{"id":5130,"date":"2015-05-06T12:50:18","date_gmt":"2015-05-06T19:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/?p=5130"},"modified":"2015-06-28T13:01:30","modified_gmt":"2015-06-28T20:01:30","slug":"unanswered-questions-in-the-cover-up-following-the-manslaughters-hit-and-run-death-of-mallory-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=5130","title":{"rendered":"The Capps political dynasty ends. The unanswered questions in the DUI-manslaughter scandal that may have kept Laura out of Congress and spared Hillary&#8217;s campaign another ethics issue."},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"The%20Capps%20political%20dynasty%20ends.%20The%20unanswered%20questions%20in%20the%20DUI-manslaughter%20scandal%20that%20may%20have%20kept%20Laura%20out%20of%20Congress%20and%20spared%20Hillary%27s%20campaign%20another%20ethics%20issue.\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-03-at-4.58.12-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-6576\" title=\"Screen Shot 2015-05-03 at 4.58.12 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-03-at-4.58.12-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"475\" height=\"259\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-03-at-4.58.12-PM.png 475w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-03-at-4.58.12-PM-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 475px) 100vw, 475px\" \/><\/a>By Peter Lance \u00a9 May 6th, 2015. \u00a0<\/strong>All the pieces were in place. Laura Capps and political power broker husband Bill Burton had purchased a home in the 24th District. Bill recently relocated to the West Coast. Her mother Lois announced she was retiring after nine terms. Most of the local political pundits from <a title=\"Welsh Laura run\" href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.com\/news\/2012\/dec\/20\/jeff-bridges-pushes-food-program\/\"><strong>Nick Welsh<\/strong><\/a> to <a title=\"Jerry Roberts on Laura's possible run\" href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.com\/news\/2015\/mar\/19\/family-business\/\"><strong>Jerry Roberts<\/strong><\/a> had hinted that she would throw her hat in the ring.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in a surprise announcement Laura said no, citing the excuse many politicians use for bowing in and out of office: her personal life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve decided that now is not the right time for me, Bill and our four year-old-son, and\u00a0I will not be seeking election to Congress in 2016,\u201d Laura Capps said in a statement. \u201cI have great respect for members of Congress who have young families, and hope there will be more of them, but a cross-country commute would make it hard for me to be the mom I try to be every day.\u201d<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-03-at-4.59.18-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6577\" title=\"Screen Shot 2015-05-03 at 4.59.18 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-03-at-4.59.18-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"487\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-03-at-4.59.18-PM.png 487w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-03-at-4.59.18-PM-300x177.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 487px) 100vw, 487px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As recently as November 4th, facing the same duties of motherhood that she does now,<a title=\"Laura for mom\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ozy.com\/true-story\/election-day-for-mom-and-country\/36963\"><strong> Laura posted this homage to the political process<\/strong> <\/a>entitled &#8220;Election Day &#8211; For Mom and Country.&#8221; In it she described her mother&#8217;s first race for congress:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She won and has gone on to win eight more general elections and serve our district well. Today, once more after 20 years, her constituents will go to the polls to decide if she deserves another term. And as just as it\u2019s been for the past 20 years, I\u2019ll be by her side as we traverse the district, absorbed in the time warp of a day that for us is now a wonderfully nostalgic family tradition: Election Day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>So what happened to the family tradition?<\/p>\n<p><strong>WAS THERE ANOTHER REASON WHY LAURA PASSED?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On April 18th, the Santa Barbara Independent &#8212; an unofficial Capps house organ &#8212; announced that Laura Capps is &#8220;&#8216;Seriously&#8217; pondering a run for Congress&#8221; to replace her mother Lois who only the week before\u00a0<strong><a title=\"Capps retirement announcement\" href=\"http:\/\/atr.rollcall.com\/lois-capps-to-retire\/?dcz=\">announced <\/a><\/strong>she was retiring\u00a0after her current (9th) term<strong>.\u00a0<\/strong>Mrs. Capps made the surprise announcement in an official video posted by rollcall.com.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Indy Laura &quot;seriously&quot; considering run\" href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.com\/news\/2015\/apr\/14\/laura-capps-seriously-pondering-run-congress\/\"><strong>In the Indy&#8217;s online piece<\/strong> <\/a>attributed to the &#8220;Indy Staff,&#8221; Laura Capps was quoted as saying, &#8220;It&#8217;s a big life decision. It was important for me to give my mom the space and time her decision and announcement deserved. Now that she has, I am doing due diligence and will have a decision to share soon.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If she&#8217;d run Laura would have cemented a regional political dynasty that began when her father <a title=\"Walter Capps\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cappscenter.ucsb.edu\/walter-capps\/\"><strong>Walter H. Capps,<\/strong><\/a> a religion and ethics professor at UCSB was elected in 1996. After he died suddenly of a heart attack a year into his first term, his wife Lois, a former nurse, ran to succeed him, <a title=\"NY Times Capps 3 term pledge\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1998\/03\/10\/opinion\/editorial-observer-the-house-is-not-a-home-until-you-move-in.html\"><strong>promising before her election in 1998<\/strong> <\/a>that she would step down after three terms. But she continued getting re-elected and in November, narrowly won a ninth term in a hotly contested race.<\/p>\n<p>But Laura&#8217;s prospective race could not only have affected local politics, where two Democrats and two Republicans have already declared their candidacies, but with her links to the Clinton and Obama presidencies and a series of unanswered questions about a DUI-manslaughter case involving one of her mother&#8217;s former staffers, Laura&#8217;s campaign could have impacted Hillary Clinton&#8217;s run for the White House.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s because ethics was a hallmark of her father&#8217;s short political career. The think tank founded in his memory at UCSB is called <a title=\"Capps center\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cappscenter.ucsb.edu\"><strong>The Walter H. Capps Center for The Study of Ethics Religion and Public Life<\/strong>,<\/a>\u00a0and in her retirement announcement Mrs. Capps noted that after his election her husband was &#8220;guided by the principal of Thomas Jefferson to restore the bond of trust between the people and their government.&#8221; More importantly,<strong>\u00a0<a title=\"Linked in\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pub\/laura-capps\/86\/285\/7a8\">Laura Capps<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0enjoyed a pedigree unknown to most first-time congressional candidates and one of her top tier associations could effect the most important race in 2016.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DIRECT CONNECTIONS TO TWO PRESIDENTS<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nThe younger Capps is a former Clinton speechwriter and aide to then Senior White House Advisor <strong><a title=\"Steph ABC bio\" href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Author\/George_Stephanopoulos\">George Stephanopoulous<\/a>. <\/strong>In\u00a02007, as reported in <a title=\"Capps Burton wedding\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2007\/07\/15\/fashion\/weddings\/15VOWS.html?_r=1&amp;\"><strong>The New York Times,<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0she married Democratic strategist\u00a0<a title=\"Bill Burton\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bill_Burton_(political_consultant)\"><strong>Bill Burton<\/strong><\/a>. He went on to become Deputy Press Secretary for President Obama and left in 2012 to form <a title=\"Burton Open secrets\" href=\"http:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/revolving\/rev_summary.php?id=34043\"><strong>Priorities USA,<\/strong><\/a> the first significant pro-Obama super PAC.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-03-at-4.39.30-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-6738\" title=\"Screen Shot 2015-05-03 at 4.39.30 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-03-at-4.39.30-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"359\" height=\"311\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-03-at-4.39.30-PM.png 399w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-03-at-4.39.30-PM-300x260.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 359px) 100vw, 359px\" \/><\/a>The Capps family has long enjoyed a close relationship with the Clintons. Not only did sitting president Bill Clinton fly to Santa Barbara in 1996 to campaign for first time candidate Walter Capps, but in 1997 he spoke at <a title=\"Walter Capps tribute\" href=\"http:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?94869-1\/congressman-capps-tribute\"><strong>a congressional tribute<\/strong><\/a> to the late congressman, describing Laura as &#8220;part of our family.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But her association with the former First Family cuts both ways. At the time of the Monica Lewinsky scandal Laura was a White House intern. She was cited along with &#8220;Other White House Personnel&#8221; in Independent Counsel Ken Starr&#8217;s\u00a0<strong><a title=\"Starr Report personnel\" href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-srv\/politics\/special\/clinton\/icreport\/4names2.htm\">Report to the House<\/a>. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After the scandal broke Laura sided with the President. According to pages from the report published by<a title=\"NYT Starr Report\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/specials\/starr\/testimony\/lewinsky_28.pdf\"><strong> The NYT,<\/strong><\/a> Lewinsky told investigators that she believed &#8220;LAURA CAPPS told the press&#8221; a story that Lewinsky was &#8220;embarrassed that she saw STEPHANOPOULOS&#8221; at a nearby Starbucks.<\/p>\n<p>As for her congressional prospects, Burton had moved to Santa Barbara permanently from Washington where he was in a perfect position to call the shots in his wife&#8217;s campaign.\u00a0He&#8217;s now West Coast Managing Director of the progressive consulting firm <strong><a title=\"SKDNick on Bill Burton in Indy\" href=\"http:\/\/www.skdknick.com\/skdks-bill-burton-featured-in-santa-barbara-independent\/\">SKDKnickerbocker<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>where he&#8217;s<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>a sought-after political pundit. As recently as April 18th he was quoted on Mrs. Clinton&#8217;s campaign in a<a title=\"USA Today\" href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2016\/2015\/04\/14\/hillary-clinton-smaller-donations-presidential-campaign\/25776655\/\"> <strong>USA Today piece<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As for his former boss, immediately after her mother&#8217;s announcement,\u00a0Laura published a statement from President Obama on her<a title=\"Laura Capps Twitter feed\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/laurabcapps\/status\/585968694200643585\"><strong>\u00a0Twitter feed<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0citing Mrs. Capps &#8220;lasting legacy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If Laura had thrown her hat in the ring, however, Burton would have his work cut out for him. Not only was Mrs. Capps&#8217; victory last November her closest race in 16 years; but that ongoing scandal involving her former District Rep., <a title=\"Raymond\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3206\"><strong>Raymond Victor Morua<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0still haunts her.<\/p>\n<p>Until either Mrs. Capps or her daughter answered questions about the case, which resulted in Mr. Morua being sentenced to 20 years to life in state prison, Laura&#8217;s run would have been dogged by a number of unresolved criminal issues.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-08-at-4.44.37-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-6413\" title=\"Screen Shot 2015-04-08 at 4.44.37 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-08-at-4.44.37-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"466\" height=\"297\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-08-at-4.44.37-PM.png 466w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-08-at-4.44.37-PM-300x191.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>THE DUI MANSLAUGHTER HIT-AND-RUN DEATH OF MALLORY RAE DIES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>March 20th would have been the 29th birthday of the UCSB double major who was killed after being struck December 6th, 2013 by Mr. Morua, a decorated Iraq war veteran who was then <a title=\"Lois Capps Part Four\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3221\"><strong>Mrs. Capps&#8217;<\/strong> <\/a>District Representative<strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Following my five-part investigative series into that homicide,\u00a0<a title=\"Death On\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3153\"><strong>&#8220;Death on The American Riviera&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> published a year ago on this website, <a title=\"Julie\" href=\"http:\/\/members.calbar.ca.gov\/fal\/Member\/Detail\/155560\"><strong>Julie Zatz,<\/strong><\/a> the Assistant Chief of the Civil Division in the office of The U.S. Attorney for the Central District in Los Angeles, met secretly with a lawyer for the Dies family and agreed that the government would pay\u00a0<a title=\"Settlement News-Press\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/News_Press_settlement_bg_12_29_14.pdf\"><strong>$2.5 million<\/strong><\/a> to settle their wrongful death suit.<\/p>\n<p>That sub-rosa meeting took place on November 1st, three days before the congressional election, when Mrs. Capps was in a neck and neck race with GOP Challenger <strong><a title=\"mitchum\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mitchumlegal.com\">Chris Mitchum<\/a>. <\/strong>In\u00a0fact the margin between them had narrowed to the point where Mrs. Capps&#8217; campaign began running<a title=\"UK Mail on Deceptive Ads\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-2819893\/Robert-Mitchum-s-Congressional-candidate-son-calls-opponent-s-campaign-ads-deceptive-narrow-race-heads-finish.html\"><strong> a series of ads<\/strong><\/a> which effectively misquoted Mitchum by cutting him off in mid-sentence.<\/p>\n<p>The Capps campaign later pulled the ads, but Mitchum, who lost by less than 8,000 votes, has since<a title=\"Keyt on Mitchum suit\" href=\"http:\/\/www.keyt.com\/news\/challenger-files-lawsuit-against-rep-lois-capps\/31315326\"><strong> sued Mrs. Capps<\/strong> <\/a>alleging defamation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALLEGATIONS OF INACCURACY\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Previously in comments to\u00a0<strong><a title=\"Fox full of inaccuracies\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/2014\/06\/09\/fbi-doj-reportedly-probing-california-rep-ties-to-driver-in-dui-death\/\">FoxNews.Com<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong><a title=\"Indy full of inaccuracies\" href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.com\/news\/2014\/apr\/15\/morua-pleads-guilty-dui-and-fatal-hit-and-run-char\/\">The Santa Barbara Independent<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>Mrs. Capps and her press secretary <a title=\"Meagher Indy bio\" href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.com\/staff\/chris-meagher\/\"><strong>Chris Meagher, <\/strong><\/a>a former reporter for the Indy, charged that my five-part series was \u201cfull of inaccuracies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But when pressed for comment on specifics, they refused to talk, pending the civil suit. Since that litigation has now been settled, I\u2019ve asked them to cite any inaccuracies in my 20,500 word series or my follow-up stories which can be <a title=\"Death On\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3153\"><strong>accessed here<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3153\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-6409\" title=\"Screen Shot 2015-04-08 at 3.56.32 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-08-at-3.56.32-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"365\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-08-at-3.56.32-PM.png 456w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-08-at-3.56.32-PM-300x164.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 365px) 100vw, 365px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>So far neither Mrs. Capps, nor any member of her staff has responded, but in an upcoming congressional bid, Laura Capps would have been forced to, especially when the Federal Government considered Mr. Morua&#8217;s on-the-job behavior so egregious that they agreed to pony up $2.5 million.<\/p>\n<p>Also, there&#8217;s a \u00a0strange kind of ethical disconnect in all of this, considering how Walter Capps&#8217; own career in Congress began.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALCOHOL AND POLITICS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As fate and irony would have it, when he was in the middle of his first successful bid for office, the late congressman owed his victory, in part, to a drunken driver. Back in 1994, Mr. Capps had lost his initial run for the House to <strong>Andrea Seastrand,<\/strong> a first-time Republican conservative who swept into Congress as part of the \u201cRepublican Revolution\u201d led by ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich.<\/p>\n<p>But two years later, trying to unseat her, Mr. Capps was the lucky beneficiary of what his spokesman called &#8220;significant sympathy&#8221; after he and his wife were struck head-on in their Lincoln Town Car by a motorist who was intoxicated.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-14-at-7.21.42-PM1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-6492\" title=\"Screen Shot 2015-04-14 at 7.21.42 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-14-at-7.21.42-PM1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"321\" height=\"337\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-14-at-7.21.42-PM1.png 321w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-14-at-7.21.42-PM1-285x300.png 285w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 321px) 100vw, 321px\" \/><\/a>In a piece with the sub-headline<a title=\"NYT Walter Capps drunk driving piece\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1996\/06\/27\/us\/political-briefing-the-states-and-the-issues.html\"><strong> &#8220;Auto Crash Is Seen As Campaign Help,&#8221;<\/strong><\/a> Michael Janofsky reported in <strong>The New York Times<\/strong> that &#8220;the accident has given the campaign a new way to present Mr. Capps: as a fighter and survivor.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After recovering from a series of fractures and internal injuries, Mr. Capps appeared in a wheelchair outside Santa Barbara Rehabilitation Institute at a press conference covered by six newspapers, three TV outlets and a radio station. \u00a0He delivered an emotional speech, comforted by his wife, who had sustained cuts and bruises in the crash herself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would never wish for a car accident like this,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I have learned from it. \u2026 Love and caring for one another (are) at the core of what links us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Taking advantage of what <strong>The San Francisco Chronicle<\/strong> called \u201ca steady stream of local media coverage any politician would envy,&#8221;\u00a0Mr. Capps went on to defeat Mrs. Seastrand in what would be the start of an 18 year Capps family lock on the Santa Barbara congressional seat.<\/p>\n<p><strong>UNRESOLVED CRIMINAL ISSUES\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But while the civil suit has been settled, Laura Capps still faces the issue of potential criminal violations by Mrs. Capps and her staff, including District Director\u00a0<strong><a title=\"electoral college\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=4412\">Mollie Culver<\/a>;<\/strong>\u00a0not to mention possible charges of obstruction of justice involving\u00a0<a title=\"Damage Control\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3229\"><strong>Mary Beth Walker,<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0the House lawyer who first defended the Capps&#8217; staff against the Dies family&#8217;s wrongful death claim.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, there is the lingering question of possible misconduct by personnel at the Desert Pacific Network of \u00a0<a title=\"Part Five\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3229\"><strong>The Veterans Administration<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In late May, 2014 the FBI and DOJ commenced <a title=\"LAT re probe\" href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/lanow\/la-me-la-probe-capps-aide-20140612-story.html\"><strong>an investigation<\/strong><\/a> into the allegations of potential criminal wrongdoing reported in the series, but it was short-lived.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What follows is a piece I first filed December 6th, 2014 &#8211; one year after the accident &#8211; citing the unanswered questions that continue to dog this story; questions that could impact Laura Capps&#8217; hopes of ever succeeding her mother and bleed over into the 2016 Clinton campaign.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1) Beyond Mollie Culver and staff members in Rep. Lois Capps&#8217; D.C. office, who else was involved in the scheme to get Mr. Morua out of jail and into a V.A. funded treatment facility (New Directions in L.A.) in the four days immediately following Mr. Morua&#8217;s DUI hit-and-run accident which sent Ms. Dies to the ICU at Cottage Hospital?<\/p>\n<p>As reported in Part Four of my series, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3221\">Damage Control<\/a>,<\/strong> when I contacted officials at New Directions to ask if anyone there was aware of that scheme,\u00a0<strong>Cindy Young<\/strong>,\u00a0vice president of development and marketing, had this to say:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are many steps that would need to occur before a veteran could be court-ordered to New Directions. For starters, a court process involving <strong>a judge, public defender and district attorney<\/strong> would have to occur that would lead to a decision to make an alternative sentencing order for a particular veteran. New Directions has no power to bring a veteran into its program that would somehow sidestep this court process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/EOS-shot-of-RVM-hitting-MRD.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-6503\" title=\"EOS shot of RVM hitting MRD\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/EOS-shot-of-RVM-hitting-MRD.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"513\" height=\"342\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/EOS-shot-of-RVM-hitting-MRD.png 641w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/EOS-shot-of-RVM-hitting-MRD-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 513px) 100vw, 513px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>2) To what degree was Craig Lea, a re-entry specialist at the VA&#8217;s Desert Pacific Network in Longbeach, CA involved in the scheme?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As I reported Ms. Culver had sent the first of <a title=\"VA Forms\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/VA_Forms_Mollie_Culver_for_Raymond_Morua_12_9_13.pdf\"><strong>two official forms<\/strong><\/a> to Mr. Lea in which she had forged Mr. Morua&#8217;s signature. That first form VA 10-5345 was an authorization to release Mr. Morua&#8217;s medical records to Mrs. Capps&#8217; Santa Barbara office. Ms. Culver also filled out and forged Mr. Morua&#8217;s signature on a VA form 10-10 EZ, an application for health benefits which would have sent him to New Directions if approved.<\/p>\n<p>After sending in the first form on or about December 9th, three days after the crash, Ms. Culver, according to <strong>Teresa Montoya<\/strong> who later married Mr. Morua, met with her in person and urged her to send in the second form to Mr. Lea which Mrs. Morua did. At the time she didn&#8217;t know that she might be violating federal law since that form calls for &#8220;a fine and\/or imprisonment for up to 5 years for concealing a material fact or making a materially false statement.&#8221;<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-25-at-10.40.50-PM2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-5453\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-12-25 at 10.40.50 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-25-at-10.40.50-PM2-266x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"266\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-25-at-10.40.50-PM2-266x300.png 266w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-25-at-10.40.50-PM2.png 480w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 266px) 100vw, 266px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As reported in Part Five of my series <a title=\"Part Five\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3229\"><strong>Cover Up<\/strong><\/a>, I contacted Mr. Lea during the research phase of my series and he agreed to talk with me, but later VA officials refused to make him available. However, on April\u00a04, Mr. Lea paid a visit to Mr. Morua in Santa Barbara County Jail, and according to Mrs. Morua, her husband confirmed for Mr. Lea \u00a0that those were not his signatures on the forms that had been sent into the VA. Therefore:<\/p>\n<p><strong>3) What if anything has the Veterans Administration done to investigate my findings on this scheme to defraud the VA?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As of this date no one from the VA Inspector General&#8217;s Office, the DOJ or the FBI has contacted me to get the originals of the forged documents which Mrs. Morua gave to me. Nor, to my knowledge, has anyone from the VA sought to investigate the evidence of possible fraud by Ms. Culver and others in Mrs. Capps office.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4) What happened to the investigation of my findings by the FBI and Public Integrity Section (PIN) of \u00a0The U.S. Justice Department which was the direct result of a\u00a0referral by Santa Barbara County D.A. Joyce Dudley to Andr\u00e9 Birotte, then the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California in Los Angeles?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In mid-May, according to an email from Ms. Dudley to<strong> Matt Dies,<\/strong> the father of the victim, Mr. Birotte sent my five-part series to PIN and on May 27th <strong><a title=\"Martindale profile\" href=\"http:\/\/www.martindale.com\/Marquest-J-Meeks\/157225057-lawyer.htm\">Marquest J. Meeks<\/a>,<\/strong> an attorney from Main Justice traveled to the Santa Barbara area to investigate the V.A. allegations.<\/p>\n<p>As first reported <strong><a title=\"FBI probe\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=4092\">on this website<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and later picked up by <strong><a title=\"News-Press FBI probe\" href=\"http:\/\/www.newspress.com\/morua-capps\/1.html\">The News Press<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0<strong><a title=\"Fox News\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/2014\/06\/09\/fbi-doj-reportedly-probing-california-rep-ties-to-driver-in-dui-death\/\">FoxNews.com<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<a title=\"AP FBI story\" href=\"http:\/\/www.utsandiego.com\/news\/2014\/Jun\/12\/feds-probe-aftermath-of-crash-involving-house-aide\/\"><strong>The Associated Press<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong><a title=\"LAT\" href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/lanow\/la-me-la-probe-capps-aide-20140612-story.html\">The Los Angeles Times<\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0the federal investigation first involved an interview of Mrs. Morua by Mr. Meeks and two Special Agents from the Bureau&#8217;s Santa Maria Resident Agency (RA) <strong>Dieter Willcomm<\/strong> and<strong> Marni Barton. \u00a0<\/strong>That night, after Mr. Meeks had departed for Washington the two SA&#8217;s interviewed Mr. Morua in County Jail in the presence of his then attorney <strong>Darry Genis<\/strong> and the following Monday, June 2nd, they interviewed Mr. Morua&#8217;s mother <strong>Rose Saucedo<\/strong>.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/lanow\/la-me-la-probe-capps-aide-20140612-story.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5437\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-12-25 at 10.31.16 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-25-at-10.31.16-PM1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"292\" height=\"317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-25-at-10.31.16-PM1.png 292w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-25-at-10.31.16-PM1-276x300.png 276w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 292px) 100vw, 292px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>All three interview subjects confirmed my findings regarding Ms. Culver&#8217;s scheme to get Mr. Morua out of jail and into New Directions, but the probe apparently ended there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5) If the FBI and DOJ were interested in confirming my findings of federal crimes, why didn&#8217;t they ever ask to interview me or request the original VA forms which are in my possession?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the research and reporting of my series I relied on no confidential sources. Since this was a matter of public interest, I sent repeated emails to Mr. Meeks copying SA&#8217;s Willkomm and Barton along with senior FBI officials offering to cooperate. But not a single official from the FBI or DOJ followed-up or even asked to examine the two VA forms for Ms. Culver&#8217;s fingerprints. Why?<\/p>\n<p>By September, three months after his trip to Ventura County where he interviewed Mrs. Morua, Mr. Meeks was no longer working at The Public Integrity Section of Main Justice in Washington. Instead had been re-assigned as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Louisiana.<\/p>\n<p>On October 6th he made the opening argument in <strong><a title=\"Marquest Meeks N.O. tria link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nola.com\/crime\/index.ssf\/2014\/10\/trial_begins_for_orleans_traff.html\">the trial of a traffic court accountant<\/a><\/strong> charged with embezzlement. So that apparent change in his status at DOJ leads us to this question: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-25-at-10.33.25-PM3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-5597\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-12-25 at 10.33.25 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-25-at-10.33.25-PM3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"191\" height=\"228\" \/><\/a><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>6) Did Marquest Meeks&#8217; investigation of possible forgery and fraud by Mollie Culver, whom I reported was <a title=\"Mollie electoral college\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=4412\">one of 55 members<\/a> in the California delegation of the Electoral College voting for Barack Obama in 2012 lead to a demotion?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>7) Further, did politics play any role in the apparent unwillingness of the Justice Department to pursue charges against Ms. Culver who is also the former political director of The California Democratic Party?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>8) Why did the defense of the civil suit filed by attorney Bob Stoll on behalf of Matt and Raeona Dies shift from Mary Beth Walker, in the U.S. House of Representatives Office of General Counsel to <a title=\"Julie Zatz state bar\" href=\"http:\/\/members.calbar.ca.gov\/fal\/Member\/Detail\/155560\">Julie Zatz<\/a>, an AUSA in Andr\u00e9 Birotte&#8217;s office &#8212; the very federal prosecutor&#8217;s office which had forwarded my series for investigation to The Public Integrity Section in the first place?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to correspondence sent by Ms. Zatz to Mr. Stoll on May 28th (the day after the FBI-DOJ investigation began) she asked that Mrs. Capps&#8217;a name be removed from the list of defendants in the wrongful death suit, substituting &#8220;The United States of America&#8221; as a defendant.<\/p>\n<p>In <a title=\"Part Five\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3229\"><strong>Part Five<\/strong><\/a> of my series I raised the question of whether Ms. Walker might be guilty of obstruction of justice for sending a letter to Santa Barbara D.A. Joyce Dudley asking to &#8220;work with (her) and (her) office and\/or investigators to segregate&#8221; what Ms. Walker termed &#8220;sensitive official information&#8221; from Mr. Morua&#8217;s office iPhone 4 seized on the night of his arrest. <a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-27-at-1.47.16-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-5589\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-12-27 at 1.47.16 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-27-at-1.47.16-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"460\" height=\"125\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-27-at-1.47.16-PM.png 460w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-27-at-1.47.16-PM-300x81.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If the D.A. or SBPD had acquiesced to Ms. Walker&#8217;s request, evidence that might have helped the Dies family&#8217;s civil case (or a potential criminal prosecution of Ms. Culver) could have been removed.<\/p>\n<p>When I asked Mrs. Dudley for her assurance that no one from her office or the Santa Barbara Police Department had complied with Ms. Walker\u2019s request, she replied, \u00a0\u201cTo my knowledge, the DAs office has not done anything with the cellphone records. I can\u2019t speak to what the SBPD may have done or will do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But when Mr. Genis received a download of data from Mr. Morua&#8217;s iPhone 4 and his personal iPhone 3 executed by the SBPD, it appeared that some material had been removed including Mr. Morua&#8217;s last text to his then fianc\u00e9\/now wife Teresa Montoya at 12:06 a.m. just after he&#8217;d crashed his Dodge Caliber:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Baby I&#8217;m Done,&#8221; were the words he texted that were received by Ms. Montoya on her iPhone but they were apparently missing from the download of data furnished to Mr. Genis by the SBPD, leading to these questions:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-27-at-1.48.22-PM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5590\" title=\"Screen Shot 2014-12-27 at 1.48.22 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-27-at-1.48.22-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"455\" height=\"131\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-27-at-1.48.22-PM.png 455w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Screen-Shot-2014-12-27-at-1.48.22-PM-300x86.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 455px) 100vw, 455px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>9) Was Ms. Walker ever investigated by the Public Integrity Section for her attempt to &#8220;segregate&#8221; what she termed &#8220;sensitive official information&#8221; from Mr. Morua&#8217;s cell phone? And did her letter to Mrs. Dudley, lead to the defense of the case being handled by Mr. Birotte&#8217;s office?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In mid-September, around the same time that Marquest Meeks left Main Justice, Ms. Walker left the House Office of General Counsel to take a job in the Office of the Solicitor of the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office. Her departure was marked by a &#8220;Tribute&#8221; in the Congressional Record by GOP\u00a0Congressman<a title=\"Walker TRIBUTE\" href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/congressional-record\/2014\/9\/16\/extensions-of-remarks-section\/article\/E1425-4\"><strong> Darrell E. Issa.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>10) Did Ms. Walker&#8217;s departure have anything to do with the way she initially handled the representation of Mrs. Capps and her staff and, was her exit related to the takeover of the defense by AUSA Julie Zatz, the Assistant Chief of the Civil Division in Los Angeles?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>And if, in fact, the Feds have dropped the ball and failed to further pursue an investigation of my findings of VA fraud and possible obstruction of Justice:<\/p>\n<p><strong>11) Will D.A. Joyce Dudley commence an investigation since forgery and obstruction of justice are also state crimes?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mrs. Dudley only made the referral to the Feds after Mr. Dies got more than 1,000 signatures on a petition asking Mrs. Capps to come clean and tell the truth about my findings. The petition also called for the D.A. to call in the DOJ.<\/p>\n<p><strong>12) Now that Justice has apparently stalled in its probe, will the District Attorney, a close friend and political ally of Lois Capps, move forward?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>13) Will Lois Capps finally tell the full truth about how much awareness her office had of Raymond Victor Morua&#8217;s prior criminal record at the time he was first brought on board as an intern and later promoted to District Representative?\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Capps-Morua-back-of-jeep-copy.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-5144\" title=\"Capps &amp; Morua back of jeep copy\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Capps-Morua-back-of-jeep-copy.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"236\" height=\"323\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In 2006 Mr. Morua had two prior DUI arrests and a third arrest for a vehicular hit-and-run. In 2010, while working in Mrs. Capps office he was convicted of grand theft embezzlement. He had spoken openly about his problems with alcohol.<\/p>\n<p>In the hours leading up to his manslaughter hit-and-run in which he struck Mallory Rae Dies at a speed (estimated by an SBPD detective) of 60 m.p.h. he consumed no less than eight drinks, including two bourbons at dinner and six vodkas at the Santa Barbara Independent&#8217;s annual Holiday Bash, an invitation-only event at which I proved he was working for Mrs. Capps. See Part Two of the series, <a title=\"Part Two\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3206\"><strong>Everybody Loved Raymond<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>14) One of the Capps staffers present at the party, whom Mr. Morua texted Ms. Montoya he was with, was Chris Meagher, Mrs. Capps&#8217; press secretary and a former reporter for the Indy.\u00a0<strong>Why couldn&#8217;t Mr. Meagher or anyone else at that party who watched Mr. Morua consuming so many drinks, have pulled him aside and asked for his car keys before letting him walk out into the night?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mr. Morua, for his part, took responsibility and pled guilty to his crimes. He&#8217;s now serving 20 years to life at Wasco State Prison. Mrs. Capps and Mr. Meagher were quoted by The Independent and FoxNews.com as charging that my series was <strong><a title=\"Indy. Full of Inaccuracies\" href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.com\/news\/2014\/apr\/15\/morua-pleads-guilty-dui-and-fatal-hit-and-run-char\/\">&#8220;full of inaccuracies.&#8221;<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>But they have refused to cite a single fact or allegation in the 20,500 word series that was incorrect.<\/p>\n<p><strong> 15) When will Lois Capps, who won a 9th term in November, take responsibility for Ms. Culver and the other members of her staff who watched Mr. Morua develop into\u00a0<\/strong><strong>a ticking time bomb and tell the full truth about this case?\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ozy.com\/true-story\/election-day-for-mom-and-country\/36963\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright  wp-image-6575\" title=\"Screen Shot 2015-05-03 at 4.57.02 PM\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Screen-Shot-2015-05-03-at-4.57.02-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"473\" height=\"727\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"The%20Capps%20political%20dynasty%20ends.%20The%20unanswered%20questions%20in%20the%20DUI-manslaughter%20scandal%20that%20may%20have%20kept%20Laura%20out%20of%20Congress%20and%20spared%20Hillary%27s%20campaign%20another%20ethics%20issue.\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>By Peter Lance \u00a9 May 6th, 2015. \u00a0All the pieces were in place. Laura Capps and political power broker husband Bill Burton had purchased a home in the 24th District. Bill recently relocated to the West Coast. Her mother Lois announced she was retiring after nine terms. Most of the local political pundits from Nick [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[782,584,779,526,1211,531,668,193,527,529,189,540,511,518,787,513,519,784,533,517,541,201,770,786,542,621,583,508,522,534,523,510,785,532,475,538,539,535,126,558,624,528,509,781,536,520,512,525,1221,516,783,524,515,521,530,537,780,514],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5130"}],"version-history":[{"count":308,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7084,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5130\/revisions\/7084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}