{"id":241512,"date":"2026-03-29T01:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T01:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/241512\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T01:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T01:09:10","slug":"judge-rules-fullerton-mayor-fred-jungs-ballot-statement-false-and-misleading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/241512\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Rules Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung\u2019s Ballot Statement False and Misleading"},"content":{"rendered":"

Politics is a battlefield with disputes winding up in court before voters ever see a ballot. That\u2019s what happened in the case of Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung, who is running in a crowded field for District 4 Orange County Supervisor. Jan Flory, a retired attorney\u00a0and former Fullerton Mayor and councilmember, took a look at Jung\u2019s ballot statement and noticed some things that didn\u2019t add up. She decided to challenge Jung\u2019s ballot statement and designation legally.<\/p>\n

The case was heard on March 26, 2026. Judge Kimberly Knill reviewed the evidence and issued a clear, concise tentative ruling. Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung\u2019s ballot designation as a \u201cBusiness Owner\u201d was false according to the evidence presented, and elements of his ballot statements were misleading.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jung\u2019s assertion that as Mayor, he \u201cturned around a $9 million deficit into a balanced budget,\u201d is misleading to voters, concluded Judge Knill. State law requires cities to adopt balanced budgets and those spending plans can include deficit spending. Jung\u2019s attorney, Chad Morgan, argued that the Fullerton city manager found the claim factual. \u201cI conclude that the city manager\u2019s conclusion was not supported by the evidence in the budget,\u201d said Judge Krill. \u201cI don\u2019t need an expert to see that there\u2019s a deficit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The judge also ruled another of Jung\u2019s assertions \u2013 that he \u201cbuilt 9 new parks,\u201d \u2013\u00a0 was misleading when in fact, no new parks have been opened in Fullerton since he was first elected to the city council in 2020. \u201cIt\u2019s curious to me that your client didn\u2019t outline the 9 parks that have been rejuvenated,\u201d said Judge Knill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After hearing from the attorneys, the judge finalized her ruling on March 27, approving new statement language that removed misleading content. She upheld her determination that Jung\u2019s designation as a \u201cbusiness owner\u201d was false and accepted \u201cbusinessman\u201d as an alternative. These corrections were noted by a deputy counsel from the OC Registrar who participated in the proceedings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am pleased the Court understood the crux of the matter,\u201d said Plaintiff Jan Flory. \u201cJudge Knill\u2019s ruling supports the principle that voters deserve honest, candid, and truthful descriptions of the candidates they are choosing on election day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorney Brett Murdock represented Flory, while the Orange County Registrar was listed as a respondent due to its role in distributing ballot statements to county voters. The Registrar\u2019s mission statement is: \u201cTo provide election services for the citizens of Orange County to ensure equal access to the election process, protect the integrity of votes, and maintain a transparent, accurate, and fair process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ballot statements are subject to a strict publication timeline as prescribed by state law. The deadline was March 27 at 5 pm on the same day as the court ruling. Judge Knill\u2019s decision will influence the final content of Jung\u2019s ballot statement and designation ahead of the upcoming election, regardless of whether Jung appeals or not.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2026.03.16 Petition for Writ of Mandate CONFORMED
<\/a>
\nLike this:<\/p>\n

Like Loading…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

\tDiscover more from Fullerton Observer<\/p>\n

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.<\/p>\n

\nCategories: Election<\/a>, Elections<\/a>, Local Government<\/a>, Local News<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n

Tagged as: Featured Content<\/a>, Fred Jung<\/a>, Fred Jung for OC Supervisor<\/a>, Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung<\/a>, Gaston Castellanos<\/a>, Judge Rules Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung\u2019s Ballot Statement False and Misleading<\/a>, Jung for OC Supervisor<\/a>, Mayor Fred Jung<\/a>, OC Supervisor<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Politics is a battlefield with disputes winding up in court before voters ever see a ballot. That\u2019s what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,1622,2885,108463,30243,10956,108464,108465,82393,108466],"class_list":{"0":"post-241512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news","11":"tag-featured-content","12":"tag-fred-jung","13":"tag-fred-jung-for-oc-supervisor","14":"tag-fullerton-mayor-fred-jung","15":"tag-gaston-castellanos","16":"tag-judge-rules-fullerton-mayor-fred-jungs-ballot-statement-false-and-misleading","17":"tag-jung-for-oc-supervisor","18":"tag-mayor-fred-jung","19":"tag-oc-supervisor"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}