Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung was sued on March 19 for supposed inconsistencies in his candidate ballot bid for Orange County Supervisor.
The lawsuit alleges that Jung’s candidate ballot was misleading, stating he could not claim to be a business owner because his business, Gatsby LLC, had not been in operation since 2014.
The lawsuit also found issue with Jung’s claims that he built nine new parks during his time on city council and “turned the city’s $9 million deficit into a balanced budget.”
The lawsuit lists Jan Flory as the petitioner. Flory served on Fullerton’s city council from 1995 until 2002, rejoined the council from 2013 to 2016 and then served two final terms in 2019 and 2020.
Flory is also listed as a supporter for Connor Traut, another candidate for Orange County Supervisor.
Jung has claimed none of his statements, if not found true, were not provably false.
In response to the complaint about his occupation, Jung stated his past involvement with Gatsby LLC had heavily influenced his identity. Jung currently owns a retail store in South Carolina, something he did not disclose because he was not required to.
In response to complaints about him creating nine new parks, Jung stated that during his time on council, he played a heavy part in substantially renovating, if not constructing, the parks in question.
The parks Jung has claimed to have created or renovated include Pearl Park, Rolling Hills Park, Pacific Drive Park, Gilbert Park, Acacia Park, Valencia Park, Emery Park, Union Pacific Trail and Union Pacific Park.
Jung has stated that he believes the lawsuit is motivated by his run for supervisor.
“This isn’t about my tenure on city council, or my capacity to be an effective mayor,” Jung said. “They are citing this as my supervisorial run.”
In response to the complaint regarding the city budget, Jung said he made his statement based on the city manager’s reports of a balanced budget.
These complaints about the city’s budget come as the city council mistakenly allocated $2.9 million to the city’s general fund rather than the successor agency.
The city is currently searching for a company to conduct a forensic audit to determine how this money was mistakenly assigned.
In a March 26 hearing, a judge ruled in favor of the petitioner and directed Jung to edit his ballot statement to classify his occupation as “businessman” instead of “businessowner” and strike the sections of him saying he balanced the city’s budget and built nine new parks.
Following the initial hearing, Jung has filed a motion to strike, scheduled for May 8.