D.A.: Orange County Assessor Faked Signatures to Get on Ballot

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Originally posted at 4:56 p.m. Sept. 9, 2014. Edited with new details.

Orange County Assessor Webster Guillory was charged today with filing false nomination papers in his re-election bid.

Guillory, 70, of Newport Beach, is due to be arraigned Friday on three felony counts, Senior Deputy District Attorney Brock Zimmon said. He is expected to be released on his own recognizance.

On March 7, the deadline for filing nomination papers for the primary, Guillory gathered signatures on two petitions while an associate gathered and collected three full pages of 10 signatures each, Zimmon said.

Guillory signed his name on two of the petitions collected by his associate -- falsely claiming he had collected and witnessed the signatures -- and allegedly asked another colleague to sign a third petition falsely, Zimmon said.

Guillory’s attorney, John Barnett, said his client did not knowingly file any petitions with false statements.

“The circumstances surrounding the filing will clearly show there was no knowing filing of an inaccurate document,” Barnett said. “It’s just that simple, really. He didn’t file a document knowing it had any errors on it.”

Guillory is scheduled to face Claude Parrish, a former chairman of the state Board of Equalization, in a November runoff election.

Guillory faces up to four years and four months in jail if convicted, according to Zimmon.

Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach said Guillory rushed to gather signatures because he had planned to retire, but no one surfaced to challenge Parrish, who Moorlach characterized as “quirky.” Guillory was pressured by various civic and business leaders to run for another term, Moorlach said.

“So he’s convinced to re-run two days before the filing period, so he does the drill and then runs around getting signatures,” Moorlach said.

Moorlach criticized the prosecution of Guillory.

“Is this the kind of stuff we should be going after?” Moorlach said.

“I just see a guy who’s very, very professional who’s done a great job as assessor. This is no way for someone who contributed to the community to come to the close of his career. It’s kind of a clerical thing. It’s not like he took public funds and it’s not like he benefited personally.”

In July, Orange County Supervisors approved an ordinance prohibiting elected leaders from gathering election petition signatures from county employees on county property during office hours. Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who spearheaded the legislation, said the investigation of Guillory partly inspired the ordinance.

--City News Service

PHOTO Patch file photo.