FROM:
Stephen Gibbons, Assistant District Attorney
CONTACT PERSON:
Julius Finkelstein, Supervising Deputy District Attorney
(408) 792-2744
For release on October 12, 2005
DA FILES ENFORCEMENT ACTION IN CONNECTION WITH MASS MAILING SENT IN 2002 CITY OF SANTA CLARA ELECTIONS
On October 12, 2005, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office filed a civil complaint against Christopher Stampolis in the Santa Clara County Superior Court. The complaint alleges that on October 31, 2002, Stampolis, a resident of the City of Santa Clara, sent a mass mailing to Santa Clara voters urging voters to support or oppose a total of four or more candidates on the November 2002 Santa Clara County ballot. Although the mailing was printed to look like a newspaper, it did not qualify under the Political Reform Act as a regularly published newspaper of general circulation and therefore was a slate mailer. Under the Political Reform Act slate mailer, organizations are required to file a statement of organization and semi-annual campaign statements. According to the complaint, Stampolis failed to file the required disclosures as required by the Act. An express purpose of the Act is to ensure that contributions and expenditures affecting election campaigns are fully and truthfully disclosed to the public, so that voters may be better informed, and so that improper practices may be inhibited. The complaint seeks ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in civil penalties and an injunction ordering Stampolis to make the required disclosures.
A case management conference has been set for February 21, 2006, at 4:00 p.m. in Department 15 before the Honorable William Martin.
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