Steel pleads guilty to misdemeanor

Deepa Bharath

A year and a half after the district attorney’s office charged

Chris Steel with felony perjury, the Costa Mesa councilman pleaded

guilty Friday to one misdemeanor charge of submitting false election

nomination papers.

Steel, who won a landslide victory in 2000, will retain his

council seat because the law requires that only convicted felons be

removed from office. Superior Court Judge Carla Singer placed him on

informal probation that ended once he paid about $1,100 in fines,

Steel attorney Ron Cordova said.

The Orange County district attorney charged Steel with two felony

charges on May 16, 2001. He was accused of allowing resident Richard

Noack to sign his wife’s name on nomination papers during the 2000

election.

He was also accused of signing for resident Alice Billioux during

the 1998 election. Billioux was legally blind at the time and has

since passed away.

Steel was charged with perjury for signing the Declaration of the

Circulator stating the signatures were genuine -- in both cases.

Steel faced up to three years and eight months in prison, as well

as losing his council seat, if convicted of those charges.

But the district attorney reduced both felony charges to

misdemeanors, and Singer later dismissed the charge relating to the

2000 election, Cordova said.

Another Superior Court judge tossed out that charge in July 2001

in a civil lawsuit brought by resident Michael Szkaradek, who has

appealed the decision.

Steel could not be reached for comment Friday, but Cordova said

his client felt “totally exonerated.”

“When Chris submitted those nomination papers, he thought he was

doing the right thing,” he said, referring to the 1998 charge. “We’re

not saying a violation did not occur. It did occur and he has taken

full responsibility for that.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff Winter could not be reached for comment.

Cordova said the felony charges were not warranted because Steel’s

actions “were not egregious enough to be deemed a felony.”

“There is a difference between an innocent mistake and a

deliberate violation of the law,” he said.

The district attorney made Steel several offers to plead guilty to

two misdemeanor charges, but the councilman continually refused to

accept them.

This, however, is not the end of the road for Steel. Szkaradek

said Friday that he intends to continue with his appeal despite the

outcome of the criminal trial. The appeal is scheduled to be heard in

March, he said.

“The idea of going through with the appeal is that Steel should

have never gotten on the council in the first place because of the

false nomination papers,” Szkaradek said. “For me, it’s a matter of

principle.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@ latimes.com.