O.C. Assessor Pleads Not Guilty to Falsifying Nominating Papers

Orange County Assessor Webster Guillory pleaded not guilty today to charges of filing false nomination papers in his re-election bid in the March primary election.

A preliminary hearing on the charges against Guillory was scheduled for 20 days after the Nov. 4 general election.

Guillory, 70, of Newport Beach, faces three felony counts alleging he filed false nomination papers in his re-election bid in the March primary election. He faces up to four years and four months behind bars if convicted.

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, Senior Deputy District Attorney Brock 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 alleged.

Guillory’s attorney, John Barnett, previously 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 will face Claude Parrish, a former chairman of the state Board of Equalization, in the November general election.

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.

--City News Service

PHOTO Webster Guillory