Attorney cries foul in PAC donation linked to smear campaign in sheriff's race.

The Assistant Public Defender for Monterey County defended a donation he made to the group behind a smear campaign against incumbent Sheriff Scott Miller, saying he made the donation as a private citizen and believed it would go toward helping a defense attorney running for judge.

Don Landis Jr. was named by his professional title as a donor in campaign disclosure forms posted online June 11 by the San Benito County Elections Department. It's in that county that the shady organization calling itself Californians for Law and Order registered as a general-purpose committee—colloquially known as a PAC—in March.

The PAC's most recent campaign filings were made six weeks late and are still incomplete. 

But that filing shows Landis donated $250 and the Monterey County Public Defenders Association donated $2,500 to Californians for Law and Order, providing the organization's seed money. It first registered as a PAC in mid-May, two months after those initial donations were made.

Landis tells the Weekly he donated funds because he was told they would go for phone banking and precinct walking to benefit defense attorney Andrew Liu in the race for Monterey County Superior Court Judicial Office No. 3. That race pitted Liu, a former prosecutor turned defense attorney, against Deputy District Attorney Steven Somers. 

Landis says the funds were solicited by Christopher Marohn, a political operative and Monterey College of Law School graduate who's worked in the public defender's office.

Landis also says it was his belief, one instilled by Marohn, that his name wouldn't be made public in connection with the donation.

"I, as a private citizen and along with the association, wanted to weigh in on the narrative in the judicial race between Mr. Somers and Mr. Liu. That's why we gave the donations to the PAC," Landis says. "We just assumed that's what the PAC was doing with the money.

"We don't know anyone involved with the PAC. I don't know who these guys are, none of us have ever heard about them," he says. "All we know is Chris Marohn. We gave him the money and we just assumed he was telling the truth." 

But Californians for Law and Order spent $7,570 on a smear campaign against Miller, including TV and radio ads and a four-page glossy mailer titled "Sordid Associations" that outlined the legal troubles faced by Miller's son Jacob, who is currently serving a jail sentence for violating probation and a series of drug offenses.

Marohn, in addition to working on the campaigns of judicial candidate Heidi Whilden and county Board of Supervisor candidate John Phillips, did field work for both the Somers' and Liu campaigns, without the knowledge of either candidate. He also managed the campaign of former Sheriff's Cmdr. Mike Richards, whom Miller fired, in the sheriff's race. Richards came in third.

"We were told the PAC would lend help in getting the message out between Liu and Somers," Landis says. "We assumed that would happen. There's no crystal ball though."

Marohn, meanwhile, admits he launched the PAC (after initially denying he knew who was involved) to help back Liu in the judicial race. He claims the PAC was co-opted and taken over by a Republican operative from San Luis Obispo County.

Listed as the principal officer of the PAC, though, is Omar Perez, who along with Marohn is an elected member of the Monterey County Democratic Central Committee. Both are also founding members of The Liberty Initiative, a young professionals group involved in social justice causes.

The Liberty Initiative's website was active earlier in the week, showing pictures of Marohn, Perez and other members at various activities. As of Thursday afternoon, though, the website had been taken down.

A phone number listed on the PAC's disclosure forms, meanwhile, was traced back to fellow Liberty Initiative founder Daniel McCormick, who ran phone banking for Steve Somers' campaign, and is a former member of the Monterey County Democratic Central Committee. McCormick says the phone was one he purchased for campaign workers to use in election calls, and it went missing from his office sometime in the past few months.

Landis says he hopes that another round of campaign finance filings will reveal the PAC used money as he believed it would.

"I feel like a victim three times over on this situation," he says. "We hope there is a correct filing to say what they did."

Meanwhile, Liu says he never received backing from the association, and finds the connection to the Law and Order PAC troubling. 

"My campaign never sought help from this PAC, nor would we have," Liu says. "I find the tactics used by this PAC in the sheriff's race to be extremely troubling."

While the results of the Somers and Liu race have yet to be certified, Liu is currently ahead by a healthy margin, 53.6 percent to Somers' 46.3 percent, and Somers has conceded the election. 

Scott Miller will face Sheriff's Deputy Steve Bernal in the November general election. Heidi Whilden won her race. And as of Thursday afternoon, only 47 votes separated John Phillips from winning the election outright and avoiding a primary with Ed Mitchell for District 2 county supervisor.

The PAC has until June 30 to file updated financial disclosure forms.