Rancho Santa Margarita mayor accepts plea deal in false affidavit election case
More than a week after Rancho Santa Margarita Mayor Carol Gamble suspended her reelection campaign, she has admitted guilt in falsifying nomination paperwork but won’t face any jail time.
The Orange County district attorney’s office announced on Wednesday that Gamble will be charged with a misdemeanor violation of election law for claiming to have personally gathered signatures to qualify on the Nov. 5 ballot when, in fact, she did not.
“Voters must have total confidence that every election is being carried out in a fair and unbiased manner,” Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer said. “Interference in the electoral process in any manner and at any stage jeopardizes the will of the people being carried out while eroding the trust of voters that their vote counts.”
Rancho Santa Margarita Mayor Carol Gamble is no longer seeking reelection after admitting she attested to an inaccurate statement on nomination papers. Critics alleged she committed a felony.
In exchange for her admission of guilt, Gamble will not face a felony perjury charge.
She will be sentenced to one year of probation, 160 hours of community service and will have to submit her DNA to authorities.
Shawn Gordon, a longtime Rancho Santa Margarita resident and local government watchdog, first alerted authorities about allegations of perjury against Gamble back in August.
He deemed the terms of Gamble’s plea deal too lenient, especially when compared to a similar case in Fullerton, where Scott Markowitz, a first-time city council candidate, was initially charged with a pair a felonies, including perjury, and was sentenced to a day in jail, a year of probation and 160 hours of community services after entering a guilty plea for a lessor misdemeanor charge at his arraignment.
“She has been in politics for 25 years,” Gordon said. “She knows better and should have gotten jail time. The punishment should be far more severe than for Markowitz.”
Gamble has served on Rancho Santa Margarita’s City Council for 16 of the past 20 years, including four terms as mayor.
The D.A. stated that Gamble, under the penalty of perjury, attested on Aug. 7 to having circulated and witnessed signatures on her nomination papers in seeking a return to council.
But investigators interviewed numerous voters who signed them and stated that Gamble neither circulated the nomination papers nor witnessed their signatures.
Prior to taking a plea deal, Gamble released a statement on Oct. 20 calling her attestation an “error” that wasn’t caught in time to correct and pledged to resign from office if elected, as printed ballots already list her as a District 3 City Council candidate.
But the D.A. claimed that Gamble is ineligible to hold office and a special election would have to take place should Rancho Santa Margarita voters elect her.
As part of the plea deal, Gamble would pay restitution for the cost of a special election, if necessary.
Keri Lynn Baert, the sole candidate running against Gamble in District 3, thanked the D.A. for investigating the matter but isn’t taking Tuesday’s election for granted.
“It’s very important for voters to be able to trust the election process,” she said. “I’m still going to talk to voters because the issues are important. I want to win a majority of votes and not have to run again in a special election.”
Gamble is expected to appear in court on Friday to enter her guilty plea.
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With just days before the Nov. 5 election, Gordon has, again, alerted authorities to another alleged perjury case. He submitted a complaint to the district attorney claiming that Rancho Santa Margarita Councilman Tony Beall attested to signatures he did not circulate or witness for his mayoral campaign.
“Anyone who suggests that I did not personally gather and witness my nomination signatures is lying and exposing themselves to damages for libel and slander,” Beall said when reached by phone on Friday. “I personally gathered and witnessed every single signature.”
When asked, a D.A. spokeswoman stated that the office does not confirm investigations.
Updates
2:23 p.m. Nov. 1, 2024: Updated with comment from Rancho Santa Margarita Councilman Tony Beall
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