Mission Viejo Recall Committee Supporters Receive FPPC Warning Letters

The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) has issued warning letters (here) to two supporters of the 2010 Recall campaign targeting former Mayor Lance MacLean. The letters indicate reporting violations regarding the failure to file timely and accurate expenditure information by the campaign, and the failure of a major donor to file required disclosures.

In the case of the Citizens to Recall Lance MacLean commitee, Eugene Tyler was issued a warning. The Commission found that Tyler, and the committee, had “failed to timely disclose the street addresses for paid signature gatherers and failed to maintain required records” as required by law.” Tyler got off with a warning because the committee did eventually file its required reports and had no prior enforcement actions.

In a separate letter, the Commission issued a violation warning to Connie Lee, a major contributor to the campaign, for failure to file the required reporting disclosure as a major contributor to the campaign. Lee contributed $12,053 to the effort and was required to file a Major Contributor Report and did not do so. Any individual who contributes more than $10,000 to campaign must file a disclosure report. The Commission found the Lee still must file the required form, but closed the matter based upon her cooperation with the investigation and the lack of previous enforcement actions.

Both parties were warned that “failure to comply with the provisions of the Act in the future will result in monetary penalties of up to $5,000 for each violation.”

Mission Viejo Patch reported on the matter and got  an interesting response from Connie Lee regarding the warnings from the Commission.

“Today was a good day for the recall group,” she said. She said the FPPC’s findings meant that the charges brought against the group were not substantial.

Clearly she doesn’t understand the significance of the warning she received. The matter was not unsubstantial. If that were the case, she would not have received a warning.

2 Comments

  1. Thanks for picking up this story, Chris. Lee didn’t bother to file the Major Donor Form until after the story ran in the Mission Viejo Patch. From her actions and her statement it’s pretty clear this group believes they are above the law.

    One of their “masterminds” is Larry Gilbert who is one of the OJ’s more defamatory writers. Now Larry is running Cathy “I hate incumbents” Schlicht’s reelection campaign in Mission Viejo and one has to wonder which laws they’ll break this time around.

  2. It is sad that this group had to resort to illegal activities in order to recall a council member. They have been trying to run the city for years, and they will stop at nothing to get a voice on the council. If they had not cheated and broken the law, I wonder if Lance MacLean would still be on the Council?

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