Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2013 • State investigates anonymous recall mailer

Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2013, edition of the Lassen County Times.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission confirmed it is investigating a political mailer showing voters how to vote for challenger Tom Hammond in the Lassen County Supervisorial District 5 recall election to be held Tuesday, Sept. 10.

The anonymous mailer may violate the commission’s rules because there is no return address and no disclaimer as to the source of the mailer or who paid for it.

Hammond said he was aware of the mailer, but he didn’t want to comment until after he had an opportunity to talk with the commission.

“If there was an error, and that’s yet to be ascertained, it was an honest error,” Hammond said. “There was no intent to do anything wrong, that’s for sure. It’s not going to distract me from the election process.”

Hammond serves on the Lassen Community College Board of Trustees — a position he said he would resign if he is elected to the board of supervisors — and as a member of the Plumas Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative board of directors.

Gary Winuk, Chief of the Enforcement Division at the commission, confirmed the state agency was investigating the anonymous mailer, but he said he couldn’t offer any comment on an open investigation.

“I can’t say anything about that specifically, but in general it’s very important the public knows who is behind campaign activities and mailers,” Winuck said. “One of our central purposes is to make sure the public has that information.”

Citizen’s concern sparks investigation
Lassen County Counsel Rhetta Vander Ploeg said a resident brought the mailer to her attention and asked her to look into it. She said she referred the matter to the commission, the state agency that oversees political practices by politicians in the state.

Vander Ploeg said she did not know if the mailer violated any fair political practices rules — the state agency would make that determination — but she asked for an investigation into the mailer in order to address the resident’s concerns.

The mailer, based on a copy of the sample ballot from the Lassen County Clerk’s Office, directs voters to cast “two votes” — one to mark yes to recall Jack Hanson and a second to vote for Hammond.

The mailer may confuse some voters because it is a photocopy of the sample recall ballot the county mailed to District 5 voters, and it offers instructions to voters with the appropriate ovals already marked to cast a vote for Hammond. The photocopy includes the notation “official ballot.”

How to cast your vote
Lassen County Clerk Julie Bustamante said voters who do not want to recall incumbent District 5 Supervisor Jack Hanson should mark the no oval in response to the first question on the ballot: “Shall Jack Hanson be recalled (removed) from the office of board of supervisors, 5th district?” That’s all they have to do.

Voters who wish to recall Hanson should mark the yes oval to the recall question, and then vote for Hammond, the only candidate on the ballot.

Bustamante said no candidates filed to be write-in candidates by the filing deadline, so there are no write in candidates in this recall election. She said that option was included on the ballots because they were printed prior to the deadline for write-in candidates.

Even though the Sept. 10 recall election is still more than two weeks away, the Lassen County Clerk’s Office is already receiving vote-by-mail ballots in the mail for the recall election.

Fair political practices rules
According to the commission’s website,  “Under (the) California’s Political Reform Act, committees must put ‘paid for by’ disclaimers on campaign advertising, including campaign mailers, radio and television ads, telephone robocalls and electronic media ads.

According to the commission’s website, “A mass mailing — over 200 substantially similar pieces of mail —  must include on the outside of the envelope: “Paid for by” and the name and address of the candidate or committee sending the mailing.  The name and address must be in no less than 6-point type and in a color or print which contrasts with the background so that it is easily read.”

A copy of the mailer obtained by the newspaper contained no such announcement, and it was not placed inside an envelope. The mailer was an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of paper roughly folded in thirds. The front of the mailer included only an address label and a postage mark from a postage meter.

The inside of the mailer — a copy of the sample ballot — also did not reveal its source.

Winuk said he had no idea when the commission might complete its investigation — only one of thousands it conducts each year.

Incumbent District 5 Supervisor Jack Hanson declined to comment for this story.