Redondo Bans Distribution of Blank City Stationery : Government: Restriction comes after Mayor Brad Parton’s former campaign manager writes his own letter of reference bearing Parton’s signature. The convicted child molester was trying to influence court before sentencing.

The Redondo Beach City Council adopted a new policy this week that prohibits the distribution of blank city stationery to any person or group.

The policy comes in response to revelations that Mayor Brad Parton provided city letterhead to his former campaign manager Timothy M. Carey, 35, a convicted child molester who used the stationery to write himself a character reference above Parton’s signature.

The letter, dated April 23, 1992, and sent to a Long Beach Superior Court judge, was included in a packet of pre-sentencing materials seeking leniency for Carey, who had pleaded no contest to three counts of committing lewd acts with a child. He was sentenced to 180 days in county jail and five years of probation.

The new stationery policy, adopted 4 to 0, was spearheaded by Councilman Robert Pinzler, who said at a council meeting Tuesday that he wanted to ensure that the city’s elected officials “don’t get into embarrassing situations . . . such as we have in the recent past.

“I think there would have been a red flag . . . had a policy like this been in place,” Pinzler said.

Parton supported the new policy, saying he has become much more cautious about what he signs.

“Believe it or not, I don’t have a problem with that at all,” Parton said.

Parton said he did not know the nature of Carey’s legal troubles when he agreed to write a reference letter. When Carey complained that the letter was too general, Parton said he provided him with blank city stationery and told him to draft a new one himself. Parton, however, denied he gave Carey permission to sign his name to the letter, but has stopped short of labeling his signature a forgery.

Addressed to Superior Court Judge Arthur Jean Jr., the letter describes Carey as a “hard-working, responsible citizen” and urges Jean to “take that into consideration when you decide this case.”

*

Jean referred to Parton’s letter, along with recommendation letters from other politicians, as evidence that Carey did not deserve a prison term for his offense.

Other elected officials who provided character references for Carey include Lawndale City Councilman Norm Lagerquist, who has since been censured by the City Council for using city stationery for personal business.

Unlike Parton, Lagerquist says he knew about the charges pending against Carey when he agreed to write the letter for him.

Lagerquist, who said he wrote the letter out of concern that his former political consultant was facing an unreasonably long prison sentence for his offense, is now being targeted in a recall effort.