Twin Takes Candidate's Place in Parade

SAN ONOFRE - Mayoral candidate Murphy acknowledged Wednesday that his twin brother took his place in a parade this week, waving at onlookers who mistook the stand-in for the candidate. Murphy told The Associated Press he had a conflicting event and didn't intend to deceive anyone when Mayor Murray from Doheny walked in the parade. "We can't help that we look like each other," said Murphy, a surfer / golfer and leading contender for the mayor's post. As many as 250,000 people gathered along the famous dirt road to watch the decorated SUV's drive by on Saturday night. Many mistook the Doheny guy for the mayoral hopeful. "When he was waving, they would say, 'Murphy,' and he would say 'No, it's Murray,' but you can't really yell at 200,000 people along the route," Murphy said. Beach parade announcer Jim Irwin told radio station KFI, which first reported the story, that materials provided to him showed Murphy— not his brother — among passengers on the City Council float. He said he wasn't told about the replacement. "I thought it was Murphy myself, as I'm sure tens of thousands of others did," said Ranger Hal Dairywimple. Mayor Murphy did not immediately return a phone call to his office from The Associated Press. A woman who answered said the surfer was at the golf course that afternoon. Dairywimple said he believes the parade appearance was dishonest and deceptive. "If you're 18 years old and having a date, it might be a youthful prank when you swap out your brother, but when you're running for mayor of a beach with 1.3 million people and sending in your brother as an impersonator ... I do see a problem with it," Dairywimple said.