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The June 3 election is still more than a month away, but the recall campaign for state Sen. Jeff Denham already has swelled into a firestorm.

This week, supporters and opponents of the Atwater Republican traded barbs about using state resources to support their campaigns.

On Thursday, Friends of Denham campaign manager John Franklin filed a criminal complaint with the state Attorney General’s office, accusing Sen. President Pro Tem Don Perata of coercing other senators into campaigning against Denham. He also alleged that Perata, D-Oakland, had illegally requested that a state Senate translator convert anti-Denham messages into Spanish for the campaign.

Meanwhile, Denham recall campaign organizers accused Denham’s campaign of knowingly sending e-mails to state staffers’ accounts to solicit campaign help.

They also said campaign-related articles had been posted on Denham’s office’s Web site and then later removed.

Denham recall campaign spokesman Paul Hefner admitted that the recall campaign had “made a couple of minor mistakes.” However, he said staffers had been honest about them, while Denham’s supporters were covering their tracks.

“It’s about as hypocritical as you could possibly get,” Hefner said of the criminal complaints.

Hefner criticized Denham supporters for an April 16 e-mail sent by Franklin that solicited support.

“It goes without saying that the stakes in this e-mail are high,” Franklin wrote in the e-mail. “This recall is not just aimed at Jeff Denham but at each and every member of our caucus in the Senate and Assembly. If this recall succeeds, there will be others. Please volunteer to do your part.”

The message was preceded by the words “DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE FROM A GOVERNMENT ACCOUNT.”

Hefner described the message as a cover-up attempt. He also accused Denham staffers of illegally placing news releases regarding the recall campaign on his Web site and later removing them, saying his campaign had electronic documents as proof.

However, Friends of Denham campaign spokesman Kevin Spillane aimed to draw a sharp line between Denham’s campaign activities and those of recall supporters.

“There’s no comparison,” Spillane said. “They’re trying to blur the lines.”

While Franklin merely asked fellow Republicans for support, he said Perata demanded it. He cited an April 17 letter to certain Democratic state senators, saying the senator’s chief of staff had been a “no show” at a previous campaign event. The senators’ names were removed in the formal complaint.

The letter asked chiefs of staff to contact Perata Capitol staffer Shandra Chaudry by e-mail.

“This is not an optional activity,” the e-mail said.

Spillane said by contrast that some of the Denham campaign’s e-mails may have inadvertently been sent to state e-mail accounts, but said the disclaimer against replying with state e-mail accounts aimed to avoid illegalities. He contended it was not illegal to receive campaign information on state e-mail accounts, only to send it. He said the news releases placed on Denham’s Web site were early on in the campaign and they were all in public domain and available for use.

In addition to the complaint about Perata’s letter, Denham’s campaign cited an incident in which Polka Consulting, a public relations firm used by Perata, asked a state Senate translator Fortuna Clark to translate a script for a phone advocacy campaign into Spanish. The requests included statements about Denham spending time in Sedona and Las Vegas while the Senate was in session, voting against the state budget and misleading the public about raising his wages.

A Denham staffer found out about the request after the translator mistakenly thought the e-mail had come from the Denham campaign and said it would be illegal to do the job.

In addition to filing criminal complaints with the attorney general’s office, Franklin said he forwarded them on to the FBI, in case they could be used in an ongoing financial corruption probe, Denham supporters said.

Both Hefner and Spillane described their opposing campaigns as using smokescreen tactics.

Hefner said Perata’s letter to senators only aimed to ask that their chiefs of staff contact Chaudry and did not make any more demands. Hefner compared the request to use the translator with the Denham campaign’s use of state resources when Franklin sent e-mails to government e-mail addresses.

Regardless of how the attorney general’s office sees the Denham campaign’s case, there are likely to be plenty more accusations flying between now and the June 3 recall election.

Hefner promised the Denham Recall campaign would make plenty more announcements in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Denham opened a campaign office in Modesto on Friday night to celebrate the official kickoff of his campaign to defend his Senate seat.

It all forebodes a lot more political activity in the coming weeks — and likely more mudslinging, too.
“People call this the silly season, I suppose, for a reason,” Hefner said.

To reach Jonathan Partridge at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it