Craven Will Press for Law Making Campaign Forgery a Crime

SACRAMENTO —  A day after the dismissal of felony charges against an Orange County legislator for forging former President Ronald Reagan’s name on campaign literature, Sen. William A. Craven (R-Oceanside) vowed to introduce legislation making similar political tactics illegal.

Craven said Wednesday he was “nonplussed” by an appeals court ruling that threw out felony forgery charges against Assemblyman John R. Lewis (R-Orange) because he didn’t intend to defraud anyone of money or property, although he allegedly affixed the phony Reagan signature on a political smear piece more than three years ago.

“It seems to me to be an absolute gross violation to do what was done,” said Craven. “It just seems that to do things like that and not be subject to prosecution, in my judgment, is wrong.

“There shouldn’t be an opportunity with impunity to falsify things in such an overt . . . manner as such has been done,” he said. “I know people play a little loose with the truth, but this goes way beyond that as far as I’m concerned.”

The felony charges were brought by the attorney general’s office against Lewis for allegedly ordering Reagan’s signature affixed to letters, sent on behalf of Republican candidates in six 1986 Assembly campaigns, although he knew that the White House had declined to give its permission for use of the President’s name.

Lewis’ attorneys, however, argued that, even if Lewis forged the names, felony charges could not be sustained in court because no one was defrauded of money or property--a necessary ingredient required by the law.

On Tuesday, the 3rd District Court of Appeal agreed with that technical assertion, although it said that Lewis was “guilty of misconduct which impinges on the public’s interest in the integrity of its governmental institutions” if the charges were true. But, since the state’s Election Code is silent on the subject of forgery, the three-judge panel ordered charges against the Orange County legislator dismissed.

Lewis and his supporters hailed the decision as a vindication, and they accused Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp of trying to use the forgery charges as a way to bolster his image as a corruption fighter during the early stages of the 1990 gubernatorial campaign.

A spokesman for Van de Kamp said Wednesday that the attorney general has yet to decide whether he will appeal Tuesday’s ruling to the state Supreme Court.

But Craven and Assemblyman Trice Harvey (R-Bakersfield) said Wednesday that they want to join forces and push legislation to change the state elections code and make forgery on campaign materials a felony. Van de Kamp’s spokesman said the attorney general will help draft the proposed legislation.

“I was shocked to see that California forgery statutes don’t apply to political letters,” said Harvey, adding that he will introduce the proposed legislation in the Assembly concurrently with Craven’s measure in the Senate.

Craven said Wednesday that he feels so strongly about the legislation that he is planning a press conference with Van de Kamp next week to plug for the proposed law, which has yet to be written in final form.

Assemblyman Richard E. Floyd (D-Carson), one of the targets of the 1986 letters, said he has tried unsuccessfully to get a similar law passed in the Legislature. The letter bearing the phony Reagan signature accused Floyd of “caving in to the powerful underworld drug industry.”

“I tried to run such a bill right after this thing happened, and I didn’t get very far with it,” Floyd said Wednesday. “I guess legislators don’t want to be responsible for anything.

But now the Court of Appeal ruling may persuade his reluctant colleagues to back such a bill, he said.

“Now they (legislators) see the real evil in this thing,” Floyd said. “Here’s a guy who is being congratulated by some of his right-wing colleagues for beating the dealer. . . . He’s a criminal. He knows it and we all know it.”

Lewis did not return a telephone call to his office.