Watchdog Group Finds Mailers Not Misleading

A Mailer by Los Angeles City Council candidate Wendy Greuel did not mislead voters about support received by her opponent, Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D- Panorama City), from a gambling interest, a campaign watchdog group concluded Friday.

Neither did Greuel mislead voters about her support by police officers, according to a report issued by the Campaign Watch Commission of the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles, a nonpartisan group of community leaders.

Cardenas had filed a complaint alleging that a Greuel mailer was inaccurate in stating that he received a $100,000 check from a “gambling casino” for his aborted secretary of state campaign committee and had not returned the check.

The assemblyman said the check was from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, not the casino operated on their tribal lands, and that he returned the money before the Greuel mailer was sent out.

The commission concluded: “The mailer’s use of the phrase ‘gambling casino,’ rather than naming a specific tribe as the contributor of campaign funds, does not appear to be a material misrep- resentation of fact or misleading statement.”

The panel also said it could not certify that Greuel knew Cardenas had returned the check when she sent out the mailer, but concluded that the timing seemed reasonable.