State Dismisses Complaint Against Common Sense Newsletter

The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission has dismissed a local resident’s complaint about a vocal, critical community group’s role in the last San Juan Capistrano City Council election.

During the height of the campaign, resident and attorney Edmond Connor filed a complaint with both the FPPC and the Orange County District Attorney’s office that claimed:

• The Capistrano Common Sense newsletter acted as a political action committee, or PAC
• A related website, which promoted Byrnes’ and McCarthy’s candidacies, also served as PAC but failed to register as a recipient committee to receive political donations
  

In a letter sent to Capistrano Common Sense on July 10, an official with the FPPC, which prosecutes violations of election law, wrote that “after a full investigation, the enforcement division found insufficient evidence to warrant prosecution.”

The state official, Neal Bucknell, said the case has been closed.

A spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s office is looking into the status of the DA’s office investigation and promised to get back to Patch.

In a press release, Editor Kim Lefner called Connor’s claim that the Capistrano Common Sense newsletter is a PAC “ludicrous.”

“The CCS is well known as a community watchdog publication, as evidenced by our reporting on a wide variety of community-related issues over the past 3 1/2 years,” she said.