Griset Sent 5 Improper Mailings, Panel Says : Politics: Allegations of campaign impropriety are upheld by a state commission. The Santa Ana councilman faces a possible fine.

By LILY ENG

March 22, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SANTA ANA — The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission on Wednesday accused Councilman Daniel E. Griset of making five improper campaign mailings during his 1988 reelection bid.

The complaint accuses Griset and two of his campaign committees of “negligently or purposely” violating the state’s Political Reform Act by failing to properly identify the source of the mailings.

According to the act, “the name of a candidate and his or her (campaign) committee must appear in at least six-point (-high) type on the outside of each piece of a mass mailing.”

Griset faces a possible fine of up to $10,000.

Dana Reed, an attorney for Griset, said he will challenge the constitutionality of the reform act requirements on grounds that the government cannot prohibit anonymous political statements under the First Amendment.

Griset declined to comment.

Councilman Richards L. Norton, who lost to incumbent Griset in the 1988 campaign before winning a council seat last year, said he had asked the FPPC to investigate the mailings.

“Maybe he will learn a political lesson from this,” Norton said Wednesday. “Now, I believe the political system really works.”

Griset will have to answer the charges before a state administrative law judge, who will then make a recommendation to the FPPC on the merits of the case. The commission will make the final determination in the case at a later date, FPPC spokeswoman Sandra Michioku said.

In one of the mailings in question, the Griset Campaign Committee allegedly sent more than 200 letters in the name of the Washington Square Neighborhood Assn. that attacked the police union’s endorsement of Norton. The letter did not identify Griset as a candidate or the name of the committee, the complaint read.

In four other mailings, the committees either failed to properly identify itself or name Griset as the candidate, the complaint read. The mailings criticized Norton.

One mailing, entitled “Meet the Real Rick Norton,” identified Griset’s Santa Ana Progress Committee as the sender, but failed to identify Griset as the candidate, the complaint said. Inside, the mailer read: “Rick Norton’s record on crime is criminal.”

Another mailer, identified as the “Beware-of-Tricksters” mailer, showed a photograph of Norton on a pumpkin that was beside two carved pumpkins. It read: “You see many masks on Halloween. Don’t take everything at face value.” The Progress Committee was identified as the sender, but Griset was not identified as the candidate, according to the complaint.

This is the second FPPC accusation against a Santa Ana politician this month. On March 5, the FPPC filed an accusation of improper mass mailings against former councilman Wilson B. Hart, who lost to Norton in 1989.