Simon a Major Customer of COPS Group

The gubernatorial campaign of Bill Simon Jr. has paid at least $444,000 to organizations closely tied to the group that falsely accused Gov. Gray Davis of illegal fund-raising, state records show.

The payments--a relatively large sum for a campaign barely able to sustain television advertising--reflect the high value that Simon has placed on support of the group COPS, the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs.

The payments also illustrate the lucrative consulting business that is an integral part of the COPS political operation.

Simon is the latest in a long line of politicians to trumpet a COPS endorsement, making use of the acronym to appear tough on crime.

But the political fiasco that Simon stepped into by repeating COPS’ allegation against Davis has raised new questions about a group already dogged by controversy.

COPS is a relatively small organization of public safety officers, but has gained outsized clout in California politics. A mainstay of its operation is an offshoot that collects money from candidates in return for featuring their names and photographs in mailings to voters. The practice has led to accusations that the group’s endorsement is for sale.

“They’re mercenaries,” said Dan Schnur, who was Gov. Pete Wilson’s spokesman in 1994 when COPS broke with other law enforcement groups and endorsed Democratic challenger Kathleen Brown over Wilson, who had made his name as a tough-on-crime Republican.

Kelley M. Moran, COPS’ political affairs director, denied that the group sells endorsements. The group interviews candidates about their stands on law enforcement before offering its support, he said. Those who win endorsements, he said, are offered the chance to buy a spot on COPS’ mailings to voters.

“We’re looking for people who support local law enforcement and public safety,” Moran said.

The group endorses both Republicans and Democrats. It endorsed Davis for years as he campaigned for a succession for state offices--most recently in the March Democratic gubernatorial primary--before breaking with the incumbent. Davis campaign strategists said the breach occurred after they refused to pay for a spot on the group’s mailer to voters.

The group then turned to Simon, but his entanglement with COPS has led to a major embarrassment for the Republican nominee.

On Monday, COPS called on the state Fair Political Practices Commission to investigate its charge that Davis accepted a $10,000 campaign donation in his state Capitol office in 1998 when he was lieutenant governor. That would have constituted a misdemeanor.

On Tuesday, the group held a news conference where it released two photographs purporting to show Davis accepting the check in his Capitol office.

But on Wednesday, COPS released a statement saying: “It now appears that our original belief was erroneous.” COPS withdrew its request for an investigation, but it did not apologize to Davis.

“We regret the impact this erroneous information has had on the Simon campaign and on the distraction of their message to the voters of California,” the statement said. “We also apologize for questioning the character of our former executive director.”

The former executive director, Al Angele, was shown handing Davis the check in the photograph, apparently taken at a private home in Santa Monica. Since Monday, Angele had angrily denied the allegation that he was party to a crime.

Before this week, Simon had treated the COPS endorsement as a major coup. He toured the state with COPS leaders in June when the group announced its endorsement. COPS is one of the few law enforcement groups that has endorsed Simon. Davis, a pro-death penalty Democrat, has snagged the vast majority.

Simon’s ties to COPS are spread among three groups which have one thing in common: Moran. The first, COPS, is the nonprofit advocacy group that endorsed Simon; Moran is its political director. The second is COPS Voter Guide, owned by Moran. The third is Moran & Associates, his consulting firm.

Over the next few weeks, COPS Voter Guide plans to feature Simon as the prominent candidate in a mailing to a million California households. To get that billing--and a similar display on a mailing during the GOP primary--Simon’s campaign has paid $300,000 to COPS Voter Guide, according to finance reports filed with the secretary of state.

The Simon campaign has also made $144,952 in payments for consulting and other services to Moran & Associates. Jeff Flint, a senior Simon advisor, said the payments were for Moran’s firm “to advise the campaign on obtaining additional law enforcement endorsements” and to set up a program to urge public safety officers to vote for Simon.

When it was founded in 1975, COPS had a board of directors that included officers from big and mid-size city police departments, including Compton, Long Beach, Cathedral City and San Francisco. Its original goal was to be an umbrella labor organization for local police officer associations. It is best known now for its political operations, but says it also provides officer training in labor relations, legal defense, anti-terrorism tactics and other areas for its estimated 5,000 members.

Nathan Barankin, spokesman for Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, said the group was the target of complaints two years ago alleging that telemarketers doing its fund-raising used “misleading and threatening” tactics, including suggesting to people that their 911 service could be terminated if they failed to donate.

Barankin said the Department of Justice did not pursue charges because the group agreed to fire its telemarketer and because the case would have been difficult to prove.

Clancy Faria, president of the rival Peace Officers Research Assn. of California, called COPS a “fringe law enforcement organization that has a great name and very little substance.”

“This exposes them for what they are,” Faria said. “If it wasn’t for that name, they would have dried up and blown away a long time ago. They have a product they’re selling, and it’s that name.”

The group’s secretary of state filings show that candidates continue to pay thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars to appear on the slate mailers, which are sent primarily to Republican voters perceived to be conservative on law-and-order issues.

Political consultants like gaining a place for their candidates in the mailer, largely because of the COPS name.

“Compare the name ‘COPS’ and the name ‘PORAC,’ ” said Democratic consultant Darry Sragow, referring to the police union organization that has roughly 50,000 members--10 times the size of COPS. “COPS will look much better in your mail.”

COPS’ slate mailer is particularly attractive to candidates for judge and sheriff. Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, for one, has appeared on the COPS slate, paying the group $10,000. This fall’s slate will include several Democrats running for statewide office, including Atty. Gen. Lockyer.

Consultants said they doubt they will seek to have their candidates removed from the slate card.

“We’ve already made our payment and will be appearing on that slate,” said Greg Larson, manager of Steve Westly’s candidacy for state controller.

Westly paid $75,000 to be included on COPS’ primary slate and $17,000 for the general election mailer. Lockyer spokesman Barankin said some slate operations are “above board.” But he added: “It is an industry populated with many colorful if not shady characters. This perhaps just adds to the lore.”