Former Tustin Councilmember Letitia Clark is sending mail to voters falsely claiming to be the the mayor of Tustin – in what appears to be a clear violation of state election law.
Clark, who was termed off the Tustin City Council in 2024, is running against Mayor Austin Lumbard, who is seeking re-election to a second four-year term. Lumbard is Tustin’s first directly-elected mayor; prior to 2022, the councilmembers were elected at-large and appointed one of themselves mayor on a rotational basis.
Yet, Clark is claiming to Tustin voters in big, bold letters that she is the Mayor of Tustin.
It isn’t just a one off. The untrue claim is the basis and central theme of her campaign. Clark’s campaign mailers, website, videos: all of them present her to voters as “Mayor Letitia Clark”:
At the end of the campaign video on he website, Clark calls herself the Mayor and admits she had approved this making this false claim:
The problem for Clark is that, according to the plain language of California Elections Code 18350, what she and her campaign are doing is a misdemeanor:
By any reasonable reading, by sending mail to voters telling them she is “Mayor Letitia Clark” qualifies as Clark assuming, pretending or implying that she is “the incumbent of a public office when that is not the case” and that “she is or has been acting in the capacity of a public officer when that is not the case.”
This is pretty cut-and-dried.
Ironically, Clark is calling on Lumbard to condemn an independent expenditure attack on her – with which she admits Lumbard has nothing to do – because she says the IE is “spreading misinformation” about her.
In other words, Clark wants to her opponent – the actual mayor of Tustin – to condemn a mailer he doesn’t control for “spreading misinformation” while herself spreading misinformation to voters that she is the mayor of Tustin.
Clark was was the mayor – for one year in 2021 after being appointed to the post on a rotational basis by the city council.
That makes her a former mayor of Tustin. As in, not currently the mayor – as she is claiming to Tustin voters.
Clark – whose day job is Chief Communications Officer for the South Orange County Community College District – has an uphill climb. Defeating an incumbent is difficult – especially in safe, high-quality-of-life communities like Tustin where resident are generally satisfied with how things are.
Clark could refer to herself as a former mayor – just as her campaign website identifies Becky Gomez as a former mayor pro tem as an endorser.
Instead, Clark is audaciously attempting to mislead Tustin voters into thinking she is the incumbent mayor seeking re-election.
OC Independent has reached out to Clark and her campaign consultant, Mosaic Public Affairs and Campaigns, asking why they are telling Tustin voters that Clark is mayor when she isn’t. We’ll update this story when and if we receive a response.
