Venezia: Water district candidate improperly used city seal

On Oct. 14, Newport Beach resident Gary Wykidal, an attorney, sent a letter to Orange County District Atty. Tony Rackauckas and Newport Beach City Atty. Aaron Harp.

The letter complained that Orange County Water District candidate Leslie Daigle, a Newport councilwoman, improperly used the city seal in her political mail.

“Ms. Daigle used the seal of the city of Newport Beach in a mass email communication to support her election to the Orange County Water District,” Wykidal wrote. “In a blatant campaign effort, Ms. Daigle (intended) to [give] the impression that the communication was an official city email.”

He goes on to say that because she used the seal, listed her return address as City Hall, her City Hall phone number, included a contact link to her council member website, and a photo taken from the city’s official website, this constitutes a possible violation of city ordinances and the state election code.

Wykidal cited California Government Code 34501.5, which states that “any person who uses or allows to be used a reproduction or facsimile of the seal of the city in any campaign literature or mass mailing with intent to deceive voters is guilty of a misdemeanor.”

The Political Reform Act requires that a mass mailing — electronic or otherwise — include the candidate’s name or name of the candidate’s committee with the words “paid for by and street address.”

Wykidal goes on to quote Newport’s Municipal Code 1.16.050, which says no one can use the official seal or reproduction of it “without the express consent of the City Council.”

In the spirit of full disclosure, I ran against Daigle in 2006 for City Council and then decided to drop out of the race — a decision I’ve never regretted. And like most politicians I have written about over the years, the best way to describe my relationship with them, and I guess Daigle, too, is “frenemies.”

With that being said, I still have a job to do, so I emailed Daigle asking for a comment about Wykidal’s letter.

“I stand by the email,” she wrote. “OCWD is in turmoil because its board has chosen to stray off course into giving sole-source contracts for power-plant development near residential instead of focusing on clean water supply during the drought.”

I was a bit surprised by her response, since she didn’t address any of Wykidal’s accusations.”

But a few hours later, I received several emails from her with links to the council campaign websites of Newport Beach Mayor Rush Hill and candidate Mike Toerge. Both men have photos of themselves in front of the city seal. I can only assume it was Daigle’s way of justifying her use of the seal.

Hill tells me the photo was taken in front of the old City Hall and was the same one he used in his 2010 campaign, which no one questioned.

Harp told me he spoke to Daigle about the matter and “determined that any use of the city seal was unintentional and inadvertent.”

He said Daigle assured him her campaign won’t use it or city contact information again, and he has closed this matter.

The next day, Harp sent Hill a memo regarding his use of the seal.

“Multiple candidates are using pictures taken in public places that have the city seal in the background,” Harp wrote. “The municipal code provisions related to the city seal, and use thereof, contain some ambiguity as to whether the municipal code prohibits the use of the city seal in campaign materials when the picture of the city seal is taken in a public place. Also, it appears the past practice of the city is to allow this use of the city seal in this manner.”

He suggested to Hill that the council look at this issue after the election.

Until then, Harp wrote, he will not be enforcing the municipal code provision related to the city seal, provided the use thereof is based on a picture taken in a public place.

I’m not surprised, as Harp has to continue to work with Daigle and Hill. Public relations-wise, it wouldn’t be prudent for the city attorney to go after the mayor and a councilwoman. Traditionally, these people don’t eat their own.

So how does Daigle’s opponent in this race, incumbent water board member Steve Sheldon, feel?

“Ms. Daigle violated the voters’ trust,” he said. “Against city ordinance and state law, she used the city seal in her negative campaign attack emails to deceive voters that the email came from the city to bolster the credulity of her defamatory message.”

Yikes!

Sounds like this race is getting nasty as it comes down to the wire.

BARBARA VENEZIA, whose column appears Fridays, lives in Newport Beach. She can be reached at bvontv1@gmail.com.