Opponent accuses Groveman of campaign violation

DISPUTE-Campaign photo of Barry Groveman at podium with Sierra Club logo. The Sierra Club has issued a "cease and desist" letter to Calabasas Councilmember Barry Groveman for using a campaign photograph that shows him at a podium with the club's logo.

All candidates in the race for the 41st Assembly District who sought the Sierra Club's endorsement signed a pledge giving the environmental group the right to control the use of its name.

Sierra Club Chairman Howard Strauss said the photograph, which appeared on one of Groveman's campaign fliers, misrepresented the Sierra Club's endorsement and called the depiction unethical. He said the pledge signed by Groveman specifies that only the candidate that the club endorses has the right to use its name and logo.

The environmental group earlier endorsed Kelly Hayes-Raitt of Santa Monica.

The photograph in question was taken at a 2005 rally against a corporation that is proposing a liquefied natural gas facility off the Ventura County coast.

Groveman said the rally was a public event and that the photo was used in the media and included in his brochure as part of an historical record.

"They should not put a symbol on a public podium at a news conference if they don't want it recorded as a historical record," Groveman said.

The caption on the photograph in question says, "Groveman joins Sierra Club in opposing LNG plant."

"The whole thing is completely false," Groveman said. "It's a politically motivated cheap stunt. I'm entitled to record history."

Hayes-Raitt said Groveman's use of the picture was not illegal, but unethical.

"Barry's a lawyer," HayesRaitt said. "He campaigns on the fact that he's written laws and knows how to comply with laws, so I think that it's disappointing that he would violate an agreement with an organization like the Sierra Club."

". . .I do not in any way imply the Sierra Club has endorsed me or is supporting me," Groveman said. "To the contrary, I point out that I joined them.

"(The complaint) was not vetted by the Sierra Club. It's just a handful of people," he said.

Groveman called the attack a "drive-by hit."

Oxnard attorney Carmen Ramirez, a member of the Sierra Club who organized the LNG rally, invited Groveman to speak at the event.

"I think (Barry) had the right to use the photo," she said. "It was a public event-not staged."

"This kind of politically motivated action does a great disservice to the noble mission of all the other members of the Sierra Club," Groveman said.

Groveman and Hayes-Raitt are two of five candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for the 41st District seat being vacated by Assemblymember Fran Pavley. Also running in the June 6 primary are two Republicans.