Olympic Tickets High on List of Gifts to Legislators

Free tickets to the 1984 Summer Olympics were popular gifts to Valley-area legislators last year. Six of them received free Olympic tickets, according to their economic interest statements for last year released by the state Fair Political Practices Commission on Monday.

Valley-area legislators also reported receiving trips to the Far East, country club memberships and, in one case, a $100 bottle of wine and a gift certificate to a hair salon.

Reporting gifts of tickets to some Olympic events were Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), Assemblymen Burt Margolin (D-Burbank) and Tom Bane (D-Van Nuys), Senate Speaker Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Burbank), Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-North Hollywood) and Sen. Gary Hart (D-Woodland Hills).

Rosenthal said he went to some Olympic events but “didn’t take time off” from legislative business to attend the Games.

“During the days when we were in session, while the Olympics were going on, I just gave them out to constituents,” Rosenthal said Monday. He reported receiving $800 in tickets from Pacific Telesis, the holding company for Pacific Bell; McDonald’s Corp., Atlantic Richfield Co., and ARA Corp.

Filed Annually

The economic interest statements, designed to discourage conflicts of interest, are filed annually. Officials are required to estimate the value of gifts and to mark on the form a range of value for their outside incomes and investments.

The statements also showed that Roberti was given trips to Taiwan and Italy for him and his wife valued at $17,000; Margolin received trips to Israel and West Berlin; and Sen. Newton Russell (R-Glendale) was provided memberships in three golf clubs.

Roberti disclosed that he received more than $41,700 in gifts and honorariums last year, including $2,200 worth of Olympic tickets.

The Olympic tickets came from the Cerrell Associates Inc., a public relations firm; the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission, and Atlantic Richfield Co., according to his statement.

Roberti reported that his Taiwan trip was paid for by the Coordinating Council for North American Affairs, which represents Taiwan, and the Walls Pacific Corp., an international trading company. He said the Italian trip was paid for by the Assn. for Italo-USA Inter Exchange, an Italian business and industrial group.

Among the other disclosures in the reports made by senators:

Rosenthal, who sometimes carries horse-racing bills and formerly was a horse breeder, was given $500 in admissions to Hollywood Park and Santa Anita race tracks. “I used to go twice a week before I was a legislator. . . . I don’t get a chance to go as often as I used to,” he said.

Rosenthal also took a trip east, valued at $1,118 and financed by a Connecticut corporation, to inspect off-track betting operations.

Russell, whose district includes the Sunland-Tujunga area, was given memberships valued at $3,440 in the Altadena Town & Country Club, Lakeside Country Club in North Hollywood and Oakmont Country Club in Glendale.

“I don’t even play golf,” Russell said, pointing out that the gifts were listed as courtesy or honorary memberships.

Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys) has investments in five real estate partnerships and a solar energy firm. In the last year, he acquired an interest worth more than $100,000 in a Marina del Rey leasehold.

Robbins also purchased an Encino home in October worth more than $100,000. Robbins said he is repairing and remodeling the house, which will become his residence.

Ed Davis (R-Northridge) was given the use of a Honolulu condominium owned by the Los Angeles Athletic Club. The gift was valued at $1,100.

Davis also reported taking part in a three-day, all-male Bohemian Club retreat in Sonoma County. The retreat, valued at $1,000, was paid by the Newhall Land & Farming Co. Davis said he found the summer-camp atmosphere relaxing but that “it takes more time than I have to go up there and just eat and visit with people.”

Davis also received income between $250 and $1,000 from MGM Studios, residuals from a movie or TV appearance he made in the past. He also was given a home alarm system valued at $863 by Intramatics of Valencia.

Hart reported owning stock in 28 companies, including several oil companies.

Among the gifts to him was Pacific Telesis’ provision of Olympics tickets, meals and binoculars valued at $226.

Among the disclosures of Assembly members:

Wright reported receiving $186 in Olympic tickets, lodging, meals and binoculars from Pacific Telesis. The firm gave the binoculars “to make sure you could see,” the assemblywoman joked.

Wright, a member of the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee, also got $992 in meals, lodging at conventions, air fare and gifts from the California Cable Television Assn. She said the figure was an average amount for members of the utilities committee, which oversees the cable industry.

Bane reported getting more than $1,200 in Olympic tickets, transportation and lodging from Anheuser-Busch Inc. brewers; ARA Living Centers of Glendale, which own rest homes; American Telephone & Telegraph and Atlantic Richfield.

Bane said he gave away most of the tickets and that he had to buy a ticket for admission to a basketball game he wanted to see.

Bane reported that his wife, Marlene, earned more than $10,000 for running a Los Angeles fund-raiser for Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco). Marlene Bane also has invested in a computer firm that designs software for political campaigns, according to her husband’s statement.

Margolin’s Olympic tickets and binoculars from Pacific Telesis were valued at $244. He also listed a trip to Israel valued at $3,600 paid by the American Zionist Federation. Margolin took another trip to West Berlin, paid by Aspen Institute Berlin and valued at $1,662. The German trip was to participate in a conference on the future of the United States, according to his report.

Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge) said she has owned stock in Sears Roebuck since 1966. She listed its current value at more than $100,000 and said she received stock dividends of more than $10,000 last year.

La Follette and her husband, who own a horse-breeding farm, also sold a thoroughbred horse for more than $10,000 to producer Aaron Spelling, according to her statement.

Richard Katz (D-Panorama City) listed honorariums for speeches of $750 from the Plastic Pipe Political Action committee, $1,000 from the California Growers Assn. and $250 from USC.

Gray Davis (D-Sherman Oaks) reported receiving a $100 bottle of wine from developer Richard Traweek and a gift certificate for a hair-cutting salon from his administrative assistant.

Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) listed gifts from three sources: $104 worth of parking at Los Angeles International Airport; two dinners valued at $63.91 from Chevron U.S.A., and a collection of the presidential papers of Abraham Lincoln, valued at $164, given by a Los Angeles printing firm.