Unruh Discloses $9,000 in Gifts, Says Job Delayed Complete Report

State Treasurer Jesse M. Unruh disclosed Monday that he received almost $9,000 in gifts and free travel last year but said his accounting is incomplete because he is too busy conducting state business on the East Coast to finish the report.

In addition, Unruh said he did not report the value of a two-week cruise on a private yacht in the Mediterranean because he cannot estimate the value of the trip.

Unruh’s remarks were included in an annual financial disclosure filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission. Under the Political Reform Act of 1974, officials must file statements of economic interests, listing their investments, outside income and the gifts they received.

March 1 was the deadline for mailing the statements, and the forms, including those of some of the highest-ranking state officials, continued to arrive at the commission office Monday.

Unruh, whose annual salary is $42,500, reported that he received $14,500 last year from speeches and lectures and at least $26,000 from various investments.

Visited Europe, Japan

His report also showed that he traveled to Europe in September for two weeks as a guest of American and French businesses and the West German government and that he visited Japan in April at the expense of American and Japanese firms.

On the Mediterranean cruise aboard a 100-foot yacht last October, he was the guest of Carmen Warschaw of Los Angeles, identified in the report as being in the investment business. She is a longtime Democratic Party activist.

“There is no way for me to estimate a dollar figure,” Unruh said of the trip’s value.

Among the gifts Unruh reported receiving were $1,500 in free and reduced room rates at the Marina International Hotel, $220 worth of tickets to the Olympics and $692 in season tickets to Los Angeles Raiders and Los Angeles Express football games.

In a letter attached to his report, Unruh said the statement is incomplete because “for the past two months I have found it necessary to travel to the East Coast on state-related business” and therefore was unable to devote the necessary time to complete it.

Unruh continued: “There is little doubt in my mind that it will be necessary to file amendments (to the report). . . . Therefore, I am requesting the commission to accept this report with my reasons for some concerns about its totality.”

No Further Comment

Unruh was reported by his office to be unavailable for further comment.

Among other reports filed with the FPPC was one by Secretary of State March Fong Eu. She reported that she received a $3,000 “good-will” trip to Europe from a German department store, Karstadt-Reiseburo Munchen. Eu also reported that she received $300 in movie passes from six California theater companies.

Eu listed investments in such diverse enterprises as Ford Motor Co., the Guam Power Authority, the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority, New York City bonds and Pan Am World Airways.

Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy reported that he accepted a $6,143 trip to Italy for himself and his wife paid for by the Italian Labor Union. McCarthy reported no outside income, including fees from speaking engagements.

Assembly Republican Leader Pat Nolan of Glendale reported that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers paid $1,442 for travel, lodging and tickets so that he could attend last year’s Academy Awards.

In addition, Nolan reported that the Sony Corp. paid $2,818 to charter a plane to fly him from a fund-raising event in Los Angeles to Sacramento so that he could cast the deciding committee vote on a bill the company favored.