Fresno City Attorney launches probe into City Council campaign mailers, issues subpoena

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- With some Fresno voters already at the polls, an investigation is now underway into a campaign mailer.

"The focus of this investigation is whether any entities or persons violated the Political Reform Act and/or Fresno municipal code sections governing our local campaign finance laws," Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz said.

The probe comes just days after the mailer arrived at homes throughout City Council District Five.

"Fresno Future Forward" is printed on the mailer as paying for it, and the mailer states City Council candidate Brandon Vang is "disgusting" and "engaged in alleged statutory rape."

Vang has forcefully pushed back, calling the allegations "completely false and deeply hurtful."

Janz's investigation will be limited in scope.

"Let me be clear: my investigation is only about the enforcement of campaign finance laws," he said. "It is not my role as City Attorney to evaluate the merits and contents of the mailer itself."

Local campaign finance laws require anybody who spends more than $1,000 on political communication to file with the city. Janz says it never happened.

"I checked with the city clerk this (Monday) morning, and no such disclosures have been made by the named organization," he said.

Janz said his primary goal is compliance and the investigation is a civil matter, limiting any penalties to a possible fine.

"What evidence do you have that this campaign, that this group, actually went above that $1,000 threshold?" Action News asked.

"We have good information based on our initial investigation already that these mailers were sent out to hundreds of residents in the area," Janz said.

He is now searching for the sender and issuing a subpoena to the mailer's return address, which is the location of a UPS Store.

Owner Lisa Murray tells Action News she has no record of "Fresno Future Forward" and says she has never done business with the group.

She said the mailers were not sent from her store.

Murray confirmed that she plans to comply with the subpoena.

"If that doesn't reveal anything, we're going to talk about maybe looking at the folks that printed the documents," Janz said of the subpoena.

With polls closing in eight days, the City Attorney must move quickly. He said voters have a right to know who sent the mailers, and he hopes to have an answer in less than a week.

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