Murphy Top Recipient Among City Officials : Mayor Accepted $4,400 in Gifts, $110,000 in Loans

San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock accepted more than $4,400 in gifts and took out more than $110,000 in loans in the past year, according to the annual Statement of Economic Interests he filed with the city clerk this week.

According to that report and those filed by other city officials, only District 7 Councilman Dick Murphy reported more valuable gifts than the mayor. Murphy listed more than $6,500 in dinner tickets, theater passes and trips to Europe and Israel.

From Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 1984, council members were wined and dined by developers, Pacific Bell, the Navy League, local hospitals and law firms, the statements showed. Some council members also accepted Sea World passes, theater tickets and $40 castings made of sand.

Most of the gifts were worth less than $100--well below the $250 limit at which state law requires a politician to abstain from voting on an issue because of a conflict of interest.

Some council members said they had received hardly any gifts. District 2 Councilman Bill Cleator, for instance, reported only two gifts worth a total of $240--although, in what was said to be a mistake, he failed to report a free trip to Israel, paid for by the Jewish Community Relations Council. It was the same trip that Murphy took. (Council members are allowed to amend their statements.)

District 4 Councilman William Jones also reported receiving only two gifts--tickets to two banquets worth a total of $214.10.

Other reports: Murphy accepted a $3,119 trip from a San Francisco group, California Foundation on the Environment and Economy, to look at rapid transit systems and trash-to-energy plants in Europe. He also accepted a $2,800 trip to Israel, $80 in tickets to the La Jolla Playhouse and $75 tickets from the San Diego Chargers to attend the training camp and a dinner.

District 1 Councilman Bill Mitchell reported about $800 in gifts. District 3 Councilwoman Gloria McColl reported about $1,100 in gifts. District 5 Councilman Ed Struiksma received gifts valued at more than $2,100.

District 8 Councilman Uvaldo Martinez received more than $2,100 in gifts and District 6 Councilman Mike Gotch reported more than $3,655 in gifts--most of it accounted for by a $2,630 trip to Singapore during which Gotch, as the deputy mayor, represented San Diego at the Dragonboat Races.

Hedgecock’s statement contained occasional references to the troubled year behind him--a year in which his association with J. David & Co., a once-glamorous La Jolla securities firm, led to trouble. J. David & Co. went bankrupt; its founder, J. David (Jerry) Dominelli, recently confessed to fraud, and Hedgecock was indicted on felony charges for allegedly accepting thousands of dollars in illegal contributions from J. David executives.

In the report filed April 1, Hedgecock said his investments included an interest in a property management firm and another interest in J. David Banking Co. Limited. Of the latter investment, the report says cryptically, “Subject of litigation.”

Hedgecock also reported owning five houses worth from $10,000 to $100,000 each and a sixth house, his elegant, white-columned home on State Street, valued at over $100,000. In addition, Hedgecock said he had received rental income of $1,000 to $10,000 each from eight properties and additional rent worth more than $10,000 from one house.

Of the 11 loans Hedgecock reported receiving last year, one--for more than $10,000--was from contractor Parin Columna, a former J. David employee who remodeled Hedgecock’s State Street house. Another, also for more than $10,000, was from former J. David Vice President Nancy Hoover. Like the J. David investment, it was listed as the “subject of litigation.”

Of the gifts to Hedgecock, more than half--$2,880--came from Pacific Telephone in the form of a trip to San Francisco to look at the Vatican art exhibit, tickets to the symphony ball and a $1,000 trip to the Olympics’ opening ceremonies in Los Angeles.

Hedgecock also reported receiving $344 from Detroit Mayor Coleman Young for hotel and room service while at the World Series. Developer Tawfiq Khoury gave Hedgecock two tickets worth $200 to the KPBS wine auction. Dentist Robert Vogel gave him two tickets worth $250 to a Salk Institute benefit. And Operation Cork, an anti-drug-abuse program founded by Joan Kroc, sent Hedgecock’s wife, Cindy, to a training session in Santa Barbara for $353.