HUNTINGTON BEACH : Arnold to Complain About Police Seizure

Perennial City Council candidate George E. Arnold said Friday he plans to complain to the council next week, claiming police officers wrongfully seized nearly 70 T-shirts he was selling and cited him for not having a business license.

Arnold, 64, claims he is raising money for what would be his sixth attempt to win election to the City Council next year and doesn’t need a business license because he is engaging in a legitimate fund-raising activity.

Arnold said he filed election papers with the state Fair Political Practices Commission and with City Clerk Connie Brockway to establish a campaign committee July 23, two days before police cracked down on his sales operations in a downtown parking lot.

Brockway confirmed that Arnold filed papers with her office and had given her a copy of a form he said he mailed to the FPPC.

City Atty. Gail C. Hutton, who signed an order this week releasing the seized T-shirts back to Arnold, said her office is evaluating elements of the controversy.

“If Mr. Arnold is truly placing the funds received into the campaign’s bank account, a business license is not required,” she said in a report to city officials. “If Mr. Arnold can produce campaign-related evidence, and we are allowed to examine the evidence before trial, we will consider dismissing the charges. . . .”

Hutton said that Arnold was unable to show proper documentation when police cited him.

City Prosecutor William B. Sage said he believes that Arnold thinks he’s entitled to special treatment in refusing to take out a $97.50 business license.

“I’ve asked him to show me his records to prove the proceeds from the sales of T-shirts are being used on his campaign, but he has refused to do so,” Sage said Friday.

Arnold has had other run-ins with police over T-shirt sales. He was arrested in 1990 for failing to appear in court on a warrant alleging he was operating without a business license.

But Hutton had issued an opinion before the arrest that he didn’t need a license as long as he was a genuine council candidate.

However, the city failed to deactivate the warrant and Arnold was arrested and booked into jail, but was released a short time later.

Arnold attempted to capitalize on the incident, producing a T-shirt bearing the likeness of his face behind jail bars.

The statement printed on the T-shirt read, “George Arnold, for City Council, Your Man on the Inside.”

Arnold garnered 10,546 votes and finished eighth in a field of 14 candidates, his best showing in five unsuccessful City Council campaigns.

Arnold has been ordered to appear Sept. 3 in Municipal Court in Westminster on the latest charge.