No Impropriety Seen in D.A. Fund-Raising

Superior Court Judge Anthony Rackauckas Jr. did nothing wrong earlier this year when he sent two fund-raising invitations for his district attorney’s race to members of the district attorney’s office, Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren’s office has ruled.

Dist. Atty. Mike Capizzi’s office referred an anonymous complaint to Lungren’s office in March charging that some workers felt pressured to give money to Rackauckas’ campaign. Capizzi is stepping down to run for attorney general; Rackauckas and Assistant Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade are vying to replace him.

Supervising Deputy Atty. Gen. Pamela Ratner told Maurice Evans, the chief assistant district attorney, by letter that the solicitations were legal under state law. She said that officeholders and candidates are allowed to solicit money from employees they may end up supervising as long as it is part of a larger solicitation to “a significant segment of the public.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) has asked Lungren’s office to investigate Wade’s relationship with his campaign consultant, Michael Farber, who was involved last year with a group under investigation by the district attorney’s office.

Rohrabacher, who supports Rackauckas, asked that the investigation be reopened and expanded to include Farber, who rented an office from Hermandad Mexicana Nacional for his political mailing business.

Wade said there is nothing improper about his campaign arrangement with Farber, who was not a target of the criminal investigation.

“This is just his idea of politics, I guess,” Wade said.

Farber, a former Democratic congressional candidate, joined forces in 1996 in a voter-participation drive with Hermandad, a Latino rights organization investigated for registering Latino immigrants to vote before they were sworn in as citizens. A grand jury declined to issue indictments, and no charges were filed.

Senior Assistant Atty. Gen. Gary Schons, whose office reviews complaints involving Orange County, said Monday that he hadn’t received Rohrabacher’s letter. Farber couldn’t be reached for comment.