Use of City Letterhead for Endorsement Draws Fire

Simi Valley City Councilwoman Barbra Williamson’s endorsement of district attorney candidate Ron Bamieh on city letterhead looked pretty official.

But the phone number for City Hall was one digit off. The city’s Web site wasn’t quite right. And a disclaimer in small print at the bottom of the mailer explained that the letter was paid for by the Bamieh campaign.

The other four council members--all of whom support Greg Totten, Bamieh’s opponent in the county race--said this week that Williamson had no business implying that the city supported one political candidate over another.

Williamson said the erroneous telephone number and Web site were caused by a printer’s equipment improperly scanning the letterhead. Bamieh’s campaign people proofread the text of her endorsement but not the details of the letterhead.

This is the second time the Bamieh campaign has blamed a printer for erroneous information. Last week, the candidate blamed a printing mix-up for a slate mailer claiming that the 36-year-old Bamieh had 12 years’ experience as a judge and 21 years’ experience as an attorney.

The latest brouhaha has put Williamson and Bamieh in the hot seat just days before the March 5 election.

At a meeting this week, the City Council voted to order a staff study to determine if a new ethics code is needed to avoid such problems in the future.

“We have to make it very clear that city government is apolitical,” Councilman Paul Miller said.

It has also brought chaos to the quiet home of a Jehovah’s Witness whose telephone number appears on the stationery.

The woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she was caught off guard by a barrage of phone calls condemning the endorsement letter.

She isn’t even registered to vote. “It’s against my religion,” she said. “Jesus is the ruler of God’s kingdom.”

Williamson has apologized to the woman for the inconvenience, paying her $300 for her trouble and picking up her most recent phone bill at a cost of $22.65.

But she said she won’t apologize to her colleagues or to voters, because she didn’t do anything wrong. As of now, she points out, there is no policy that prohibits using private money to promote a candidate on a council member’s city stationery.

In fact, Williamson said, Mayor Bill Davis did just that two years ago when he drew up a letter on paper with the city logo supporting state Assemblyman Keith Richman (R-Northridge). That wasn’t a scandal because the other council members supported Richman, she said.

Davis said Tuesday he probably would not use the city logo again in an endorsement letter. At the same time, he said his letter did not imply a city endorsement because it did not contain the city’s address or telephone number.

“This mock moral outrage, it’s silly,” Bamieh said Tuesday. “We’re seven days away and I think what upsets them the most is that this network of old-time politicians is about to lose an election.” Totten has the overwhelming support of elected officials throughout the county, including retiring Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury.

Williamson said she won’t support Totten “just because the good ol’ boy club says this is the guy. They’re entitled to be upset, I guess. But when they start saying what I did was unethical, I take exception with that.”