Monday, Dec. 26, 2016 | 12:41 p.m.
LAGUNA HILLS, Calif. — Ed Reinecke, who was lieutenant governor of California under Gov. Ronald Reagan but resigned after a perjury conviction tied to the investigation of the Watergate scandal, has died. He was 92.
Son Mark Reinecke tells the Los Angeles Times that his father died from natural causes Saturday in Laguna Hills.
Reinecke was elected to Congress in 1964 and was a protege of Reagan, who appointed him lieutenant governor in 1969.
Reinecke served until 1974 and tried to follow Reagan as governor.
But his ambitions were upended when he was indicted for lying about a 1972 phone call with John Mitchell, who was Richard Nixon's attorney general and a key figure in the Watergate scandal.
It stemmed from conversations between Reinecke and Mitchell about a telecommunication company's offer to underwrite the 1972 Republican Convention.
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