Carmony Prosecutor Offers Phone Logs Involving Baugh Aides

SANTA ANA — Two members of the campaign staff for then-assembly candidate Scott Baugh contacted each other by telephone while one of them sat in a car outside the registrar’s office with decoy Democrat Laurie Campbell just minutes before she signed up to run in a crucial 1995 election, according to testimony and documents used in court Friday.

The documents, including phone records, were introduced by prosecutors in the Superior Court case of GOP aide Rhonda Carmony, who is on trial for allegedly falsifying nominating papers to place Campbell on the ballot.

The documents show that cellular phones being used by Baugh campaign manager Todd Nugent and campaign worker Richard Martin exchanged numbers via pagers and then made brief contact shortly before the 5 p.m. filing deadline. Moments later, Nugent’s cell phone was used to call Baugh’s home.

Baugh and his lawyer did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Shown the phone records, Nugent testified: “I don’t recall phoning Scott Baugh,” but conceded he might have done it because “I was going to his house” that evening.

The judge has cautioned both sides that the phone records do not indicate conversations took place.

Carmony, 27, has pleaded not guilty to three felonies, including falsifying nominating petitions. She is the campaign director and fiancee of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach).

Prosecutors allege that Carmony persuaded other Republican aides, including Martin, to illegally gather Democratic voters’ signatures in Campbell’s name. While it is not against the law to recruit a decoy candidate, it is illegal to falsify nominating petitions.

Carmony was allegedly acting at the behest of Republican strategists who believed a second Democrat on the ballot would improve a Republican’s chances in the election.

Baugh also faces trial in connection with the 1995 campaign. Baugh has pleaded not guilty to charges including allegations he failed to report a $1,000 contribution from Campbell to conceal their close relationship.

Nugent, who currently works for Baugh, was an extremely testy witness. Before testifying, he was dressed down by Judge Francisco P. Briseno, who told Nugent he could testify or spend the weekend in the Orange County Jail.

“The county offers at that location free food, free lodging, some form of entertainment and a great deal of company,” Briseno said. “If you don’t do what I just told you, I plan to change your clothing, give you a yellow outfit and give you free transportation over there.”

Nugent fenced repeatedly with Assistant Dist. Atty. Brent Romney and defense lawyer Creighton Laz. Numerous times he even refused to acknowledge statements he had made in sworn testimony to the grand jury in December 1995.

Nugent also testified Friday that Baugh did not talk to him in the days before the deadline about the Campbell candidacy or request to be told if Campbell got on the ballot.

Shown the phone records that indicate he made a call to Baugh’s home, he claimed no recollection of virtually any of the two dozen calls apparently made to or by him in the days before the candidate deadline, saying over and over: “I don’t recall.”

One thing Nugent did remember was being at the Baugh/Rohrabacher campaign headquarters a day or two before the deadline when Carmony was on a speaker phone with Dave Gilliard, campaign consultant to Baugh.

“I recall hearing Dave Gilliard say, ‘Laurie Campbell, I don’t care who she is, get her on the ballot,’ ” Nugent testified, adding he did not remember if Carmony replied.