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March 25, 2010· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

DA to look into Mayor Dude allegations

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has agreed to look into Bruce McFarland’s allegations that “Santa Clarita mayor Frank Ferry misused public funds to pay for a “Mayor Dude” ad campaign” in 2009.

The letter from DA Steve Cooley says a Deputy DA named Max Huntsman has been assigned the case for a “preliminary review.”

Click for larger

An interesting development to be sure, but does it mean anything ahead of the City Council election? My thoughts:

  • It may be too late to affect the outcome, especially since most votes are mail-in ballots
  • The letter is oddly worded in that it characterizes McFarland’s allegation that “Mayor Frank Ferry misused public funds.” Not sure if that’s accurate. Our system of local government isn’t set up that way, a Mayor is simply a councilmember and they have no executive authority
  • The letter only says a “preliminary review” is warranted. It is not at the stage of “criminal investigation.” This may just be a routine response. Or it may not. No idea (any attorneys in the house?)

You can read McFarland’s allegations over at the West Ranch Beacon.

Still, it can’t be welcome news for Frank Ferry. We’ll stay on top of this!

PS: Final thought…how perfect is it that the Deputy DA works in Public Integrity Division and has a name like Max Huntsman?

Comments (19)

  1. RockyMarch 25, 2010 at 3:41 pm
    Councilmember Frank Ferry seems to attract Fair Political Practices complaints almost every election cycle. Since he is a graduate of law school and a long-time politician, one would think he would pay more attention to the law. One would think. But no, Mr. Ferry appears to think it’s OK to violate election and fair practice laws, and apologize later. Oops! So sorry! This time around, it looks like city funds (taxpayer money) was used in clear violation of the law. In this, it looks like not just Mr. Ferry but City staff may have violated the law. Who’s running the shop down there at City Hall? Apparently they are getting pretty complacent and comfortable down there. Between this kind of thing and the many lawsuits that the City loses, are the legal eagles in our local government paying attention? It is time to shake up the status quo and get some new blood on the City Council. I am happy that the District Attorney is looking into this. NO VOTES FOR INCUMBENTS! (pass it on!)
  2. cashMarch 26, 2010 at 8:40 am
    If only someone with more cred’s had filed the complaint and not our own Barney Frank!
  3. navigatorMarch 26, 2010 at 8:48 am
    Unfortunately he’s the only one who had the cajones to file. Actually that’s quite not true. He didn’t have them, he’s just that wacko.
  4. mikeMarch 25, 2010 at 4:05 pm
    As best I can tell, the violation will turn of whether an ad in a “magazine” counts as a mailer. Considering that the Rag of SCV isn’t really a magazine, but a mass mailer, it may be a violation. But who’s the violator? Is it MayorDude, the City, the whole council?
  5. Linda StaedtlerMarch 25, 2010 at 4:43 pm
    Didn’t the City also do a big ad campaign with Cameron Smyth about Milk and Cookies with the Mayor when he was on the Council? Seems to be along the same lines as the Mayor Dude promotions. I dont know if this type of promotion is illegal or not but maybe staff at the City is unaware and is causing the City to be open to complaints and lawsuits auch as this one.
  6. mikecMarch 25, 2010 at 4:54 pm
    You would have to think that before they went ahead with the “Mayor Dude” campaign, someone signed off on it as okay, and that person is going to have to do some explaining to the DA’s office. I remember not to long ago, the Lancaster City Council violated the Brown Act (open meeting). There city attorney stood stedfast in his view that the council didn’t violate the Brown Act and the DA’s office determined that they did.
  7. Drive66March 25, 2010 at 5:04 pm
    Just being “Mayor Dude” seems like a bigger offense.
  8. SCV VoterMarch 25, 2010 at 6:40 pm
    Clearly this is an attempt by the Johnny Pride Camp to retaliate for the trumped up charges that resulted in his brief jailing and subsequent release. I’m sure Bruce McFarland is out there somewhere right now doing a “victory lap” because after all these years of pulling stuff out of his backside he has finally got someone to acknowledge his sad existence via a courtesy form letter response. Way to go Bruce now go get yourself a massage, it’s the only happy ending you’ll get.
  9. PubliusMarch 26, 2010 at 2:02 am
    Ditto!!
  10. Mark LandersMarch 25, 2010 at 6:52 pm
    There has been some strange election-related activities going on in SC, some of which are not even known yet. This is not be a place in which I would want to have anything to do with politics.
  11. CCMarch 25, 2010 at 8:37 pm
    There was also a campaign for Coffee with Kellar. It seems to me that if there is a violation here, then it is the City attorney that should be fired.
  12. SCVgrlMarch 26, 2010 at 4:58 am
    What I want to know is, who’s idea was that hometown trolley ???
  13. BrianMarch 26, 2010 at 6:47 am
    Doesn’t that trolley seem to have Marcia’s name on it? Her and Gail seem to be the type.
  14. Scott ErvinMarch 26, 2010 at 5:09 am
    Once again, use of the term “Dude,” by an amateur could prove to be disastrous. You don’t tug on Superman’s cape. You don’t spit into the wind. You don’t pull the mask off the ol Lone Ranger, and you don’t mess around with Jim…er…uh…”Dude!”
  15. navigatorMarch 26, 2010 at 8:13 am
    As of yesterday afternoon about 1000 vote-by-mail ballots had arrived at City Hall. Another 5000 and the election is over. Right Tim?
  16. Saugus SplasherMarch 26, 2010 at 9:40 am
    Bruce McFarland’s standard operating procedure is to make baseless or sensationalized accusations immediately before a election. Here is how it works, you can do this yourself in 2 years: 1. Write a governmental agency (fair political practices commission, district attorney, etc) with a allegation about non-compliance with some trivially obscure legal technicality. 2. Publicize your filing of the complaint through all media outlets. 3. The governmental agency replies that the allegation will be reviewed (as they do with all allegations, whether valid or not, because that is their job). 4. The Signal, SCVTalk, West Ranch Beacon, etc., run stories under banner headlines stating a local official facing reelection is being “investigated”. These media outlets eat it up knowing the synthetic controversy will sell papers and increase hits, but not caring that the alleged offense is trivial. 5. The accused local government official is forced to defend themselves against unproven trivial accusations. They are tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. The outcome of the “review” or “investigation” is unimportant as the purpose of the accusation was not to find the truth but instead to attempt to impact the outcome of a local election. 6. Wash, rinse, repeat.
  17. Spineflower2March 26, 2010 at 12:27 pm
    Better than having to respond to (totally falsified) Signal articles about (totally non-existent) hit mailers, though.
  18. AnnetteMarch 26, 2010 at 8:15 pm
    I wonder “if” TMS has read the FPPC filing and another big “if” they will cover the story since they endorsed the incumbents?
  19. Rick LottMarch 27, 2010 at 10:36 pm
    Another example of the city council using tax dollars to promote a candidate is the “Thank you Buck” banners they put up all over town. Thanking him for his Cemex bill that never passed, and that he authors year after year after year.

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