Former Santa Clara County Supervisor George Shirakawa, who resigned from his office in March citing his intention to plead guilty to charges of failure to file campaign finances and improper use of his county credit card, was charged Wednesday by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office for “impersonating someone else’s campaign on a fictional and defamatory political flyer.”
Identified by his DNA found on a postage stamp, Shirakawa allegedly created a flyer to look as though it came from a San Jose City Council candidate touting an affiliation to the Communist regime of Vietnam, according to a press release from the DA’s office.
Shirakawa, 51, of San Jose, is now charged with a violation of Penal Code section 529, for falsely personating the campaign committee of Magdalena Carrasco, who in 2010 was running for the District 5 San Jose City Council seat.
If convicted of the latest charge, Shirakawa faces a three-year sentence. He will be arraigned Friday at 1:30 p.m. before the Honorable Judge Philip Pennypacker.
“Freedom of speech allows people to criticize political opponents,” DA Jeff Rosen said. “However, it is illegal and simply wrong for people to impersonate political entities. Democracy works best when voters know the true source of campaign materials.”
A recent routine DNA database search found Shirakawa’s DNA profile – which was taken at the time of his recent arrest in March and inputted into the centralized state DNA database – consistent with the DNA profile found on a postage stamp on one of the 2010 flyers.
The DA’s office received a Department of Justice notice April 22 of the possible match and reopened the investigation into the 2010 flyers. The Santa Clara Crime Laboratory retested the 2010 evidence and a second DNA sample from Shirakawa.
The flyer, purportedly sponsored by “Neighbors for Magdalena Carrasco for Council 2010,” showed a photograph of Carrasco next to a photograph of the flag of Vietnam, adopted by the Unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War. Consequently, the flag is considered offensive to many members of San Jose’s Vietnamese community, particularly those who fled to this country to escape the communist regime, according to the release.
Carrasco’s campaign did not authorize the flyers and Carrasco never supported or condoned the message. Carrasco survived the primary, but placed second by 20 votes in the general election.
A similar flyer, also containing an image of the flag of Vietnam, was circulated against a Shirakawa opponent for the Board of Supervisors campaign in 2008.
Back in March 2013, Shirakawa was charged with four felony counts of perjury, and one felony count of misappropriation of public funds, as well as seven misdemeanors for failing to file accurate campaign reports.
The former supervisor was “engaged in a persistent pattern of misusing public money and campaign funds for prohibited expenses including parties, golf outings and gambling,” the DA’s press release states.
Shirakawa, who is also barred from holding any public office, eventually plead guilty on March 18 to 12 counts as part of an agreement to spend no more than one year in county jail. He faced up to eight years in prison.
The former supervisor had been under fire since last year when media investigations revealed that Shirakawa – who was first elected to the county’s board of supervisors in 2008 – had inappropriately used campaign funds and failed to file numerous election campaign finance reports.
Later reports – including an internal county audit – also revealed that since 2009 Shirakawa has repeatedly violated county policies for the use of his taxpayer-funded, county-issued credit card. He has used the credit card to make more than $12,000 in purchases that violated county policies.
“It is appropriate that he acknowledged his wrongdoing and is taking full responsibility for his actions by resigning and pleading guilty to the charges,” said Supervisor Mike Wasserman at the time of Shirakawa’s arrest and resignation letter in March.
