter. He called Garcetti’s action an “abuse of power.”

Sandi Gibbons, Garcetti’s representative, said the district attorney did not ask for prosecution. She said the office submitted the letter to the attorney general for review because of the appearance that it may have been a violation of the law.

“We just wanted them to review it,” she said. “They did. They made a decision. As far as I’m concerned, the case is closed.”