Judge Rules Pringle Mailer Not Misleading

A Superior Court judge ruled Monday that nothing was improper in campaign literature distributed by state Assembly candidate Curt Pringle and lifted a restraining order issued last week that required him to stop sending out the mailers.

Christian F. (Rick) Thierbach, the Democratic opponent in the 72nd Assembly District race, had filed a lawsuit Thursday charging that Pringle, a Republican, had been illegally impersonating an elected official by distributing campaign literature that implied he was an incumbent.

Thierbach’s campaign officials said Pringle was misleading voters by implying that he had replaced late Assemblyman Richard E. Longshore (R-Santa Ana), who died one day after winning the GOP primary last June for the Assembly race.

Orange County Commissioner Eleanor M. Palk on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order Thursday and set a hearing on a injunction later this week.

The hearing was moved up to Monday after Pringle’s attorneys argued that the case should be resolved immediately, according to Pringle campaign officials. After hearing arguments from both sides, Superior Court Judge William F. Rylaarsdam ruled that statements in Pringle’s literature, when taken in context, do not imply that he is an incumbent, said Dave Gilliard, a consultant for the Pringle campaign.

“The restraining order said that we couldn’t distribute anything that implied that Curt Pringle was an incumbent,” said Gilliard. “We said he never had implied that. We were up in the air about what we could and could not do, and we needed to have that clarified.”

Representatives of Thierbach’s campaign could not be reached for comment Monday night.

One Pringle campaign brochure in September offered the candidate’s help to residents in the Assembly district, who have not been represented since Longshore’s death. Pringle hired a former member of Longshore’s office staff to handle the calls.

Pringle has filed a separate lawsuit which charges that state Democratic officials were improperly using taxpayers’ money to help Thierbach’s campaign. A hearing on that suit is scheduled for Thursday in Superior Court, Gilliard said.

That suit stems from a letter sent to voters last month by Assemblyman Tom Bane (D-Tarzana), chairman of the Assembly Rules Committee, warning of “fraudulent attempts” by Pringle to act as Longshore’s surrogate in providing constituent services.

Bane said his letter cost about $10,000 in Assembly funds. But Pringle claims in his suit that the letter cost $20,000 and that it should be repaid to the state. The suit also says Thierbach should be required to declare the funds used to send the letter as a contribution to his Assembly campaign.